Tony Garcia has four takeaways from Michigan basketball's 98-93 exhibition win over Oregon State on Friday, Oct. 16 at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. Senior guard Elliot Cadeau was sensational with a team-high 27 points and eight assists for the Wolverines.
1. Moustapha Thiam continues to impress
Thiam was seen as one of the top portal centers in available in the country, and he's showing why early in a Michigan uniform. Thiam finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists Friday.
He had an impressive three-possession stretch early which included an and-1 on a hook shot, a defensive swat at the rim and then a 3 from the right wing on the next possession.
He found Trey McKenney on a behind-the back pass for an easy layup, dribbled between his legs before he pulled from the right
wing for 3, then threw a lob to J.P. Estrella for an easy bucket.
Thiam scored on a lefty layup in the second half and affected the way the Beavers defended − on one second-half play, Cadeau was given a wide open floater because the center sagged off for fear of Thiam running behind him for an open lob. When Michigan started to pull away late, it came in large part because of slams from Thiam on lobs from Cadeau.
2. Trey McKenney could be first-team All-Big Ten
With each passing day, picking McKenney as a breakout candidate feels like taking the easy way out because in many regards he was a star last year, he just didn't have the role of one. This year, he will, and that's a great sign.
The sophomore hit Michigan's first of eight 3-pointers, a tough-leaner in the left corner less than three minutes into the game. Later, he had no problem getting to his spot on the left elbow and hitting a fadeaway midrange jumper before working off the ball and cutting from the weak side of the floor to allow thiam to hit him with a behind-the-back pass for an uncontested layup
He will, however, have to learn his importance to this team. After picking up one foul before the under-12 media timeout, he got dinged with a pair of fouls less than a minute apart later in the first half and had to sit the final 8:03 of the opening half.
Though Michigan immediately ripped off a 10-0 run over the next 3:44 to begin to pull away, Oregon State got back within three by the half. McKenney helped hold on for the win after the break. He hit a pair of free throws, a 3-pointer, a putback layup, another layup (on a goaltend) and then a key midrange jumper to go up four with 2:29 to play as he finished with 18 points.
3. Kenny Noland takes a step
Cadeau picked up two fouls in less than five minutes. McKenney picked up three in less than 12. Put it all together and Kenny Noland, the Columbia transfer, got pressed into duty early for the Wolverines as neither played the final eight minutes of the first half.
Unlike the opener vs. EMU, where he appeared timid, Noland looked comfortable. He found Thiam for an easy layup from underneath the bucket, then on back-to-back possessions kicked out to J.P. Estrella for a 3 before beating his defender on a blow-by-dribble as he finished a right-handed layup on the left side of the hoop.
He appears most comfortable near the hoop right now, as he got into the lane for another spinning bucket to go up 43-34 and after the break had an assist on a Quinn Costello 3 which gave U-M a five-point lead after the entire second half had been played inside of one possession.
Noland finished with six points and three and notably was on the court late with both Cadeau and McKenney to help close it out. That's important, particularly with Roddy Gayle still unavailable.
4. Defense could be work in progress
There's no Aday Mara patrolling the paint. No Morez Johnson as an enforcer. Nor is there a Yaxel Lendeborg, who was the size of a power forward often playing on the wing. The Wolverines lost three All Big Ten defensive players to the lottery and while most think of the void left on offense, it's their defensive presence that could be missing early.
Early, U-M got lost on a switch which led to a wide-open Deshawn Gory 3. Later, Quinn Costello was on a smaller guard down low but got beat on a spin move for a layup and right before the half Jalen Reed tried to blitz OSU with a double-team from too far away, which led to a swing pass and a 3-pointer just before the break.
It's not to say there weren't bright spots. Ricky Liburd came up with a steal and transition slam on the opening possession, Jalen Reed later did the same and in total the Wolverines forced 17 turnovers and scored 31 points off them. Still, the possession-by-possession consistency isn't there yet.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Moustapha Thiam dominates and 3 more takes from Michigan basketball exhibition
