Michigan clawed its way to victory Monday, defeating UConn and securing the school’s second NCAA men’s basketball title. NPR’s A Martinez talks to Martenzie Johnson of ESPN and Andscape about the win.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Michigan is the NCAA men’s basketball champion, its first national title since 1989. The Wolverines beat UConn Monday 69-63. Martenzie Johnson from ESPN and Andscape stayed up late to watch the game. He’s on the line with us now. So, Martenzie, Michigan led by four at halftime, won the game by six points. So technically, kind of a close game, but why didn’t it feel like the Wolverines were ever sweating it?
MARTENZIE JOHNSON: Good morning, A. And the reason why it didn’t look like they were sweating – because they didn’t have to sweat throughout this entire run. They blew out everybody we thought they’d have close games with, including the other day against Arizona. They beat them by 18, and Arizona was considered the best team in the country for most of the year. No matter what happens on the offensive side for Michigan, when it comes to defense, there’s – you can’t score in there – on them. There’s nothing that you can do. And you kind of, unfortunately, figured that out as well.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Now, so I’m just saying, the line was Michigan by 6 1/2. If you took UConn and the points, then you’re happy, even if you’re a UConn fan. I’m just saying, I’m putting the line out there just so everyone knows exactly what was happening last night.
JOHNSON: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So how did Michigan manage to end their championship drought?
JOHNSON: Defense, like I said. Like, if you watch that first half in particular – but you could watch the entire game – but that first half, they were forcing turnovers. They were forcing shot clock violations. They even almost got multiple 10-second violations bringing the ball up the court.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh.
JOHNSON: UConn couldn’t even get over half-court. Like, they were just suffocating. They held UConn to their lowest shooting percentage of the year. But it wasn’t just UConn. They did that to ‘Bama. They did that to Tennessee. They did that to Arizona. Defense was their calling card because at one point, they missed their first three – 10 three-pointers of the game. And I’m not talking about UConn. I’m talking about Michigan’s offense couldn’t make three-pointers.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. That’s like the old UNLV amoeba defense. Like…
JOHNSON: Right.
MARTÍNEZ: They pick you up the second you inbound the ball.
JOHNSON: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: And they follow you all the way down and – I mean, they – yeah. It was pretty cool to see. Now, Dustin May has been coaching the team for a couple of years now. Did he make any key decisions this season that really paid off for the Wolverines?
JOHNSON: Yeah, using a transfer portal. All five starters for Michigan were transfers, which was the first time that a championship team had ever done that. But they were dominant from beginning to the end. He even put out three centers from previous schools and put them all on the – in the starting rotation at the same time…
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
JOHNSON: …Including…
MARTÍNEZ: Wow.
JOHNSON: …Aday Mara, who – if you don’t know who he is, he was the big guy who was swatting everything that UConn tried to get at the paint.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, for UConn, this could have been their third title in four seasons. The women’s team has won 12 national championships in 31 years. The men’s team has won six. Even though they lost, Martenzie, I mean, they’re still considered probably one of, if not the best, basketball school in modern history.
JOHNSON: Yeah. Dan Hurley, in particular, he was going for three championships in four years last night. Obviously, that didn’t happen. But like you said, they have won six national titles since just 1999. When we think of the Big East before 1999, you’re thinking of Georgetown. You’re thinking of Syracuse. But somehow, some way, they have – they’re, like, top three, top five…
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
JOHNSON: …In national championships. And that’s just been over the last 20 years.
MARTÍNEZ: Just a few seconds left, Martenzie. What did you think of this year’s March Madness?
JOHNSON: Overall, there weren’t any Cinderellas. I believe we talked about this before…
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
JOHNSON: …A. No Cinderellas. But look what we just got last night. Like we said, it didn’t feel close, but it was a tight game. You were on the edge of your seat. Like you said, UConn, they didn’t win, but they might have cover.
MARTÍNEZ: And UCLA winning their first on the women’s side, too. An awesome tournament all the way around. Martenzie Johnson from ESPN and Andscape. Thanks a lot for joining us.
JOHNSON: Thanks, A.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAUL KALKBRENNER’S “AARON”)
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
