Though Yaxel Lendeborg led Michigan basketball in scoring with his double-double, the game turned back in the Wolverines’ favor when point guard Elliot Cadeau reasserted himself late in the game. But there was a long stretch where it didn’t look like the maize and blue needed any reassertion — the game appeared as if it was going to be in-hand early.
However, the tight grip loosened, and the Wolverines, once up 18, found themselves down by two with eight minutes remaining in the game.
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Even so, it was no surprise for Cadeau, whose timely 3 helped get Michigan back on top of Michigan State for good.
“Yeah, we knew it was gonna be tested,” Cadeau said. “It’s a really tough team. They’re not gonna just lay down in their own court in this rivalry. So we knew it was coming.
“We just tried to stay calm in those times and just get back to what we was doing. I was working early in the game.”
The first half looked like the same Michigan team that was causing great teams to tap out early, with the 18-point advantage. However, with the Spartans rebounding (figuratively and literally), the game changed in a hurry.
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Even so, Cadeau doesn’t look at it like Michigan rounding into form and then relapsing. Given the early-season wins over teams like Auburn and Gonzaga, while those were nice, Cadeau said it was unrealistic that that level of dominance was going to continue in Big Ten play against teams like MSU.
“We kind of don’t pay attention to stuff like that,” Cadeau said. “We know how good we are and how good we can be. And we think that the Big Ten is the best conference in the country. So we’re not gonna be able to just do what we did in Vegas to hold Big Ten.
“So we kind of knew that was coming. And we’re trying to get back to our stride, how we was back then.And we’re hoping that it’s gonna come at the right time.”
Michigan ultimately beat the Spartans by 12, 83-71, the largest point margin by the Wolverines in the Breslin Center since 1997.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Elliot Cadeau: Michigan expected MSU’s run and stayed calm
