University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Michigan
UConn To Face Michigan For National Championship
4/5/2026 7:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball
INDIANAPOLIS – Sitting on the precipice of a dynasty, the two-seed UConn men's basketball team (34-5) will play for its third national title in the last four years and its seventh since 1999 on Monday night when it takes on 1-seed Michigan (36-3) for the 2026 NCAA National Championship. Tip-off from Lucas Oil Stadium is set for 8:50 p.m. and will air on TBS, truTV and HBO Max with Ian Eagle, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery, Tracy Wolfson and Gene Steratore on the call.
Connecticut is looking to add to one of the greatest runs in the history of college basketball, with national championships in 1999, 2004 and 2011 under Jim Calhoun, 2014 under Kevin Ollie and 2023+2024 under Dan Hurley. The Huskies are in the Final Four for the third time in four seasons, one of four programs since the turn of the century to accomplish that feat. UConn is the first team since Kentucky from 1996-98 to play in the national title game three times in a four-year span. Hurley is the first coach since Mike Krzyzewski from 1990-94 to coach in three title games in four seasons.
The Huskies are 2-2 all-time against Michigan, last squaring off in the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis, a match-up the Huskies took by a score of 74-60. The two sides have never met in the NCAA Tournament. Michigan is the fourth Big Ten team that UConn will face during the 2026 NCAA Tournament, already securing wins over UCLA, Michigan State and Illinois. UConn has won its last eight contests against members of the B1G dating back to 2022, a run that includes six wins in the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies are 6-0 all-time in the national championship game. UConn advanced to the title game on Saturday with a 71-62 victory over Illinois, snuffing the nation's top-ranked offense into sub-34 percent shooting and hitting a program NCAA Tournament-record 12 threes. It was Connecticut's 19th-straight win in the second weekend and beyond, a streak dating back to 2011. UConn improved to 13-1 all-time on the Final Four stage, by far the best mark of any program in the history of the tournament.
UConn was led in the win over the Fighting Illini by a double-double from Tarris Reed Jr., who scored 17 and grabbed 11 rebounds to continue one of the great runs for a big man in March Madness history. In five games the East Regional MOP is averaging 20.8 points, 13.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.8 blocks on 58.2 percent shooting from the floor. The only other player in the history of the NCAA Tournament to post 104 points, 65 rebounds and 12 assists while shooting 58percent or better in a five-game span is Bill Walton. Without the shooting percentage qualifier, the list expands to include Larry Bird and Oscar Robertson.
Braylon Mullins chipped in 15 points on Saturday and hit four 3-pointers playing in his home state and coming off his iconic game-winner in the Elite Eight. The rookie is scoring 12.4 points per game in the Big Dance, third on the squad behind Reed Jr. and Alex Karaban, who is netting 16.0 points with 4.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 'stocks' per game in the tournament. Solo Ball scored 13 against Illinois and hit from downtown three times, doubling his total from deep over the prior four contests. Silas Demary Jr. stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals, continuing to power through an injury that cost him the tournament opener.
Michigan advanced to the title game with a 91-73 rout of fellow one-seed Arizona in the second National Semifinal. The Wolverines have blitzed through the tournament and scored 90+ points in all five games, posting a scoring margin of +21.6. Yaxel Lendeborg leads six Michigan players scoring in double-figures in the tournament with 19.0 points per game, adding 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Aday Mara scores 16.0 points with 6.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks on 65.4 percent shooting, while Morez Johnson scores 13.0 and grabs a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game this tournament. Elliot Cadeau is UM's top distributor and has dished out 8.6 assists per game in the tournament, as Michigan is shooting 54.1 percent from the field and 44.5 percent from three through its first five games in the dance.
Pregame coverage on TBS begins at 8:30 p.m. with tip-off set for 8:50 p.m.
