ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Dusty May already had Michigan basketball ahead of schedule in his first year, as evidenced by a banner being hung on opening night of his second.

May’s Wolverines hoisted the Big Ten Tournament trophy last year, against all odds, and now they embark upon a journey that has even more promise in 2025-26. Loaded with several new transfers and standout freshmen, the maize and blue were middling in the two exhibition games, but put on some firepower against Greg Kampe’s Oakland Grizzlies in the Monday night season opener.

Though the star transfer of the offseason (across all teams) was former UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg, it was Illinois transfer forward Morez Johnson Jr. who asserted himself early and often. North Carolina transfer point guard Elliot Cadeau acted as the facilitator, as the offensively-minded Wolverines kept running and gunning to open up the season.

Michigan eviscerated Oakland, 121-78. Here are our takeaways from the season opener:

Fast and furious

In his introductory press conference a year and a half ago, May promised that his team would be fast and fun. Well, they’re definitely that.

It felt like the Wolverines scored a game’s worth of points in just the first half, and it didn’t exactly look difficult. The mixture of length (more on that later), tempo, and options makes this team incredibly dangerous. The funny thing is that the maize and blue finished with 121 points, and yet, they didn’t look anywhere close to a finished product.

Big men rule

The tone for the game was instantly set with a bucket underneath by gargantuan center Aday Mara, the UCLA transfer. Not long later, Morez Johnson Jr. got involved, and he kept the pedal to the metal. As noted, Yaxel Lendeborg came off the bench, but he looked dominant in his stints out on the court, scoring 12, going a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor, with two 3s. Johnson led all scorers with 24, while Mara had 12.

It might not be the same as it was last year with Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf, but it appears that the current lineup of big men will suit this Wolverines team just fine.

The bench is deeper this year

Last year, it felt like outside of one or two players beyond the starting lineup, Michigan couldn’t really rely on what it had on the roster. Yes, Roddy Gayle Jr. thrived once he was demoted from starter to sixth man, and forward Will Tschetter had his moments, and freshman guard LJ Cason shone in the postseason. However, the bench points were intermittent at best and nonexistent at worst.

However, this team is much different.

At any given moment, there was at least one bench player out in rotation, and they weren’t just a warm body on the court. Everyone out there got involved, whether it was Lendeborg, true freshman (and former five-star) combo guard Trey McKenney, or the aforementioned Tschetter. Yes, that’s just one more player than mentioned, but all involved were viable options.

The bench contributed 55 of the team’s BLA121NK points.

Defense is still worrisome

OK, first, it should be noted that Oakland did not, by any means, have a solid offensive game. But it’s also apparent that a better, more equally matched team could really damage the Wolverines on the other side of the court.

Michigan played the type of run-and-gun game we expected when May took over last year, and with that came the fun offensive element. However, there were several lapses on the other end where the Wolverines essentially went unpunished due to the competition level not being capable of taking advantage. Perhaps the good news is that this team is so talented that this style of play could work without the defense doing its job any given game. But if the maize and blue run into a defensive buzzsaw at any point and the game slows down, it will be curious to see how Michigan fares.

The big concern here, mostly, is the perimeter defense, where the Wolverines allowed 42.3% from 3.

Turnovers

It’s difficult to say whether or not this element of the Wolverines’ game is improved or not. They still committed eight turnovers and at times seemed careless, if not reckless, with the basketball.

Again, eight turnovers for Michigan basketball is pretty good compared to much of what we’ve seen this year (or before, to be honest), but it’s still something that must get cleaned up before the meat of the schedule.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: 5 takeaways: Michigan basketball drops 121 pts on in explosive opener