The (#2) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game this past week, and they won it.  On Sunday (12/21/2025), they beat La Salle 102-50 in Crisler Arena.  Michigan’s record improves to 11-0 (2-0 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

This was a “guarantee” game, a game that Michigan was expected to win easily, and that’s exactly what they did.  They followed their now-familiar script: get a nice lead early, expand it to a commanding lead at halftime, then keep it growing through the 2^nd half.  It was another dominant win.

Game Flow

The first 5 minutes of the game were sloppy and choppy.  The lead went back and forth, and it looked like La Salle was going to be trouble.  At the 14:47 mark, La Salle was up 10-9, and Michigan promptly turned the ball over.  That was the high-water mark for La Salle.  Michigan stole the ball back, and went on a nice 11-0 run.  Suddenly, it was 20-10 with 12:22 to go.  La Salle got back within 8 points, and then Michigan went on another 11-0 run, and that was the game.  Michigan was up by 19 points (31-12) at the 8:33 mark, and they kept the lead in the 12-16 point range for the next 4 minutes.  With 4:02 left in the half, Michigan was still up 17 points (44-27), when they finally got the lead over 20 points, going into halftime up by 21 points (54-33).

The second half was more of the same.  Look at the final score: 102-50; La Salle didn’t even get up to Michigan’s halftime score (54).  It took less than 5 minutes for Michigan to push their lead up to 30 points (67-37), at the 15:45 mark.  It took another 7 minutes to get the lead up to 40 points (83-43), with 8:43 to go.  In another 6+ minutes the lead was up to 51 points (97-46), at the 2:24 mark.  It got as high as 56 points (102-46) with 1:28 left, before La Salle scored the last 4 points against the Scout Team to pull within 52 points at the end.

Stats

The game stats were impressive.  Michigan shot well overall (34/62 = 54.8%), they shot 3-pointers very well (14/29 = 48.3%), but they didn’t shoot free throws very well (20/30 = 66.7%).  They won the rebounding battle (40-35) and the turnover battle (10-19).  They won this game with solid shooting and low turnovers.

Who Started?

The starters were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

Trey McKenney was the high scorer for Michigan, with 17 points, off the bench.  He shot very well: 5/8 overall, 3/5 from deep, 4/4 from the free throw line.

Mara had a good game, with 14 points and 10 rebounds, for a nice double-double.  He shot very well from the floor: 5/5 overall, but not so well from the free throw line: 4/8.  He was credited with 2 blocked shots, but he altered at least a dozen shots and did a great job guarding the rim.

Cadeau also had 14 points, but he didn’t shoot quite as well: 4/9 overall, 3/5 from deep.

L.J. Cason was the next leading scorer, with 13 points, off the bench.  He shot very well: 5/7 overall, 3/4 from deep.  A couple of his 3-pointers were from beyond NBA range, and he nailed them confidently.

Johnson was the last Wolverine in double figures, with 10 points.  He also shot pretty well: 4/6 overall.

Lendeborg only had 8 points, but he led the team in assists, with 5.

Roddy Gayle Jr. chipped in 6 points off the bench.

Will Tschetter chipped in 6 points off the bench.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Burnett only scored 4 points, on lousy shooting: 1/4 overall, 0/2 from deep.  He’s a senior starter at shooting guard, but he isn’t shooting (or scoring).

Who Else Played?

Since the game was a blowout, the non-rotation players got to play a bit.

Howard Eisley Jr. was the “feel good” story of this game.  He played for the last 2 minutes, and scored his first points at Michigan, with a nice 3-pointer, on his only shot attempt.  The crowd (and the Michigan bench) went wild, and kept cheering for a good 30 seconds after the basket.  It was fun.

Oscar Goodman played for almost 8 minutes, and scored 2 points on 1/1 shooting.

Winters Grady played for almost 7 minutes, and scored 5 points on 1/3 shooting (all 3-point attempts) and 2/2 free throw shooting.

Malick Kordel played for almost 7 minutes, but missed his only shot attempt and his only free throw.

Who Didn’t Play?

The only scholarship player who didn’t play was Ricky Liburd.  It turns out that he is taking a medical redshirt year, so I won’t be mentioning him anymore.

