BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
NEW YORK — Exhibition games are typically not played with the same urgency or fire that fans are accustomed to seeing during the college basketball season, but for Michigan star big man Yaxel Lendeborg, this was not just any other exhibition game.
“It was a dream come true,” Lendeborg said. “I got goosebumps right from when I walked in the building. Coming out to warm up was amazing too.”
Lendeborg, a former St. John’s commit, put on a performance in The World’s Most Famous Arena on Saturday night against the Red Storm. He scored a game-high 25 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in a 96-94 victory for No. 7 Michigan over No. 5 St. John’s in the Bad Boy Mowers Series exhibition.
Post game, Lendeborg made it clear that this was a game that he ‘absolutely’ played with a chip on his shoulder against St. John’s.
“From the day that I got that feeling [Rick] Pitino didn’t want me, after he got signed, instant chip on my shoulder,” he said, “I wanted it so badly to come in here and win the game, and we did that, so I’m super happy about that.”
His coach, however, is just glad he found a little extra motivation for the exhibition game.
“I like it when guys find a reason to be chippy,” Michigan head coach Dusty May said. ” I think Michael Jordan is notorious for dreaming up reasons to want to destroy his opponent. I know from experience that during coaching changes, a lot is happening in a quick period of time. So [with] those decisions, you have a lot of uncertainty information before you make those decisions. I know when I took the Michigan job, there was a player signed that I didn’t know enough about, and they wanted a quick answer, and I didn’t have one at that moment, so I think they were in the same situation.”
Michigan rode Lendeborg’s hot hand to a wild overtime victory in a match between two preseason top-10 programs that had the atmosphere of a game in March instead of an exhibition in October.
“We took this game very seriously,” Lendeborg said. “Just to see where we stand with the opponents we are going to play so we played this game like it’s a Sweet 16 game or a Final Four game. We took this game very seriously.”
One thing is for certain: if this is the sort of toughness, energy and grit that both these teams will play with all season long, then these two programs are ready for the college basketball season to begin.
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