There is an alternate universe where Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg is in his third season starring for the St. John’s basketball team, instead, in reality, he gave Rick Pitino and the Red Storm an up-close look at what they missed out on during Saturday night’s exhibition.
The Pennsauken, New Jersey native committed to the Johnnies during the tenure of head coach Mike Anderson from Arizona Western College but reopened his recruitment following Anderson’s firing when it became very unlikely that he would be a member of the Red Storm under Pitino.
It’s something that has stuck with Lendeborg and remained at the forefront of his mind as Michigan defeated St. John’s in overtime, 96-94.
“Absolutely,” he responded when asked if he had something to prove against the Red Storm.
“From the day that I got that feeling Pitino didn’t want me, after he got signed, instant chip on my shoulder…I wanted it so badly to come in here and win the game and we did that, so I’m super happy about that.”
Lendeborg was the best player on the floor for most of the night, finishing with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists on 10-of-15 shooting and making two 3-pointers in the process.
In making his first roster at St. John’s, Rick Pitino opted for Joel Sorinao, a holdover from Anderson’s time with the Red Storm, and Zuby Ejiofor, who was coming off a freshman season in which he seldomly played for Kansas, as his centers.
Chris Ledlum, Glenn Taylor Jr., and RJ Luis completed the remainder of the frontcourt.
“I know from experience during coaching changes a lot is happening in a quick period of time,” Michigan head coach Dusty May said about Pitino’s decision not to try and retain Lendeborg.
“You have a lot of uncertain information before you make those decisions. I know when I took the Michigan job there was a player signed that I hadn’t really seen and didn’t know enough about, and they wanted a quick answer, and I didn’t have one at the moment.’
Lendeborg landed at UAB after getting his release from St. John’s and became a household name in college basketball over the last two seasons, shattering program and NCAA records in the process. He declared for the NBA Draft while entering the transfer portal and opted to bypass the draft in order to play with the Wolverines this season.
“I made an error in the same situation,” May continued. “And obviously you wish you could go back in time and change it.”