The Scout Team players who didn’t play were: Harrison Hochberg and Charlie May.

What Does It Mean?

This win doesn’t change anything on Michigan’s postseason resume, which is already stacked.  It was a dominant win against a “cupcake” opponent.  The most important thing is that Michigan is still unbeaten, which is very encouraging.  The list of undefeated teams is down to six: Arizona, Iowa State, Miami (OH), Michigan, Nebraska, and Vanderbilt.  Duke just dropped from the list on Saturday.

This Week

This week, Michigan has the week off!  Their next game is Monday 12/29/2025, and my week range for these articles is Monday – Sunday.

Check back next week for midterm grades and a preview of Michigan’s next games.

Go Blue!

The (#2) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this past week, and they won both of them.  On Tuesday (12/09/2025), they beat Villanova 89-61 in Crisler Arena, then on Saturday (12/13/2025), they beat Maryland 101-83 in College Park, MD.  Michigan’s record improves to 10-0 (2-0 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

Michigan is still unbeaten, one of only seven teams left without a loss: Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, Miami (OH), Michigan, Nebraska, and Vanderbilt.  However, after thumping six opponents in a row, Michigan looked beatable for much of the Maryland game.  Fortunately, they came to life in the last 16 minutes, and beat Maryland by a comfortable 18 points.  Still, after beating six opponents in a row by at least 25 points, trailing by 9 points in the 2^nd half at Maryland was a little scary.  On the other hand, this could be a good wake-up call for Michigan.

Game Flow

The Villanova game looked a lot like the previous five games: Michigan got an early lead, slowly built it up to a solid lead by halftime, then built it up even more in the 2^nd half.  In this case, the 2^nd half wasn’t quite as dominating as some of the previous games (SDSU and Gonzaga), but it was more than enough to win comfortably.

Villanova actually tied the game up (3-3) and led briefly (4-3) at 18:33 mark, but once Michigan got back ahead (5-4) with 17:59 to go, they never trailed again.  They pushed the lead up to 6 points (10-4) at the 15:50 mark, then 14 points (21-7) at the 13:40 mark, then 23 points (39-16) at the 7:58 mark.  They managed to push the lead up to 30 points (53-23) at halftime.  How often do you think Villanova is behind by 30 points at halftime?

The 2^nd half was just an exercise in holding off every Villanova run.  They let Villanova get within 28 points a couple times, but they mostly kept the lead in the 32-34 point range.  They pushed it up to 38 points (83-47) at the 4:43 mark, then they put in the Scout Team.  That’s the only reason Michigan didn’t score 100 points and win by at least 35 points.

The Maryland game was much more tense.  The game was close for the entire 1^st half, and much of the 2^nd half.  Maryland figured out the secret to getting ahead of Michigan: shoot 70% from 3-point range.  When they finally started missing, the game slipped away from them.

Michigan had a couple early leads (2-0 and 5-3), but one Maryland player (Coit) was deadly from 3-point range early, and he powered Maryland to a 5 point lead (10-5) all by himself at the 16:32 mark.  Michigan fought back, and went ahead by 5 points (17-12) at the 13:53 mark.  The lead went back and forth, with Michigan ahead by 6 points (31-25) with 8:35 left in the half.  Michigan fell asleep, and Maryland went on a 12-2 run, to go up by 4 points (37-33) at the 5:25 mark.  The lead went back and forth again, and Maryland took a 5-point lead into halftime, 50-45.

Before we get to the 2^nd half, look at that halftime score.  It’s only the second time this season that Michigan has been behind at halftime.  The other time was at TCU, when they were down 35-33 at halftime.  Here are the halftime scores for the first 9 games:

Oakland: 69-38 (+31)

Wake Forest: 47-34 (+13)

TCU: 33-35 (-2)

Middle Tennessee: 36-30 (+6)

SDSU: 45-33 (+12)

Auburn: 59-31 (+28)

Gonzaga: 53-29 (+24)

Rutgers: 50-25 (+25)

Villanova: 53-23 (+30)

That’s an average halftime lead of 18.5 points.  Michigan wasn’t used to a game being close at halftime.  How would they respond?

