The Players Era men’s championship and $1 million in name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation are at stake on Wednesday in Las Vegas when No. 7 Michigan faces No. 12 Gonzaga in the tournament final.
The Wolverines (6-0) and Bulldogs (7-0) advanced to the championship round with the highest point differentials in their two wins.
Michigan followed up a 94-54 rout of San Diego State on Monday with a 102-72 blowout of No. 21 Auburn on Tuesday.
Yaxel Lendeborg and Roddy Gayle Jr. led six Wolverines scoring in double figures on Tuesday with 17 points each. Michigan has four players averaging 10-plus points per game, led by Lendeborg at 15.3.
A fifth Wolverine, 7-foot-3 UCLA transfer Aday Mara, is averaging close to a double-double per game at 9.7 points and 9.5 rebounds.
“Our frontcourt is by far the best in the country. I believe that wholeheartedly,” Lendeborg said in his postgame interview with TNT Sports. “We’re so diverse. We have Aday standing 7-foot-3, I think he’s the best rim protector in the whole nation. We’ve got Morez (Johnson Jr.), an absolute dog on the boards, on the defensive end, and I would consider myself a point forward.”
Johnson is putting up 13.5 points per game, second on the team, and he combines with Lendeborg to add 13.8 boards per contest, supporting Mara on the glass.
The trio also help fuel Michigan’s stifling defense, which ranks No. 1 nationally in adjusted efficiency per KenPom.com metrics.
The Wolverines are holding opponents to a 34.5% field-goal shooting, one of the best figures in Division I.
Gonzaga, meanwhile, continued its outstanding offensive output through the opening stretch of its season against Maryland on Tuesday. The 100-61 romp marked the Bulldogs’ second time hitting the century mark in this regular season and the team’s fifth game with 90-plus points.
“When we’re making the right basketball play, we’re fun to watch,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said following the Tuesday win. “When we don’t, we’re definitely vulnerable.”
Like its opponent on Wednesday, Gonzaga is built around an outstanding frontcourt.
Braden Huff shot 9-for-10 from the floor on the way to 20 points vs. Maryland. The 6-foot-10 forward has shot at least 75% from the floor in five games and is averaging 16 points per game.
Huff’s frontcourt mate, Graham Ike, posted a 21-point, 11-rebound double-double in Gonzaga’s 95-85 win over No. 8 Alabama on Monday. He added 13 points and six boards vs. the Terrapins. Ike’s 17 points and nine rebounds per game pace the Zags.
Gonzaga’s length extends to the perimeter, with 6-foot-7 Grand Canyon transfer Tyon Grant-Foster providing punch on the wing. Grant-Foster matched Ike’s 21 points against Alabama.
The Bulldogs’ 3-point shooting has been middling through the first seven games, but on Tuesday, Emmanuel Innocenti and Steele Venters were hot off the bench. Innocenti shot 5 of 7 from deep, while Venters went 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.
“He’s got a beautiful shot, one of the best shots on the team,” Few said of Innocenti. “It was just a matter of time before the dam broke.”
As the two undefeated teams look to keep rolling, they have the additional incentive from the $1 million NIL payout to the winner. The losing side on Wednesday receives $500,000. That’s on top of the more than $1 million in guaranteed NIL compensation all 18 teams in this year’s event received on average.
