Ann Arbor — Michigan basketball left a lot to be desired in its first exhibition.
A disastrous first half. A bunch of turnovers. A boatload of fouls and free-throw attempts. A 20-point deficit. Subpar 3-point shooting.
The Wolverines, ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, saw it all in Friday’s exhibition against Cincinnati and it was too much to overcome as their second-half comeback fell short in a 100-98 loss at Crisler Center.
“Any time you have a chance to play in front of your home fans … you want to perform better, and you want to leave with a ‘W.’ But this is why we scheduled the game. We know a lot more about our team than we did two-and-a-half hours ago,” Michigan coach Dusty May said.
The preseason opener provided the first look at Michigan’s revamped roster, one that features eight newcomers with four transfers and four freshmen. And it was quite the tale of two halves.
Following an ugly first half where Michigan trailed by as much as 20, had twice as many turnovers as made field goals and made just one basket over the final 10 minutes, the Wolverines clawed back behind Yaxel Lendeborg’s 26 second-half points.
After Lendeborg opened the second half with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, he completed a pair of and-1 layups in transition. A 9-0 burst by Michigan trimmed the deficit to 57-46 with 17:11 remaining.
“First half, I feel like it was just me … figuring out how to play in the system. And the second half, it got to a point where they need me do more,” said Lendeborg, who finished with 31 points, shot 10-for-16 from the field, had 12 rebounds and fought through some cramps late in his debut.
“I thought attack, be more aggressive. (I was) using my physical talents to make extra plays and get extra points up for our team.”
Each time Michigan threatened to cut it to single digits, the Bearcats widened the margin until the Wolverines finally broke through when Roddy Gayle Jr. scored five straight to make it 69-62 with 11:39 to go.
The Wolverines used back-to-back 3-pointers from Will Tschetter to cut it to 73-68, but Tschetter was whistled for a technical foul for celebrating in the face of a Cincinnati player after his second deep ball. The Bearcats split the two technical foul free throws to make it a six-point game.
Another 3-pointer, this time from freshman Winters Grady, pulled the Wolverines within five. An offensive rebound and putback from Lendeborg capped a string of six points — all coming off Cincinnati turnovers — that cut it to 86-84 with 4:23 to go.
The Wolverines couldn’t get any closer the rest of the way. Cincinnati countered every time Michigan scored to make it a one-possession game down the stretch and dribbled out the clock after Tschetter’s third and final 3-pointer made it a two-point game with four seconds left.
Gayle finished with 18 points but had eight of Michigan’s 20 turnovers. Tschetter scored 15. Elliot Cadeau scored 12 of his 14 points on free throws and added seven assists before fouling out late. In total, 11 players saw action for Michigan and nine scored.
Shon Abaev, Kerr Kriisa and Moustapha Thiam scored 15 apiece to lead six double-digit scorers for Cincinnati. The Bearcats, picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 preseason poll, scored 25 points off turnovers and shot 55% from the field (33-for-60).
By the end of it, the teams combined for 60 fouls and 83 free-throw attempts, with Michigan finishing 41-for-48 from the stripe.
“It’s frustrating. I feel like we were clawing back into the game then some fouls don’t come our way and it stops our run,” Gayle said. “But I just feel like it’s a great learning aspect.
“When we go back to the film, we’ll have a better understanding of what we could have done better as far as showing our hands or even not fouling as much … so when we have these second halves where we’re able to explode on offense, we can continue our run instead of stopping it after every possession.”
The Wolverines’ starting lineup included a mix of new and familiar faces, with transfers Cadeau and Lendeborg surrounded by returners Nimari Burnett, Gayle and Tschetter.
Big men Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara were in sweats and didn’t play, though May said postgame he’s hopeful both will return “in the near future.” Their size and post presence was missed throughout the choppy contest.
Cadeau had his fingers all over things in the early going for Michigan. He assisted on three of Michigan’s first five baskets. He scored an and-1 layup. He nearly threw down a poster dunk over a Cincinnati defender but settled for two free throws.
One of Cadeau’s feeds was a lob pass to a cutting Lendeborg for an alley-oop dunk that gave Michigan a 15-11 lead with 12:41 left in the first half.
From that point on, the game completely flipped. The Bearcats rattled off a 27-6 flurry over a seven-minute stretch where Michigan didn’t make a single shot to take a 41-23 lead.
“I was optimistic that we would simply look around and realize we’re playing a big, strong team and we were going to set the tone early. And the opposite happened,” May said. “Three of their first four baskets were on the offensive glass, and that sets a different tone than you want.
“Our vets have to do a better job of establishing that mindset early, that we’re going to get hits, we’re going to find the ball and then get out in the open floor. … We didn’t start the game like we needed to, as far as the discipline piece of the game.”
During Cincinnati’s run, defense and turnovers were problematic. Michigan had a stretch where it turned it over four times in the span of five possessions. During another sequence, L.J. Cason had the ball stripped away that led to a 3-pointer. Soon after that, Cason missed 3-pointer and had a fast-break dunk thrown down on him the other way.
Over the final 10 minutes of the half, Michigan made just one basket on a layup by Burnett that snapped an eight-minute field goal drought and Cincinnati took its largest lead, 52-32, on another live-ball turnover that led to another fast-break basket.
By the time halftime arrived, Michigan trailed 52-34, had twice as many turnovers (14) as made baskets (seven) and attempted as many shots (20) as Cincinnati made. And it might’ve been worse if not for the free-throw line, where the Wolverines took advantage of 15 Cincinnati fouls and went 18-for-22.
“Cincinnati was able to expose some things that we didn’t know if they were going to be weaknesses or not,” May said. “I’m very happy that they came up here to play and we were able to learn probably more about our team than we thought we would going into it.”
Michigan will face St. John’s on Oct. 25 at New York’s Madison Square Garden in its second and final exhibition. It’ll be a showdown between two teams entering the season ranked in the top 10, with the Red Storm at No. 5.
After that, Michigan will officially tip off the 2025-26 season and Year 2 of the May era on Nov. 3 at home against Oakland.
jhawkins@detroitnews.com
@jamesbhawkins
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