Well, Michigan responded just fine, but not until Maryland pulled even further ahead.  They pushed their lead to 9 points (56-47) at the 18:48 mark, and things were looking pretty gloomy for Michigan.  That’s when Michigan finally woke up, and went on an 8-0 run to get back in the game, down just 56-55 with 17:09 to go.  Maryland hung onto their slim lead for a couple minutes, but Michigan finally went back on top (62-60) at the 14:42 mark.  Maryland led one more time, 63-62, 30 seconds later, and that was it.  Michigan went ahead for good 64-63 with 13:52 left, and never trailed again.  They pushed their lead up to 11 points (84-73) at the 8:01 mark, then 20 points (101-81) with 19 seconds left, before Maryland scored with 13 seconds left to make it an 18-point game at the end.

Stats

The game stats for the Villanova game were pretty weak.  Michigan didn’t shoot very well overall (33/69 = 47.8%), they didn’t shoot 3-pointers very well (9/23 = 27.3%), and they didn’t shoot free throws very well (14/25 = 56.0%).  They did crush Villanova on the boards (53-33), and they did win the turnover battle (12-15).  They won this game with decent shooting and dominating rebounding.

The game stats for the Maryland game were very good.  Michigan shot very well overall (35/58 = 60.3%), they shot 3-pointers very well (12/19 = 63.2%), and they shot free throws very well (19/22 = 86.4%).  They lost the rebounding battle (26-29), but they won the turnover battle (9-12).  They won this game with great shooting and low turnovers.

Who Started?

The starters for both games were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

All five starters played well in both games.

Cadeau was the leading scorer for Michigan in the Villanova game, with 18 points, and he scored 12 more against Maryland.  He also had 4 and 10 assists, which gave him a double-double in the Maryland game.

Mara also hit double figures in both games, with 11 and 18 points.  He also had 8 and 3 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots in each game.

Lendeborg was the star of the Maryland game, with a team-high 29 points.  He sparked the rally at the start of the 2^nd half that won the game.  He shot very well: 8/11 overall, 4/5 from deep, and 9/9 from the free throw line.  He also had 9 assists and 3 blocked shots.  He was awesome.  He had a good game vs. Villanova, with 9 points.

Johnson had two pretty good games, with 7 and 8 points.  He had a team-high 10 rebounds vs. Villanova.

Burnett chipped in 5 and 9 points.

Trey McKenney came off the bench and had one good game (10 points vs. Villanova) and one lousy game (0 points vs. Maryland).

Roddy Gayle Jr. had two decent games off the bench, with 9 points in each game.

L.J. Cason had two good games off the bench, with 8 and 12 points.

Will Tschetter chipped in 7 and 4 points off the bench.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

All the main rotation players looked good this week.

Who Else Played?

Since the Villanova game was a blowout, some of the non-mainstream players got to play in that game.

Oscar Goodman played for 6 minutes, but missed his only shot attempt.

Winters Grady played for 5 minutes, and was 1/2 from deep, for 3 points.

Malick Kordel played for 5 minutes, and scored 2 more points on a nice dunk.

Howard Eisley Jr. got to play in the final minute.  He didn’t attempt a shot.

Who Didn’t Play?

The only scholarship player who didn’t play was Ricky Liburd.

The Scout Team players who didn’t play were: Harrison Hochberg and Charlie May.

What Does It Mean?

These were both solid wins over major opponents.  Michigan’s postseason resume is packed with good wins.  At this point, Michigan is playing to win the Big Ten title and enter the NCAA Tournament as a #1 seed.  The first half of the Maryland game was a little concerning, but it could be the wake-up call that Michigan needs.  It was encouraging that Michigan shook off their sub-optimal first half and played a great second half vs. Maryland.

This Week

This week, Michigan only plays one game.  On Sunday (12/21/2025, 4:00 p.m., Peacock), they play La Salle in Crisler Arena.

La Salle is currently 4-7 (0-0 in the Atlantic 10), with no impressive wins, and unimpressive losses to Hofstra, Penn, Merrimack, and Long Island University.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they do have some height: a 6’10” player and a 7-footer.  This is the kind of team that Michigan should beat by 30 points.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!

