ATLANTA — There were tears, there was heartbreak but in the end the Michigan Wolverines had pride in how far they’ve come and how far they can go in the future.
The Wolverines lost to Louisville 82-76 in Monday night’s NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship. It marked the third straight time Michigan had lost in a championship game.
“I’m really proud,” said Freshman Nik Stauskas while fighting back tears. “A couple weeks ago I don’t think anyone thought we were going to be here. I’m proud of every single one of the guys on this team.”
“At the end of the day we played hard and we got back to the national stage,” said Freshman Mitch McGary. “At the end of the day we played in the last game of the year. We ended up losing, but I’m so proud of the guys.”
Sophomore star and National Player of the Year Trey Burke had 24 points, 4 Rebounds and 3 assists. Burke had early foul trouble and freshman Spike Albrecht stepped up, scoring a career-high 17 points Albrecht’s highest scoring game prior to Monday night’s championship was seven against Ohio State in January.
“It wasn’t a good night for me. I had a great first half that’s it,” said Albrecht. “It’s really disappointing, but I couldn’t be more proud of the accomplishments of these guys and how far we got.”
Michigan finishes the season 31-8 and the future of some of its stars is now in question. When asked about being a Wolverine next year and leading the team back to the championship, Burke was tight-lipped.
“I don’t know, I haven’t made a decision,” said Burke. “That’s a tricky question and I don’t want to say nothing that I would regret. This loss definitely hurts. We wanted a National Championship so bad.”
FOX 17’s Tara Hernandez was in Atlanta covering the Wolverines in the title game. She has more in the video player.
