UMGOBLUE.COM
Posted on by Drew Montag

Nothing But ‘Net – Week #03 – 10/27/2025 – The End Of The Exhibition Season

The (#7) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one (exhibition) game this past week, and they won it.  On Saturday (10/25/2025), they beat (#5) St. John’s 96-94 in overtime in Madison Square Garden, in New York City.   Since it was just an exhibition game, Michigan’s record is still 0-0.

What Happened?

This season, Michigan played two exhibition games, instead of the usual one.  Also, instead of playing an easy exhibition game against a “cupcake” opponent (think Northern Michigan), they played two games against quality opponents.

Full disclosure: I don’t subscribe to B1G+, the Big Ten Network’s premium service, so I wasn’t able to watch the game on TV.  Instead, I followed it using the “Live Stats” app on the web.  That gave me a feel for the flow of the game, but not how it looked.  I’ve seen highlights, but not the full game.  So, I’m patching this together from limited information.

It may have been a “meaningless” exhibition game in late October, but it had all the drama of a Sweet 16 game in mid-March.  A matchup between the #5 and #7 teams in the nation in Madison Square Garden?  Yes, please.

It was a close game the whole time, with neither team able to pull away.  As with Michigan’s first exhibition game last week, a 100-98 home loss to Cincinnati, there were way too many fouls called.  In this case, there were 28 fouls called on Michigan, with 2 players fouling out, and 26 fouls called on SJU, with 3 players fouling out.

Game Flow

Thanks to the very detailed PDF stats on UM’s website, I can give some meta information about the game flow:

  • Michigan’s biggest lead was 8 points, at the 2:38 mark in overtime.
  • SJU’s biggest lead was 5 points, at the 14:21 mark in the 2nd half.
  • Michigan’s best scoring run was 8 points, up to the 2:38 mark of overtime.
  • SJU’s best scoring run was also 8 points, from the 2:38 mark to the 1:39 mark in overtime.
  • There were 19 lead changes, and 10 ties.  That is a very close game.
  • Michigan had the lead for 24:20.
  • SJU had the lead for 16:19.

Michigan took the early lead, up 13-6 at the 14:55 mark.  They kept the lead in the 1-3 point range for the next few minutes, but SJU went ahead 19-18 with 7:52 left in the half.  The lead went back and forth for a while, and the game was all tied up (26-26) at the 3:57 mark.  SJU led for the rest of the half, but never by more than 4 points.  Michigan hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to pull within 1 point, 35-34.

The beginning of the 2nd half was more back-and-forth, with a couple lead changes, and the game all tied up again (40-40) at the 17:46 mark.  At this point SJU pulled away, and led by 5 points (51-46) with 12:44 to go.  Michigan fought back and tied it up (51-51) at the 11:52 mark, but SJU went back ahead, keeping the lead in the 1-3 point range.  Finally, Michigan regained the lead (64-63) at the 7:49 mark.  They stretched the lead to 5 points (72-67) with 6:10 to go, but SJU tied it up again a couple times (72-72 and 74-74).  SJU got their final lead of the game (77-76) at the 3:13 mark, then UM pulled ahead again.  Michigan led by 4 points (84-80) with 1:52 to go, but SJU tied it up (84-84) with 1:04 left.  Amazingly, no one scored again for the last 64 seconds.  In fact, SJU never even attempted a shot.  Michigan attempted 3 shots, 2 of them driving layups, and missed them all.  They got a couple offensive rebounds, so they kept shooting, but they couldn’t buy a basket.  Sigh.

Overtime.  Michigan scored the first 8 points, and they were in control, 92-84, with 2:38 to go.  SJU scored the next 8 points to tie the game up, 92-92, with 1:39 to go.  Michigan made the last basket of the game at the 0:56 mark to go up 94-92, then the teams traded free throws the rest of the way.  Michigan went 2-for-4, and SJU went 2-for-5, and that was the ball game.

Stats

The game stats were decent.  Michigan shot pretty well overall (35-for-67 = 52.2%), they shot 3-pointers well (8-for-19 = 42.1%), but they didn’t shoot free throws very well (18-for-29 = 62.1%).  They won the rebounding battle easily (48-36), but they lost the turnover battle badly (22-10).  They won this game with shooting from the floor, but almost lost it with turnovers and free throw shooting.           

Who Started?

The starters were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Roddy Gayle Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

Lendeborg was the star of the game for Michigan again, with 25 points and 10 rebounds, for another double-double.  He shot well: 10-for-15 overall, 2-for-4 from deep.

Mara returned from a minor injury, and he looked good out there, with 13 points on good shooting: 5-for-10.  I expected more rebounding from him: 5 boards.

Gayle was the only other starter in double figures, with 11 points.  He shot just OK: 4-for-10 overall, 0-for-2 from deep.

Morez Johnson Jr. also returned from a minor injury, and he was the 2nd leading scorer for Michigan with 15 points off the bench.  He was also the 2nd leading rebounder, with 8 boards.

Will Tschetter was the 5th UM player in double figures, with 10 points off the bench.  On the negative side, he fouled out.

Cadeau almost hit double figures, with 9 points on efficient shooting: 4-for-6 overall, 1-for-2 from deep.  On the positive side, he led the team with 9 assists.  On the negative side, he led the team with 5 turnovers.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Burnett had another mediocre game, scoring 5 points on just OK shooting: 2-for-5 overall, 1-for-3 from deep.

L.J. Cason came in a few times, but didn’t do much.  He scored 4 points in 20 minutes.  He’s having a slow start.

Trey McKenney continued to play like a freshman.  He kept shooting, and he finally made a basket, but he still doesn’t look like a Mr. Basketball and a McDonald’s All-American.  He scored 4 points on poor shooting: 1-for-5 overall, 1-for-3 from deep.

Who Else Played?

Winters Grady played for 2.5 minutes off the bench, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Who Didn’t Play?

Oscar Goodman, Malick Kordel, and Ricky Liburd were the scholarship players who didn’t play in this game.

None of the Scout Team players played: Howard Eisley Jr., Harrison Hochberg, and Charlie May.

What Does It Mean?

Once again, it was only an exhibition game, but it was a good benchmark for Michigan.  SJU played hard to win, and Michigan got to experience a tournament-style game without worrying about their win-loss record.  This game showed that Michigan can hang in there with the big boys.

This Week

This week, Michigan doesn’t play a game.  They play their first “real” game on Monday 11/03/2025, against Oakland.

Check back next week for a preview of the start of the regular season.

Go Blue!

Related Posts