The (#3) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game this past week, and they won it.  On Saturday (12/06/2025), they beat Rutgers 101-60 in Crisler Arena.  Michigan’s record improves to 8-0 (1-0 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

Talk about a flying start to league play: Michigan got an early lead, built it steadily, doubled Rutgers at halftime (50-25), and just kept going in the 2^nd half.  Almost everyone played, and almost everyone who played, played well.  It was a smooth, confident, dominant victory over a team that’s expected to finish in the middle of the Big Ten.

It was also the third game in a row (Auburn: 102, Gonzaga: 101, and Rutgers: 101) where Michigan scored at least 100 points.  They haven’t done that since 1989.  To top it off, it was the fifth game in a row where Michigan has won by at least 25 points: MTSU: 86-61 (25 points), SDSU: 94-54 (40 points), Auburn: 102-72 (30 points), Gonzaga: 101-61 (40 points), and Rutgers: 101-60 (41 points).  Michigan is definitely on a hot streak.

Game Flow

Rutgers actually led in this game, for 5 seconds.  They were up 2-0 at the 19:05 mark, before Michigan tied it up 2-2 at the 19:00 mark.  Michigan went ahead 4-2 with 17:37 to go, and Rutgers never tied or led again.  The lead grew to 8 points (12-4), then 12 points (18-6), then 20 points (39-19).  At that point, the game was essentially over.  Rutgers stood no chance of coming back.  They got their deficit down to 19 points (39-20), then Michigan pushed it over 20 points for the rest of the game.  It was 25 points (50-25) at halftime.

The 2^nd half was more of the same.  Michigan pushed their lead up to 30 points (63-33) at the 15:38 mark, and kept it over 30 for most of the rest of the game.  They made it 41 points (97-56) at the 4:00 mark, and kept it between 39-42 points the rest of the way, even with the Scout Team out there.  It was a dominant victory.

Stats

The game stats were great.  Michigan shot very well overall (39/65 = 60.0%), they shot 3-pointers very well (13/29 = 44.8%), and they shot free throws decently (10/15 = 66.7%).  They won the rebounding battle handily (40-29) along with the turnover battle (11-16).  Another big stat: Michigan had 8 blocked shots, Rutgers had 0.  Michigan won this game with great shooting, solid rebounding, and low(ish) turnovers.

Who Started?

The starters were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

The star in this game was Johnson.  Rutgers didn’t have anyone who could guard him, and he feasted.  He scored a game-high 22 points on excellent shooting: 9/11 overall, 2/2 from deep.  That’s right: after missing his first two 3-point attempts this season in earlier games, he nailed both attempts vs. Rutgers.  He was awesome.

Lendeborg had another good game, with 14 points and 8 rebounds.  He shot pretty well: 5/10 overall, 3/8 from deep.

Trey McKenney was the 3^rd leading scorer for Michigan in this game, with 13 points off the bench, including a very nice alley-oop slam dunk.

Cadeau hit double figures, with 11 points, along with 9 assists.

Roddy Gayle Jr. had a nice game off the bench, with 11 points and 6 assists.

L.J. Cason had a very good game off the bench, with 11 points, on good shooting: 4/6 overall, 3/5 from deep.

Mara had a quiet game offensively, with only 4 points, but he was a terror on defense.  He had 4 of Michigan’s 8 blocked shots, and he made the Rutgers players alter or reconsider many other shots.  He also had 11 rebounds.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Burnett had a quiet game, with only 5 points.  He needs to be more of a scoring threat out there.

Will Tschetter didn’t do much off the bench, with 0 points on one shot attempt.

Who Else Played?

Since the game was a blowout, some of the non-mainstream players got to play more than usual.

Oscar Goodman played for 8 minutes, and scored 2 points on another nice dunk.

Winters Grady also played for 8 minutes, and he was 2/2 from deep, for 6 points.  He also got into a minor shoving match with a Rutgers player after his 2^nd 3-pointer.  He didn’t start it, but he reacted, so they each got a technical foul.

Malick Kordel played for 4+ minutes, and scored 2 more points on a nice layup.

