Michigan basketball shot the lights out at Crisler Center in its 2025-26 debut − literally.
Trey McKenney hit a scooping and-one layup midway through the second half as the lights momentarily went out and came back on just as the ball fell through the hoop. On the other side of the break, he hit the free throw to put Michigan at the century mark as one of a number of who look Wolverines who had a dazzling debut.
It was an incredible performance from start to finish as U-M blitzed Oakland from the opening tip, setting a program record for points in a first half with 69 (passing the 66 against Eastern Michigan in Dec. 1987) and dominated in a resounding 121-78 victory to begin the campaign.
Michigan made its first seven shots on the night, all dunks or layups and was efficient all night, shooting 64.3% as a team including 54.3.% from 3 (19-of-35). Morez Johnson Jr. was unstoppable, scoring a career-high 24 points while Aday Mara also added a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The rest of the scoring was spread out as McKenney scored 21, Will Tschetter had 16, Nimari Burnett dropped 14, Yaxel Lendeborg had 12 and Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 11 − seven different players scored double figures. Elliot Cadeau paced the entire offense, scoring just five but adding 12 assists, one short of a career-high which was the most for a U-M player since Mike Smith had 11 in 2021.
Even Charlie May, son of coach Dusty May, got in on the action in the second half, drilling a 3-pointer from the left wing the kissing his fingers and pointing to the sky as the bench erupted.
Oakland is expected to compete in the Horizon League and has a Player of the Year candidate in the conference in Tuburu Naivalurua who finished with 18. Isaac Garrett also impressed with a team-high 18, but the Grizzlies were no match for U-M.
The Wolverines will have a tougher test in their next outing against Wake Forest in downtown Detroit at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 11 (6:30 p.m., FS1).
New twin towers
A year ago Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin were the new toys down low, this time it’s Morez Johnson Jr. (Illinois) and Aday Mara (UCLA), both of whom were fantastic in the opener. Mara opened the game throwing down a pair of slam dunks on assists from Elliot Cadeau. He added a layup on a nice feed from Johnson and then a spinning baseline layup with a lefty finish later in the half.
He had times where he grabbed his own missed and put it back, altered shots at the rim constantly and finished with five blocks, four of which came over a five-minute stretch in the middle portion of the second half.
But Johnson was the story of the night. In a 40-second span he had an assist, a layup and a rebound. It began a flurry where he scored 14 points in six minutes, complete with a pair of dunks, a pair of floaters and four consecutive makes at the stripe. He had 20 by the half and scored the first two of the second half before adding another floater for a new career best in just 20 minutes of work.
He’s exactly who the Wolverines were missing in a surprising exhibition loss to Cincinnati and was as impactful as anybody when on the court.
Cadeau the conductor
Michigan shared the ball well all night across the board, finishing with 27 assists, but Cadeau was on his own level.
He opened with a tip-pass to Mara and then a lob for a slam before pushing in transition to Burnett for a dunk of his own. He found Johnson who had a mismatch underneath the bucket and later in the half ran the court at full speed before dropping off a pass around a defender for an easy Johnson finish. But perhaps his most impressive play of the game was when he got a defensive rebound and then threw a full court pass to Lendeborg who caught the ball in transition and threw down a hammer.
In the second half he had a nifty bounce pass from the wing to the left corner, setting Will Tschetter up for a 3 ball. Equally as impressive as his 12 assists? He had just one turnover.
His running mate, freshman Trey McKenney, was every bit as impressive in his own right.
After struggling in the exhibition, he hit six (!) long balls and even knocked down an the-one layup with the lights off. He also grabbed two rebounds and had four assists including a no-looker with his left hand to Johnson for a slam in a solid debut of his own.
Careful with Yaxel
There will be many games this season where Yaxel Lendeborg is the star of the show, but not on this night.
U-M’s top transfer showed up for pregame warmups with a heavy wrap around his shooting hand. He was listed as a starter when the team announced the lineup on social media, but ultimately came off the bench as the first U-M sub in the game.
Lendeborg played just 22 minutes − there was no reason to risk his health in a game that U-M led by 20 or more for the final 30 minutes. Still, he made a number of nice plays like a corner 3, an offensive rebound and put-back off a Burnett miss and a block on a transition layup attempt for the Grizzlies.
He added another long ball in the second half for good measure.
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines 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: Michigan basketball even better than advertised in 121-78 win over Oakland
