Michigan basketball blasts Oakland, using offensive explosion to open season with 121-78 win

Michigan Wolverines basketball dominated from the get-go, taking the lead 13 seconds in and not relenting the entire way. The Wolverines set a first-half program scoring record with 69 points, leading 69-38 at the break, and won 121-78 over Oakland, which was picked by the media to finish second in the Horizon League.

Michigan’s next game is Tuesday, Nov. 11, against Wake Forest at Little Caesars Arena.

Michigan vs. Oakland box score

First half

Michigan started with a furious pace, scoring 12 points in less than three minutes to take a 12-5 lead. Junior center Aday Mara scored the first 4 points at the rim, punishing the undersized Grizzlies.

Michigan led 14-10 at the under-16 media timeout, with 5 layups/dunks, including 3 from Mara. However, Oakland used its quickness advantage on the perimeter, with preseason Horizon League Player of the Year Buru Naivalurua hitting 2 threes, after coming into the game with 3 made triples in his college basketball career.

After the first media timeout, Michigan went on a 20-0 run in less than six minutes, and was only stopped by a three from Brody Robinson that cut the Oakland deficit to 34-13. Sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. scored 10 of Michigan’s 20 points during that surge and was up to 14 for the game at the second media timeout with 11:06 to go. At that juncture, the Wolverines were 13-of-17 shooting from the field, including a perfect 11-of-11 from inside the arc. They had only 2 turnovers and had 18 fast-break points.

Michigan held a 44-23 advantage with 6:50 remaining in the first half, thanks to a three-pointer from graduate guard Nimari Burnett (42-21) and transition dunk by graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg, on a beautiful three-quarter-court feed by junior guard Elliot Cadeau for his sixth assist of the game. The Wolverines were shooting 17-of-25 from the field, including 4-of-10 from long distance, while Oakland was 8-of-22 overall (36 percent).

Michigan got going with more triples. Burnett found freshman guard Trey McKenney for a left-wing three to make it 49-27 with 5:36 on the clock, before graduate forward Will Tschetter knocked home his first three of the game from the right corner to go up 52-29 (4:36), after Lendeborg had a sick chase-down block and the Wolverines saved the ball from going out of bounds and Cadeau skipped it up into the front court and was credited with the assist.

Michigan’s scoring continued at a high level throughout the rest of the half. The Wolverines got the lead up to 32 points on a hook shot from Mara to make it 67-35 at the 1:05 mark, and Johnson scored a dunk off a feed from McKenny with 37 seconds to go. McKenney’s long heave at the buzzer was no good, but Michigan still led 69-38 at the break.

The Wolverines’ 69 points are the most in program history in a first half, surpassing the 66 they had against Eastern Michigan Dec. 12, 1987.

Johnson led all scorers in the stanza with 20 points, his career high, on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. Mara joined him in double figures with 10.

The Wolverines shot 71 percent in the first half (27-of-38), compared to Oakland’s 40 (14-of-35).

Second half

Michigan wasn’t quite as hot to begin the second half, and relied more on threes, shooting 1-of-5 from deep with a couple in-and-out misses. Burnett made one. Cadeau (1) and Johnson (2) made layups to push the Wolverines’ lead to 78-48 at the media break with 15:33 remaining. Oakland began the half with 4 made field goals, including 2 threes, to keep the deficit around 30.

Cadeau dished his 12th assist of the game on a three-pointer from Tschetter that made it an 83-53 game. The Wolverines poured it on offensively, but Oakland was hanging in by scoring themselves, shooting 7-of-15 in the first 8:20 of the stanza.

Michigan led 90-57 at the 11:40 media timeout, and kept its main rotational players in the game coming out of it.

Michigan went on a rampage in the middle of the second half, an 11-0 run with the catalyst being defense at the rim by Mara. He had 3 blocks in a two-minute span, and the Wolverines were cooking on the other end. McKenney drove in and got an and-one to make it a 42-point lead (99-57) as the lights went out at Crisler. He gave U-M 100 on the free throw, up 100-57 with 9:30 to go.

Redshirt freshman forward Oscar Goodman came into the game at the 8:42 mark, the first deep reserve to get some playing time. The Wolverines rolled with an eight-man rotation for the bulk of the game.

Lendeborg hit his second three of the game and got up to 12 points to give the Maize and Blue a 103-60 advantage with just over eight minutes to go. That was the Wolverines’ 14th triple of the contest, on 27 attempts at that point.

Freshman center Malick Kordel checked in at the 7:58 mark, Michigan starting to empty the bench. Senior guard Charlie May — a walk-on and the son of the head coach — came in soon thereafter.

Michigan led 113-72 at the media timeout with 3:26 to go.

May recorded an assist on a three by McKenney, which got the freshman up to 18 points on the night. He had 5 made threes with that one going down. Then later on, he had a three on an assist from Goodman, and the crowd started chanting ‘Charlie May!’

McKenney tripled for the sixth time in the game, pushing his point total to 21 points, with around two minutes left.

The Wolverines ended up with a 121-78 win, beginning 1-0 overall. The next game is next Tuesday against Wake Forest in Detroit.