No. 2 Michigan shows no mercy, pulls away for 30-point win over UCLA

James Hawkins, The Detroit News on Feb 14, 2026

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Michigan Wolverines celebrated Valentine’s Day with a sweet sweep.

For the second straight year, they beat all four of the Big Ten’s West coast teams during the regular season.

After topping Oregon, USC and Washington last month, No. 2 Michigan completed the quadfecta by downing UCLA, 86-56, Saturday at Crisler Center for its 10th consecutive win.

Yaxel Lendeborg had 17 points and eight rebounds, Morez Johnson Jr. added 15 points and L.J. Cason scored 13 for Michigan (24-1, 14-1 Big Ten), which maintained at least a two-game lead in the standings with five league contests to go.

After leading the entire first half and seeing an 11-point lead shrink to two by halftime, Michigan shook off a rough close, pulled away and regained momentum with a blistering stretch where it made 12 of 13 shots, including nine in a row, over a 10-minute span.

Nimari Burnett drained a 3-pointer, scored in transition and found Elliot Cadeau for a mid-range jumper to kick off the hot stretch. Lendeborg stole a pass out on the perimeter and took it the other way for a fast-break layup before he swished two 3-pointers. Trey McKenney got to the rim for a layup.

By the time Roddy Gayle Jr. scored on a baseline drive to cap a stretch of nine consecutive made shots, Michigan pulled ahead, 61-47, with 11:45 left in the second half.

Gayle’s bucket also started a string of nine unanswered points that Cason had his fingerprints all over. Cason had a three-point play and found Johnson at the rim for a bucket. Then after a defensive possession where Will Tschetter and Lendeborg each blocked a shot, Cason scored in transition to make it 68-47 and sent the Crisler Center crowd into a frenzy with 8:17 to go.

The Wolverines’ lead swelled when they missed two front ends while in the bonus but got the ball back. After the first miss, Aday Mara, who was facing his former team for the first time, threw down a reverse jam off an alley-oop pass from Cadeau. After the second miss, Burnett rattled in a 3-pointer.

That sparked a 10-0 run that Mara finished off. The big man fed Johnson for an alley-oop dunk and threw down a two-handed slam of his own to push Michigan’s lead to 80-54 with 3:54 remaining.

UCLA (17-8, 9-5) trailed by as much 30 down the stretch as Michigan improved to 8-0 against the four West Coast schools since they joined the conference last season. This year, Michigan pounded USC by 30 at home and recorded 10-point wins at Washington and Oregon during its Pacific Northwest swing.

Burnett finished with 12 points and Mara had nine points and eight rebounds for Michigan, which shot 62% for the game and 78.3% in the second half.

Trent Perry scored 14 and Tyler Bilodeau and Donovan Dent added 10 apiece for UCLA, which shot a season-worst 37.9% from the field in its lowest-scoring performance of the season.

Mara opened the game with a highlight-reel play on the first possession. When UCLA doubled him in the post, he whipped a behind-the-back pass along the baseline to a cutting Johnson for a layup.

That was part of a promising start for Michigan. Johnson added an and-1 layup, scored at the rim off a lob pass and had seven points in the first four minutes. Lendeborg grabbed a rebound and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Cason and Gayle knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, as Michigan made half of its first 12 shots.

Michigan’s defense was also causing problems early. The Bruins missed seven of their first 10 shots, with many looks being contested. The Wolverines blocked a shot and forced three turnovers in the opening five minutes as they built a 17-8 lead with 13:03 left in the first half.

Not long after that, Mara blocked a layup attempt by UCLA’s Skyy Clark without barely jumping. Cason swished a step-back 3-pointer. Michigan grabbed a double-digit advantage, 22-12, at the 11:14 mark.

Six missed free throws and UCLA’s eight offensive rebounds that turned into 11 second-chance points in the first half prevented the Wolverines from widening the margin much further. UCLA grabbed half of its first 12 missed shots to cut the deficit to five on several occasions. During a two-minute stretch, Lendeborg and Mara missed three free throws, including one after UCLA coach Mick Cronin received a technical foul for arguing with an official.

Michigan pushed the lead back to double digits three times, the last on a short shot by Mara following a live-ball turnover that made it 39-28 at the 2:39 mark, but a rough finish nearly wiped that out. UCLA made its last five shots, including a Dent driving layup that beat the buzzer, and closed the half on a 10-1 run to pull within 40-38 at the break.

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