Watch Michigan basketball open scrimmage: Dug McDaniel, Tarris Reed Jr., Tray Jackson, Olivier Nkamhoua stand out

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines basketball held an open scrimmage in front of fans Sunday afternoon, ahead of a Champions Circle signing event and meet and greet. Watch video from the scrimmage and situational drills in the player at the top of the screen or on our YouTube channel.

The video shows the first 12-minute half, followed by ‘halftime’ situational drills, which included each team being down two points late in a game, and the second 12-minute half. The Wolverines also went through another set of situational drills after the second 12-minute half, but that is not in this video.

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Michigan opens the 2023-24 campaign Nov. 7 against UNC Asheville, after a Nov. 3 exhibition game against Division II Northwood. The Wolverines will also scrimmage at Marquette Oct. 28, according to multiple reports.

The Maize and Blue are without head coach Juwan Howard, who is recovering from a heart procedure.

In Sunday’s scrimmage, Michigan did not have graduate guard Jaelin Llewellyn or junior guard Jace Howard. Llewellyn is still working back from a torn ACL suffered last December, which was followed by January surgery. He’s been participating in practices, but not during contact periods. Howard is working through a minor knee injury.

The Wolverines saw sophomore Dug McDaniel play point guard for the maize team, and a few players mixed up teams from one half to the other. Lack of guard depth was on display, with graduate Nimari Burnett — ideally a ‘2’ or ‘3’ — running point for the blue team.

This was the first time fans could see freshman guard George Washington III in a Michigan uniform, and he showed some nice flashes. He’s the team’s best natural shooter, in our opinion, but how that translates to games remains to be seen. It’s harder to get good shots and make them in the first year of playing college ball, we’ve noticed over the years. Regardless, he appears to have a bright future.

Graduate forward Tray Jackson, a Seton Hall transfer, also flashed. His shot looks good, and he’s tough to match up with due to his height and length. Fellow Michigan graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua, a Tennessee transport, shined on both ends of the floor. He had numerous deflections on defense and also made some nice plays around the bucket on offense. He can run the floor in transition.

It was hard to glean too much from the scrimmage, since the lineups were split up about evenly. In games, of course, Michigan will have its best players in the rotation. Some who won’t see much time did get to play Sunday.