The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one (exhibition) game this past week, and they won it. On Friday (10/16/2026), they beat Oregon State 98-93 in Crisler Arena. Since this was just an exhibition game, Michigan’s record is still 0-0.
What Happened?
This one didn’t feel like an exhibition game. Both teams were playing hard to win, and it was a close, exciting, back-and-forth game. Neither team could pull away, and either team could have won it in the last minute. Fortunately, Michigan played just better enough in the final minute to win it.
Game Flow
Oregon State jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the first 2 minutes. Yikes. OSU made their first 5 shots before they finally missed, and they led 17-13 at the 12:20 mark. Michigan finally got their act together and pulled ahead 22-17 with 11:21 to go. That was a nice 9-0 run. The lead went back and forth for a few minutes, and it was tied (25-25) at the 9:01 mark. Michigan went on a 14-1 run to lead by 13 (39-26) with 4:06 to go, and it looked like they might have the game under control, when OSU started coming back. They got the deficit down to 7 points (41-34) at the 2:04 mark, then down to 3 points (45-42) at halftime.
OSU scored the first 4 points of the 2nd half, and completely erased the 13-point Michigan lead, going up 46-45 at the 19:00 mark. The next 10 minutes saw 5 ties and 11 lead changes, with neither team able to pull more than 4 points ahead. Michigan finally got a 5-point lead (72-67) with 9:40 to go, but it didn’t last. OSU went ahead 76-74 at the 7:12 mark, and that was the last time they led. Michigan tied it up (76-76) with 7:00 to go, and went ahead for good 79-76 a few seconds later. They got their lead up to 6 a few times, and OSU got within a point once (89-88 at the 1:46 mark), but Michigan played tough down the stretch to hang on for a 5-point win.
Stats
The game stats were pretty good:
Overall shooting – 34/67 = 50.7% (Very good)
3-point shooting – 8/31 = 25.8% (Poor)
Free throws – 22/32 = 68.8% (Decent)
Rebounds – Michigan lost 29-37
Turnovers – Michigan won 7-17
Michigan won this game with good overall shooting and minimal turnovers.
Who Started?
The starters were Elliot Cadeau, J.P. Estrella, Ricky Liburd, Trey McKenney, and Moustapha Thiam.
Who Looked Good?
Cadeau was the leading scorer, with 27 points on decent shooting: 7/16 overall, 1/6 from deep, 12/15 from the line. He also had 8 assists. He scored 1 point in the 1st half and 26 points in the 2nd half. He put Michigan on his back in the last 10 minutes.
Thiam had a much better offensive game this time, with 19 points and 10 rebounds, for a double-double. He also had 5 assists. He shot pretty well: 7/11 overall, 2/6 from deep, 3/7 from the line. He fired up a couple ill-advised 3-pointers, but he did make 2 of them.
McKenney had another good game, with 18 points on decent shooting: 7/13 overall, 2/6 from deep, 2/2 from the line. He should shoot 3-pointers better than that.
Estrella almost hit double figures, with 9 points (and 7 rebounds) on decent shooting: 4/6 overall, 1/2 from deep.
Quinn Costello had a good game off the bench, with 10 points on good shooting: 2/4 overall, 2/4 from deep, 4/4 from the line. When he squares up for his 3-point shot, he’s deadly. The 2 he missed were wild shots where he wasn’t set.
Kenny Noland played for almost 24 minutes as the backup point guard, and he did a nice job. He scored 6 points on decent shooting: 3/6 overall, 0/2 from deep. He had 3 assists.
Who Looked Not-So-Good?
Liburd started, but he didn’t do much offensively: he scored Michigan’s first basket on a steal-dunk, and he scored Michigan’s last point on a free throw, and in between he didn’t do much. He ended up with 3 points on lousy shooting: 1/3 overall, 0/2 from deep, 1/4 from the line.
Jalen Reed didn’t do much off the bench. He scored 4 points on decent shooting: 2/4 overall, 0/1 from deep.
Joseph Hartman didn’t do much off the bench, with 2 points.
Oscar Goodman played for 4+ minutes and didn’t score, missing his only shot attempt, a 3-pointer.
Malachi Brown played for 4+ minutes, and didn’t score, missing his only shot attempt.
Who Else Played?
No one else played.
Who Didn’t Play?
Roddy Gayle Jr. is still waiting for the legal details of his eligibility to be worked out, so he didn’t play.
Marcus Møller was dressed and on the bench, but didn’t play. His medical trip to Denmark disrupted his practice time.
The two players on the Scout Team (Howard Eisley Jr. and Harrison Hochberg) didn’t play in this game.
What Does It Mean?
We learned a lot more from this exhibition game than from the exhibition game against Eastern Michigan last week. Oregon State is a much better opponent, and they gave Michigan all they could handle. Regardless, Michigan looked better than OSU, but it was their own sloppiness that kept the game close. If they can clean up some of the dumb mistakes, they should be able to take control of the game more easily.
This game has no effect on Michigan’s standing or post-season chances. It was just an exhibition.
This Week
This week Michigan plays their third and final exhibition game. On Sunday (10/25/2026, 1:00 p.m., B1G+) they play Houston in Grand Rapids, MI. The first AP Poll hasn’t come out yet, but when it does, Houston will probably be ranked higher (around #18) than Michigan (maybe #22).
Houston was 30-7 (14-4 in Big 12) last season. They lost in the semifinals of their conference tournament, and made it to the Sweet 16 in the Big Dance. They had impressive wins over (#22) Auburn, (#14) Arkansas, (#14) Texas Tech, (#16) BYU, and (#16) Kansas. They didn’t have any unimpressive losses. They don’t have any noteworthy players, and they don’t have much height: a 6’10” player and a 7’0” player. This game is a true “toss up”. Michigan certainly has the talent to beat anyone this season, but they need to have the right lineups out there, based on who’s hot, and they need to stop making dumb mistakes. That’s why they play exhibition games, to work these things out.
Check back next week to find out what happened and why.
Go Blue!
