Aday Mara's career high helps Michigan basketball sweep Ohio State

James Hawkins, The Detroit News on Feb 8, 2026

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Michigan Wolverines ended the week the same way they started it — with a regular-season series sweep.

Three days after beating Penn State for the second time in the Big Ten play, No. 2 Michigan repeated the feat and swept the home-and-home series with rival Ohio State.

What made Sunday’s 82-61 win over the Buckeyes at Value City Arena even sweeter is that it moved the Wolverines into sole possession of first place in the conference standings.

Aday Mara scored a career-high 24 points and made the first two 3-pointers of his college career and Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Lendeborg each added a double-double for Michigan (22-1, 12-1 Big Ten), which has won eight straight and improved to 11-0 in games away from home.

In the first rivalry meeting in Ann Arbor last month, Michigan pulled away late for a 12-point win. The Wolverines didn’t wait nearly as long this time around to build a comfortable cushion that they maintained.

After taking a 10-point halftime lead thanks to its offensive rebounding and 3-point shooting, Michigan added to its margin with some highlight-reel plays. Mara found a cutting Lendeborg for a thunderous one-handed dunk. A few possessions later, Mara skied for a one-handed alley-oop slam from Elliot Cadeau.

During another sequence, Lendeborg blocked a shot at the rim that triggerd a fast break and ended with Johnson throwing down a two-handed dunk. That put Michigan up, 54-39, with 15:09 left in the second half.

The Buckeyes couldn’t get much going against Michigan’s defense to chip away at the deficit. They missed 10 of their first 12 shots out of the break, with nobody other than Bruce Thornton making a basket. They mustered just nine points over the first 10 minutes. They had a scoreless stretch that lasted over four minutes.

It also didn’t help that Ohio State had no answer for Mara. When the Buckeyes cut the deficit to 11 at the 14:13 mark, he promptly responded with a pair of baskets at the rim to push Michigan’s lead back to 15.

And that ended up being the closest Ohio State would get the rest of the way before Michigan poured it on late. Trey McKenney made a corner 3-pointer. Lendeborg grabbed a rebound and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Mara threw down two more dunks to top his previous career high of 22 points he set last season at UCLA. A 14-3 spurt gave Michigan a 78-55 lead with 2:45 to go and sent Ohio State fans streaming to the exits.

Lendeborg finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds, Johnson had 11 points and 12 rebounds and McKenney scored 12 for Michigan, which shot 45.8% from the field and made 10 3-pointers. The Wolverines won the rebounding battle by a 44-31 margin, finished with a 42-20 advantage in points in the paint and outscored Ohio State 10-0 in fast-break points.

Thornton scored 16, Devin Royal 15 and Christoph Tilly 10 for Ohio State (15-8, 7-6), which shot 36.4% from the field and 32% during a 27-point second half.

The Wolverines dominated on the glass and in the paint in the early stages. Johnson scored twice at the rim, including one sequence where he grabbed three of his own misses before scoring. Mara threw down an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Cadeau and a putback jam off a missed shot by Johnson.

The bench kept the trend going. L.J. Cason snuck into the paint, scooped up the loose ball for an offensive rebound and scored on a putback to give Michigan an 18-11 lead with 12:03 left in the first half.

A combination of Thornton heating up for Ohio State and a stretch where the Wolverines couldn’t convert more second-chance opportunities at the rim allowed the Buckeyes to pull close. Thornton made three consecutive baskets — two pull-up shots in the lane and a scooping layup — and assisted on another as Ohio State cut it to 21-19 at the 8:30 mark.

Michigan caught fire from deep to stay ahead and pushed its advantage to double digits. Lendeborg kicked off the stretch of five 3-pointers in under four minutes with an open look from the corner. Mara knocked down the first 3 of his collegiate career from the left wing. Nimari Burnett and Cason followed with a deep ball of their own. Mara buried a second one from straightaway to make it 38-28 with 4:00 left.

Cason made Michigan’s ninth 3-pointer in the final minute off a drive and kick by Will Tschetter to make it a 12-point game before the Wolverines entered the break with a 44-34 advantage.

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