CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Morez Johnson Jr. had 19 points and 11 rebounds against his former team as No. 3 Michigan defeated No. 10 Illinois 84-70 on Friday night and clinched the Big Ten regular-season title.

Johnson, who played for the Illini last season after verbally committing three years earlier, was booed throughout the game by Illinois fans.

Aday Mara had 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting, and Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Wolverines (27-2, 17-1), who are 10-0 on the road and have won 23 games by 10 or more points.

The Wolverines won their first outright conference regular-season title since 2014, when they also clinched with a win at Illinois.

Michigan’s 17 conference victories are the most in school history.

Keaton Wagler scored 23 points for the Fighting Illini (22-7, 13-5), who have lost four of six, including three in overtime. Wagler scored in double figures for the 21st straight game.

Kylan Boswell scored 15 points, and David Mirkovic had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Illini, who entered the game as the Big Ten’s top 3-point shooting team. Illinois was just 9-of-29 from distance against Michigan.

Michigan led 38-31 at halftime behind Johnson’s 13 points.

Down 16-11 after a four-point play by Wagler, the Wolverines responded with an 11-point run capped by a 3 by Johnson and never trailed again. They led by as many as 21 points in the second half.

Michigan’s win snapped a nine-game losing streak against Illinois that began in 2019. The Wolverines had dropped four in a row to the Illini at the State Farm Center.

The Power 4 conference commissioners are expected to join dozens of sports celebrities and dignitaries on March 6 at the White House in a roundtable discussion with President Donald Trump about the future of college athletics, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.

President Trump will chair the group, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and New York Yankees president Randy Levine are listed as vice chairs, according to a source who provided a list of 35 people who received invitations. The list also includes:

• Golfer Tiger Woods

• Former college football coaches Nick Saban, Mack Brown and Urban Meyer

• Former secretary of state and College Football Playoff selection committee member Condoleezza Rice

• New England Patriots president Jonathan Kraft

• NBA commissioner Adam Silver

• Fox Sports president Eric Shanks

• ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro

• Several athletic directors, including Notre Dame’s Pete Bevacqua

• Former college athletes, including Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and Florida State basketball and football player Charlie Ward

The list also includes current university presidents and chancellors.

It’s unknown whether everyone invited will attend the event, which is called the “College Sports Roundtable.” Multiple sources planning to attend expressed skepticism about how much could be done on a Friday afternoon with so many people from different backgrounds involved.

“It’s people who could be involved in helping shape the future of college athletics and some of the solutions and strategies to structuring the athletic world going forward,” said one source who plans to attend. “It’s so preliminary, it’s hard to say anything with any sort of specificity because there hasn’t been anything provided to us in writing of that sort yet.”

Also expected to attend is billionaire businessman Cody Campbell, chairman of Texas Tech’s board of regents and a former college football player, who has been working on a “Saving College Sports” campaign and involved in discussions about a possible roundtable for more than a year.

Leaders throughout college athletics have also been meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill for years to rally support for legislation to help regulate NIL. Despite Trump’s outspoken support and multiple politicians taking stances on issues such as athlete employment, the NCAA has been unable to get a bill to the floor for a vote.

Yahoo Sports was first to report the meeting.

The projected top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, former Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, said a team executive suggested he get arrested so that he would slide down to that team’s pick in the upcoming draft. 

Mendoza is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick by the Las Vegas Raiders, but he is still interviewing with other teams at the NFL combine.

Mendoza revealed the suggestion a team made to him about getting arrested during an interview with CBS Sports on Friday, when he was asked about the most bizarre question he got from teams at the NFL combine.

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“It was, ‘hey, maybe you should get arrested,’ and I was a little confused, but then I was like, the slide … so you could slide in the draft,” he said.

Mendoza declined to reveal which team made the suggestion.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza (15) and Alberto Mendoza (16) walk on the field for warmups before the 2025 Big Ten Conference Championship game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Lucas Oil Stadium on Dec. 6, 2025, in Indianapolis. (Aaron Doster-Imagn Images)

“So, hopefully I don’t get arrested,” he added.

Mendoza is the hottest quarterback prospect this year after leading Indiana to the first 16-0 season in modern college football history, winning the national championship and the Heisman Trophy.

He finished the 2025 season with 3,535 passing yards, 41 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

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Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza passes against Miami during the first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Other teams in need of a quarterback besides the Raiders may not find many answers in this draft, after Oregon quarterback Dante Moore returned to college for another year.

Other prospects, including Ty Simpson, Drew Allar and Garrett Nussmeier, are projected to be lower-tier prospects when compared to Mendoza.

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