Nov. 25 -- LAS VEGAS -- Gonzaga coach Mark Few caught a few minutes of the Michigan-Auburn game on television prior to the Zags taking the floor against Maryland on Tuesday night at the Players Era Festival.
Michigan is next up for No. 12 Gonzaga in Wednesday's title game, as determined by tiebreakers in an unusual 18-team field. Both teams are on a roll entering the 6:30 p.m. contest at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
On the line: The championship trophy, $1 million to the winning team and $500,000 to the runner-up.
Gonzaga took down No. 8 Alabama 95-85 on Monday and crushed Maryland 100-61 on Tuesday. No. 7 Michigan pummeled San Diego State 94-54 on Monday and Auburn 102-72 on Tuesday at Michelon Ultra Arena.
What did Few see watching the seventh-ranked Wolverines dismantle No. 21 Auburn?
"My mind wasn't exactly dialed in, I was thinking about Maryland but very big, got incredible size, probably got one of the biggest teams in college basketball," Few said. "Old and (coach) Dusty (May) just does a great job of putting those guys in the right spots and they looked really, really good.
"They've just blasted everybody down here so we know it's going to be a really, really tough game and it's going to be a fun game. We're looking forward to it."
The Wolverines boast an imposing frontcourt, led by UAB transfer Yaxel Lendeborg, regarded as one of the top transfers in the portal. The 6-foot-9, 240-pound Lendeborg is a force, averaging a team-leading 15.3 points and 3.3 assists in six games. He's made 60.4% of his shots, 39.3% on 3-pointers and 81% at the free-throw line. He hit five 3-pointers in two Players Era games while scoring 32 points.
Morez Johnson Jr., a 6-9, 250-pound sophomore forward, is second in scoring at 13.5 points. He's connected on 64% from the field and 85% at the foul line.
The Zags have experience facing Michigan's Aday Mara from his time as a UCLA Bruin. The 7-3 Mara averages a team-high 9.5 rebounds and leads the way with 17 blocks. He chips in 9.7 points. Mara was teammates with Gonzaga point guard Mario Saint-Supery on Spain's youth national team.
"Our front court is by far the best in the country, I believe that wholeheartedly," Lendeborg told TNT in a post-game interview after Tuesday's win over Auburn.
Lendeborg, Johnson and Mara are joined in the starting lineup by North Carolina transfer guard Elliot Cadeau (8.5 points, 4.2 assists) and 6-5 guard Nimari Burnett (9.2 points, 3.2 rebounds).
Gonzaga's Braden Huff and Graham Ike form one of the nation's top frontcourt tandems, combining to average 33 points and 14 rebounds per game. The frontcourt matchup obviously headlines Wednesday's showdown.
"It's going to be a battle down low," said Huff, who scored a team-high 20 points in the Zags rout over Maryland. "I think we're excited for the challenge. We feel like we've got a really good front line ourselves. It's going to be a fun battle."
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