Howard Eisley Jr. got to play for the first time this season, for 2 minutes.  He missed his only shot attempt, a 3-pointer.

Who Didn’t Play?

The only scholarship player who didn’t play was Ricky Liburd.

The Scout Team players who didn’t play were: Harrison Hochberg and Charlie May.

What Does It Mean?

It’s great that Michigan started the Big Ten season with a convincing win.  Half of the teams started with a loss.  This win will look pretty good on Michigan’s NCAA Tournament resume, but it won’t be a big factor.  The biggest impact of this result is that it keeps Michigan undefeated, which should help them move up to #2, or even #1, in the upcoming AP Poll.  The current #1 team, Purdue, lost by 23 points at home to (#10) Iowa State, so there’s room at the top.

This Week

This week, Michigan plays two games.  On Tuesday (12/09/2025, 6:30 p.m., FS1), they play Villanova in Crisler Arena, then on Saturday (12/13/2025, 8:00 p.m., FOX), they play at Maryland.

Villanova is currently 7-1, with no significant wins and a blowout loss to (#8) BYU in their opener.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they do have some height: a 6’10” guy, a 7-footer, and a 7’1” guy.  Even though they are not ranked, they are a blue-blood program from a major conference, and they will be out to upset Michigan on the road.  This will be a good test of Michigan’s current hot streak.  Michigan should win, but they’ll have to stay focused.

Maryland is currently 6-4 (0-1 in Big Ten), with no impressive wins, and unimpressive losses to Georgetown and Iowa.  They actually have a common opponent with Michigan this season: they also played in the Players Era Festival, and they were crushed by (#12) Gonzaga 100-61, right before Michigan crushed Gonzaga 101-61.  So, Michigan should beat Maryland by about 80 points, right?  Sorry, it doesn’t work like that.  Anyway, they don’t have any noteworthy players, and they don’t have much height: only one 6’10” guy, and he’s a lightly-used freshman.  So, Michigan will have a huge height advantage.  They should be able to beat Maryland, even on the road, as long as they play like they’ve done for the last 5 games.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!

The (#7) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played three games this past week, in the Players Era Festival tournament in Las Vegas, and they won all three of them, which made them tournament champions.  On Monday (11/24/2025), they beat San Diego State 94-54, on Tuesday (11/25/2025), they beat (#21) Auburn 102-72, then on Wednesday (11/26/2025), they beat (#12) Gonzaga 101-61.  Michigan’s record improves to 7-0.

What Happened?

Wow, what a tournament!  Michigan didn’t just win three games in three days, they won all three in blowout fashion, two of them against ranked opponents.  Because they won the first two games by the maximum score differential in the tournament scoring system, they got to play in the championship game on the third day, and they won that one convincingly.  They were obviously the best team there, and they deserved to win the Players Era Festival Championship.

As a huge bonus, they got $1 million in NIL money for playing in the tournament, and they got another $1 million for winning it.  I’m not a big fan of the NIL system, but it’s the current reality, and I’m glad Michigan is doing it right.

Game Flow

All three games had a similar flow: Michigan got ahead early, built up a comfortable lead by halftime, then poured it on in the 2^nd half to win in blowout fashion.  Look at those winning margins: 40, 30, and 40 points.  That’s domination.

Michigan started out a little slow in the SDSU game.  SDSU led 5-0, Michigan tied it 5-5, SDSU went ahead 7-5, then Michigan got going.  Michigan tied it up 7-7 at the 16:56 mark, and that was the last time they were tied or trailed.  They went on a 10-0 run to lead 17-7 at the 14:10 mark, and they pushed the lead up as high as 17 points (32-15 with 7:22 to go in the half).  However, SDSU hung around.  They got back within 9 points a few times, but Michigan still led by 12 points (45-33) at halftime.

The 2^nd half was beautiful.  Michigan went on an 8-0 run to push their lead up to 20 points (53-33) at the 17:19 mark, and that was the game.  SDSU never got closer than 16 points, and the lead kept growing.  It hit 30 points (73-43) with 9:27 to go, and 42 points (94-52) with 1:26 left, before ending with a 40 point margin of victory.

