Wolverine Digest

Yaxel Lendeborg Fires Back at Ohio State Forward After Win Over Buckeyes

The Michigan star made sure he responded to Colin White for his comments ahead of the matchup
Seth Berry|
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) shoots a free throw against the Ohio State during the first half at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) shoots a free throw against the Ohio State during the first half at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Michigan Wolverines

Ahead of the Michigan Wolverines matchup with Ohio State on Friday night, Buckeye forward Colin White decided to make headlines while making a bold prediction about how the game would go.

"We hate Michigan, so we’re coming out for blood, we’re going up there to win, and we’re going to have fun doing it,” White said after Ohio State's win over Minnesota on Tuesday.

As it turned out, even though the Buckeyes may have come "out for blood," they had a hard time wounding the Wolverines in Ann Arbor with a 74-62 loss at the hands of their rival.

On the broadcast, the announcers discussed how White's comments made their way around Michigan's locker room before the game.

Colin White dribbles
Jan 20, 2026; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes forward Colin White (20) drives to the basket during overtime against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

And when the clock hit double zeros on Friday night, Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg made sure to respond to White's comments during his interview with FOX.

Lendeborg's postgame comments

"(At) the start of the game, man, I just wanted to stick it to Mr. Colin White," Lendeborg told Gus Johnson during the on-court interview. "We got bench players talking like starters. So, that was pretty much my motivation for the entire game. It was to shut him up and show him, you know, who the real team is in this rivalry."

Lendeborg did a little bit of everything in the Wolverines' win at the Crisler Center on Friday, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out four assists.

One of his biggest highlights of the night was an exclamation point dunk that capped off the Wolverine victory off a drive from the right baseline when OSU was in scramble mode trying to get a steal defensively.

White, on the other hand, scored two points for the Buckeyes in nine minutes of action and had a limited impact on the game overall.

The two teams will meet again in Columbus on Feb. 8 for a rematch, so it will be interesting to see whether White or anyone else on OSU will be bold enough to take a shot at Michigan despite losing to the Maize and Blue the first time around.

Michigan will play three games between now and then (Tuesday vs. Nebraska, Friday at Michigan State and Feb. 5 vs. Penn State).

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Seth Berry
SETH BERRY

Seth began writing on Michigan athletics in 2015 and has remained in the U-M media space ever since, which includes stops at Maize N Brew and Rivals before coming onto Michigan On SI in June of 2025. Seth has covered various angles of Michigan football and basketball, including recruiting, overall team coverage and feature/analysis stories relating to the Wolverines. His passion for Michigan sports and desire to tell stories led him to the sports journalism world. He is a 2020 graduate of Western Michigan University and is the former sports editor of the Western Herald, WMU's student newspaper.

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