Feb. 16, 2026Updated Feb. 17, 2026, 1:48 a.m. ET
Michigan basketball is reveling in its incoming new No. 1 ranking, but for the first time all season, there appears to be a little trouble in paradise.
Late Sunday, Feb. 15, a video circulated involving star forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who trashed Purdue – coincidentally the team the Wolverines play Tuesday – and he didn’t hold anything back.
“When we see Purdue we gonna spank they [expletive] ass,” Lendeborg said in the video. “We gonna beat they [expletive] ass. [Expletive] Purdue.”
Warning: The video below contains explicit language
U-M coach Dusty May addressed the comments in his weekly press conference Monday at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, intended to preview the matchup with the Boilermakers, but took a detour to answer a question on the Lendeborg video.
May said he believed the video was from May 2025 shortly after Lendeborg committed to transfer from UAB to Michigan. Lendeborg was at an “over-21 establishment” and May said Lendeborg has “talked to his team extensively” about it and called it a “learning lesson.”
“Everything’s good with us, he made a mistake,” May said.
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“I spoke at length with Yaxel about it,” May continued. “The most disappointing part of it is that he feels really bad about how he’s perceived from children and those that look up to him. He said, ‘Coach, I don’t even use that language in conversation. I don’t like the way it makes me look. I feel terrible about it.’ Then obviously, how he’s perceived to our fanbase and those that he cares about how it looks.
“It’s a great lesson. It’s one of the reasons he’s here. He wanted to learn to be a better pro. And to be a better pro, you need to have the mindset that you’re probably always being recorded, and if there’s ever a moment that someone can use that information against you [they will].”
Since he arrived on campus last summer, Lendeborg has been the face of the program. He has been one of the first players on the court and last players off of it each game, frequently taking pictures with fans young and old. It’s one of the reason’s May called him a “wonderful human being.”
The 23-year-old was the No. 1 player in the transfer portal last offseason. He ultimately decided to go from UAB to Michigan instead of entering the 2025 NBA Draft, where he was projected as a late first-round pick.
Lendeborg is averaging 14.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, helping Michigan to its best start in program history.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound wing is seen as a near-lock as a first-team All-Big Ten player and a likely All-American. He went through injury troubles early in the season − first his thumb on his shooting hand, then his left calf − but has seemingly been 100% in recent weeks.
Over his past five games, Lendeborg is averaging 15.6 points and 11 rebounds.
Michigan has lost its past three meetings at Purdue, the last two of which came by a combined 59 points, including a 91-64 drubbing in 2024-25, May’s first season.
The upcoming meeting is a massive one: A U-M win would keep it two games up in the Big Ten with four conference games to play. A loss would add to the pressure of the upcoming road game against a ranked Illinois squad on Feb. 27.
“I can’t imagine that a [Fletcher] Loyer, [Trey Kaufman-Renn], Braden Smith and those guys are sitting around motivated by what Yaxel Lendeborg said in an over-21 establishment months ago,” May said. “I think that they’re killers as is, so as far as bulletin board material, I’m not sure that means much when it comes time to execute pick-and-roll defense or transition defense.”
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.