Beating unranked SDSU was one thing, but playing (#21) Auburn was something else.  Auburn was a #1 seed in last season’s NCAA Tournament, and they knocked Michigan out of the tournament in the Sweet 16.  Everyone expected a close, tense game, but Michigan blew them away.  Auburn led 2-0 and 2-1, but Michigan went ahead 3-2 at the 18:31 mark, and Auburn never led again.  Michigan pushed their lead up to 12 points (16-4) with 15:01 to go in the half.  At that point, Auburn had missed their first 8 shots, getting all 4 points from the free throw line.  They finally started making some shots, and they got within 6 points (16-10) at the 14:16 mark, but Michigan kept the lead in the 8-10 point range for the next few minutes.  The turning point was at the 9:01 mark, when Auburn was within 8 points (28-20).  Michigan went on a nice 20-4 run, which pushed their lead up to 24 points, 48-24, with 3:22 to go.  Michigan added 4 more points to their lead, and the led by 28 points (59-31) at halftime.

The 2^nd half consisted of Michigan keeping their lead between 25-30 points.  It got as high as 35 points (100-65) at the 2:39 mark, ending at 30 points (102-72).  It was a beautiful, dominant victory.

OK, beating SDSU was expected, and Michigan was a slight favorite vs. Auburn, but (#12) Gonzaga was ranked even higher than Auburn, and they were a slight favorite vs. Michigan.  Michigan had time to prepare for SDSU and Auburn, but they didn’t know who they would be playing on Wednesday night until late Tuesday night.  Were they tired from two fast-paced, high-scoring games?  Could they play at the same pace for three days in a row?  Vegas didn’t think so, and neither did the ESPN game analytics (72-28 in favor of Gonzaga).

So, what did Michigan do?  They played their best game of the three vs. Gonzaga.  They never trailed, leading 3-0, 5-0, then 13-3.  They forced Gonzaga to call a “momentum” timeout before the first media timeout, at the 16:49 mark.  That’s huge.  Michigan kept building on the lead, pushing it up to 19 points (33-14) with 10:44 to go in the half.  They kept it between 17-19 points for a while, but they let Gonzaga creep a little closer (13 points: 39-26) at the 5:08 mark.  That just woke Michigan up, and they went on a 14-3 run to end the half, up 24 points (53-29).  When was the last time Gonzaga was down 24 points at halftime?

The 2^nd half was a thing of beauty.  Michigan pushed the lead up to 30 points (65-35) at the 14:29 mark, then 40 points (83-43) at the 9:20 mark.  When was the last time Gonzaga was down 40 points?  Michigan got the lead as high as 46 points a couple times, settling for a 40-point victory.

Stats

The stats for the SDSU game were solid.  Michigan shot well overall (34/68 = 50.0%), they shot 3-pointers pretty well (11/33 = 33.3%), and they shot free throws decently (15/22 = 68.2%).  They crushed SDSU on the boards (49-34), and they even won the turnover battle (13-17).  They won this game with solid shooting and dominant rebounding.  Cutting down the number of turnovers sure helped as well.

The stats for the Auburn game were pretty good.  Michigan shot well overall (35/68 = 51.5%), they shot 3-pointers well (14/35 = 40.0%), and they shot free throws well (18/22 = 81.8%).  They crushed Auburn on the boards (51-35), but they barely lost the turnover battle (9-8).  They won this game with good shooting and dominant rebounding.  They even cut down the number of turnovers from the previous game.

The stats for the Gonzaga game were very good.  Michigan shot very well overall (36/60 = 60.0%), they shot 3-pointers very well (13/27 = 48.1%), and they shot free throws decently (16/25 = 64.0%).  They won the rebounding battle (44-38), but lost the turnover battle (14-11).  They won this game with great shooting and good rebounding.

Look at those stats, especially the 3-point shooting and the rebounding.  If Michigan can keep that up, they’re going to win a lot of games.

Who Started?

The starters for all three games were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

It was the Yaxel Lendeborg show, again.  He was the leading scorer in all three games, with 15, 17, and 20 points.  He was also the tournament MVP.  Just for good measure, he had 11 rebounds vs. Gonzaga, for another “double-double”.  He was brilliant, again.

