‘Don’t Think We Competed’: Gonzaga Dominated by Michigan 101-61 in Players Era Championship
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Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Adam Miller (23) shoots the ball in the second half against the Michigan Wolverines in the 2025 Players Era Festival championship game at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Image [/caption]
When No. 7 Michigan (6-0) hammered Auburn 101-72 on Tuesday to advance to the Players Era Festival Championship, Wolverines forward Yaxel Lendeborg told the world that they had “the best frontline in the nation” and they would show everyone why the following night.
Well, a little over 24 hours later, Lendeborg was able to take it up a notch and say they were “the best team in the country” after steamrolling No. 12 Gonzaga (7-1) in the championship game 101-61, a contest that was over almost immediately.
The Zags had not won any of their games by less than 10 points, and even with U-M boat racing its Players Era opponents prior to facing the Bulldogs, it seemed the two teams were too evenly matched and well-coached for this affair to turn out lopsided. Instead, the Wolverines handed Mark Few the highest deficit loss of his career, while marking the first time GU has lost by at least 40 points since 1990.
In simpler terms, it was an utter beatdown.
“I don't think we competed once we got kind of punched in the mouth to start the game,” Mark Few said. “Nothing was going great for us on either end. I think it just kind of got us feeling rattled…and then we just kind of didn't channel it properly. And then flood gates opened up.”
Instantly, there was a clear size disparity between the frontcourts of Michigan and Gonzaga. The Zags’ duo of Graham Ike and Braden Huff stand at a stout 6-9 and 6-10, respectively, but on Wednesday night, they paled in comparison to the Wolverines’ 6-9 forwards Yaxel Lendeborg and Morez Johnson Jr., along with 7-3 center Aday Mara. By being bulkier on the block, U-M was able to guard Huff and Ike straight up, without sending doubles, which made the Zags’ offense stagnant and unable to create open shots, neither inside nor on the perimeter.
Defensively, it was much of the same. There was little resistance to the likes of Mara to begin the game, as he rattled off 8 points within the first nine minutes, imposing his will in the interior and specifcally when matched up with Huff. Michigan easily compromised Gonzaga’s coverages and rotations, using well-timed backdoor cuts and slip screens that caused miscommunication on switches, resulting in easy looks for the Wolverines. It led to the Bulldogs being in bad position, whereas plenty of fouls were committed.
The Zags scored just 34 paint points and 10 total points in transition. They shot 34 percent from the floor and 53 percent from the charity stripe while being outrebounded 44-38. Michigan thoroughly outclassed them, but Huff says it wasn’t only about the Wolverines coming ready to play.
“They were just a better team tonight, more physical, more together, just all over. Just the more connected group tonight,” he said. “…They're a good team, obviously, but this was as much on us as it was Michigan. I mean, we know we got to be better, we got to be more physical, we got to compete better. So it's on us, but credit to Michigan, they played very well tonight.”
Without being able to control the painted area, GU blatantly wasn’t ready for a position it hadn’t been in yet this season.
“We're a team that really scores well inside. We were (previously) very efficient from two, and we literally couldn't generate any scoring there at all, all night,” Few said.
The only reliable form of offense Gonzaga had in the 40 minutes was a small stretch of lefty push shots from Huff in the lane. He tied with Tyon Grant-Foster for the team-high in points with 14, but when Huff picked up his third and fourth fouls early in the second half and had to sit on the bench, the affair turned into a laugher.
As the Zags have often done this year, Jalen Warley was brought in to play the four. But for this matchup, he was keyed against Johnson Jr., who easily overpowered Warley with his physicality and rim running. Lendeborg, who had a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds, rattled off a series of dunks, including an and-one flush and a reverse slam in transition. The ferocious sequence quickly put to rest any of the Bulldogs’ hopes of a second-half comeback.
The most staggering aspect of the game was the complete ineffectiveness of Ike. He finished the game with a single point, shooting 0-for-9, the most field goals he’s shot without making one in his collegiate career. As reported by TNT’s Lauren Jbara on the broadcast, Ike tweaked his ankle on Monday during the Alabama game late in the second half. He saw his production drop from 21 points against the Crimson Tide to 13 versus the Terrapins on Tuesday, but that could’ve been attributed to the Zags putting the game out of reach fairly early.
Another key nugget is the presence of one of Michigan’s assistant coaches, Justin Joyner, who spent time in the WCC as an assistant coach at Saint Mary’s and got pretty familiar with the Zags. Although the roster is vastly different since he departed from the Gaels after the 2023-24 season, Ike is the lone constant from the Bulldogs team Joyner squared off against in conference a couple of seasons back.
The Wolverines sagged off Ike a fair amount when he was on the perimeter, as he didn’t connect on any of his four three-point attempts. And although they contested his layups and hooks well, he didn’t put the best touch on them as is.
With the paint clogged and an inability to get stops defensively, the only chance for the Zags was to knock down shots from deep, but they had a precipitous drop-off from their previous game against the Terps.
GU shot a paltry 3-for-22 (14 percent) from beyond the arc. On the other side, Michigan gave Gonzaga a taste of its own medicine, connecting on 13 of its 27 shots from downtown.
It could be easy to get negative about how this game fared for the Bulldogs, but with the stretch of competition they’ve faced and the opponents they still have on the schedule, Few is opting to look at the bigger picture.
“We got just absolutely throttled. So I've never been involved with anything like that. So this is going to be a great challenge and learning experience for me,” he said. “But that being said, we’ve had an incredible November up to this point, you know, prior to two hours ago, we can really draw on that…”
“They'll certainly be humbled when they watch film with me, you know. And we'll move forward. We got no time to really pout. We got an incredible December coming up. Just bang, bang, bang, with some really big-time, competitive, high-level games. So we got to get back to what we were two hours ago, and not ever show this again, or else it's not gonna be very fun this year.”
GU will still walk away with $500,000 towards its NIL funds after the runner-up finish in Las Vegas, but the utter fashion of its defeat in the championship game leaves a bigger wound than expected. After its first loss of the season, Gonzaga will have nine days to regroup before heading to Nashville for a matchup with No. 17 Kentucky next Friday, December 5.
