Michigan knocks off short-handed Oregon to sweep West Coast trip

James Hawkins, The Detroit News on Jan 17, 2026

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The Michigan Wolverines’ maiden Big Ten voyage to the Pacific Northwest was a successful one.

A few days after beating Washington in Seattle, No. 4 Michigan completed the two-game swing with an 81-71 win over undermanned Oregon on Saturday at Matthew Knight Arena.

Elliot Cadeau scored 17, Nimari Burnett 15 and Aday Mara 12 for Michigan (16-1, 6-1 Big Ten), which earned its fourth conference road win.

The Ducks were without guard Jackson Shelstad and center Nate Bittle, a pair of preseason All-Big Ten selections, due to injury, but didn’t roll over and gave Michigan its best punch.

After the Wolverines saw an 11-point lead turn into a one-point halftime deficit, they cranked up the effort and used a 12-2 spurt that was fueled by Mara to tip the scales back in their favor for good.

Mara found Burnett on a backdoor cut for a baseline dunk. He threw down a reverse jam over a defender. He cleaned up a missed layup by Yaxel Lendeborg. He knocked down a running hook shot while being fouled. He screened off a defender for Cadeau to get to the rim for a layup. It all added up to a 58-49 lead for Michigan with 13:20 to play.

The Wolverines continued to execute in the paint to regain a double-digit advantage. Morez Johnson Jr., who played only five minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, scored twice at the rim to make it 68-56 with 7:50 remaining.

Short-handed Oregon didn’t have the offensive firepower to keep up and ran out of steam. The Ducks could only cut it to six before Lendeborg and Johnson teamed up to block three shots in the span of a minute. A steal by Lendeborg preceded a Cadeau lob to Johnson for a 78-68 lead with 2:11 left.

Michigan sealed it with three free throws in the final 36 seconds to go 2-0 on the road against the Big Ten’s West Coast members for the second consecutive year. Last season in the newly expanded league, the Wolverines swept UCLA and USC in Los Angeles.

Sean Stewart scored 22 and Kwame Evans Jr. added 18 for Oregon (8-10, 1-6), which has lost four straight. The Ducks outscored the Wolverines in points off turnovers (19-8) and in second-chance points (22-12) to put up a fight most of the way.

With Oregon down its top two players and scorers in Bittle and Shelstad, Michigan’s defense didn’t offer much sympathy in the opening 10 minutes.

Lendeborg had an early highlight when he chased down Takai Simpkins and blocked a fast-break dunk from behind. A few possessions later, Burnett and Johnson teamed up and stuffed Evans on a layup attempt.

Oregon missed 10 of its first 13 shots as it fell behind by double digits. L.J. Cason drained a corner 3-pointer. Trey McKenney scored on a driving layup. Cason kicked out a pass to Will Tschetter for another deep ball. The bench keyed a 10-2 spurt as Michigan pulled ahead, 21-10, with 10:08 left in the first half.

Things started to go sideways during a rough sequence of events. Mara committed a lane violation during the front end at the foul line. Evans, who scored 12 of Oregon’s first 17 points, made a corner 3 over Mara. Johnson picked up his third foul when he was whistled for a charge at the 8:14 mark, a call that drew a technical foul on coach Dusty May for arguing. That led a string of four free throws for Wei Lin (11 points) that capped a string of seven unanswered points and cut the deficit to 23-21.

Burnett countered with a response of his own. He knocked down a 3-pointer and stripped Evans for a steal he took the other way for a dunk. Another bucket by Burnett put Michigan up, 33-25, at the 6:35 mark.

But Michigan’s offense went cold from that point on. The Wolverines were thrown off-balance by Oregon’s matchup zone and missed their final seven shots. The Ducks used an 11-2 spurt to take their first lead, 38-37, in the last two minutes and entered halftime with a 41-40 edge when Lin splashed a 3-pointer over Lendeborg at the buzzer.