Johnson also had a great tournament, with 13, 15, and 11 points.  He shot very well: 4/8, 6/7, and 5/6, for a total of 15/21 (71.4%).

Burnett also hit double figures in all three games: 11, 15, and 14 points.  He shot well: 3/8 overall (2/6 from deep), 5/7 overall (1/2 from deep), and 4/5 overall (4/4 from deep).  That works out to 12/20 (60.0%) overall, and 7/12 (58.3%) from deep.

Roddy Gayle Jr. had a good tournament, coming off the bench.  He hit double figures in two of the three games: 11, 17, and 9 points.  He shot very well in two of the games, and pretty well in the third: 5/6 overall (0/0 from deep), 6/13 (3/6 from deep), and 3/3 overall (0/0 from deep).  That works out to 14/22 (63.6%) overall, and 3/6 (50.0%) from deep.

Trey McKenney also had a good tournament, coming off the bench.  He also hit double figures in two of the three games: 6, 11, and 17 points.  He shot pretty well: 2/6 overall (2/5 from deep), 3/6 overall (3/6 from deep), and 6/9 overall (3/5 from deep).  That works out to 11/21 (52.4%) overall, and 8/16 (50.0%) from deep.

Cadeau only hit double figures in one game (13, 3, and 5 points), but he did an excellent job running the offense and playing tough defense.  He had a season-high 13 assists in the Gonzaga game.

Mara also only hit double figures in one game (7, 5, and 13 points), but he was a force under the basket, with rebounds (8, 8, and 4) and blocked shots (3, 2, and 2).  Besides all the shots he blocked, he forced many of the opponents to change or reconsider their shots when they got near the basket.

L.J. Cason hit double figures in one of the three games off the bench, with 6, 10, and 2 points.

Will Tschetter chipped in 10, 4, and 6 points off the bench.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

All of the mainstream players looked good this week.

Who Else Played?

Since all three games were blowouts, some of the non-mainstream players got to play more than usual.

Oscar Goodman played in all three games, for significant minutes (5, 8, and 7).  He scored 2 points each in the SDSU and Auburn games, on 1/2 shooting in each game.  He didn’t attempt a shot in the Gonzaga game.  He had a career-highlight “poster” dunk near the end of the Auburn game.

Winters Grady played in all three games, for significant minutes (4, 7, and 7).  He shot 0/1 vs. SDSU, 1/3 (all from deep) vs. Auburn, and 1/5 (all from deep) vs. Gonzaga.  These were the first points of his career.

Malick Kordel played in all three games, for significant minutes (4, 4, and 6).  He shot 0/1 in all three games.

Charlie May played in the Auburn game (0/1 shooting) and the Gonzaga game (1 point on a free throw).

Who Didn’t Play?

The only scholarship player who didn’t play was Ricky Liburd.  I don’t know if he’s injured, being redshirted, or just not good enough to play in a 40-point blowout.

The Scout Team players who didn’t play were: Howard Eisley Jr. and Harrison Hochberg.

What Does It Mean?

Winning this tournament is a Big Deal, and winning it by 40-30-40 points is a Really Big Deal.  All three of these games will look excellent on Michigan’s tournament resume in March.  If Michigan can maintain this level of performance, they can beat anyone and everyone on their schedule.

I would argue that this was the best 3-day period in Michigan basketball history, even better than when they won the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in 2019.  Even better than when they won the 2017 Big Ten Tournament as the #8 seed (of course, that was 4 wins in 4 days).  Even better than when they won the 2018 Big Ten Tournament (another 4 wins in 4 days).

Even better than when they won the 2025 Big Ten Tournament.  None of those wins was by 30 or 40 points.

This Week

This week, Michigan only plays one game.  On Saturday (12/06/2025, 4:00 p.m., BTN), they play Rutgers in Crisler Arena.

Rutgers is currently 5-3, with a win over UNLV in the Players Era Festival.  They don’t have any noteworthy players (their two best players from last season hit the NBA Draft), but they do have a little height: a 6’10” player and a 6’11” player.  Rutgers is several notches below Auburn and Gonzaga, so if Michigan can play their game, they should handle them.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!