Michigan men’s basketball closed its preseason with a 96-92 victory over Toledo on Friday night at the Crisler Center. The charity exhibition benefited C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
The Wolverines were led by 20 points from L.J. Cason — 18 of which came in the first half as U-M built a 12-point lead at the break. Roddy Gayle Jr. also poured in 20, including the 3-pointer that rebuilt a more comfortable margin in the closing minutes. The Rockets had rallied to pull within a score late in the second half before Gayle Jr., Tre Donaldson and Vlad Goldin sealed the win with key field goals.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the exhibition win:
Another look at Michigan’s rotation, and the go-to guys in crunch time
With so many new pieces, the Wolverines are still in the process of determining their rotation. For a second straight exhibition, U-M started the following five: Tre Donaldson, Rubin Jones, Roddy Gayle Jr., Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin.
Will Tschetter (for Goldin) and Nimari Burnett (Gayle) were the first off the bench. Sam Walters and LJ Cason followed; the latter was a first-half standout. Phat Phat Brooks was the other U-M contributor in the first half. The first-half minutes were distributed as such: Tre Donaldson and Roddy Gayle Jr. with 14; Will Tschetter with 13; Vlad Goldin, L.J. Cason and Nimari Burnett with 11; Danny Wolf and Sam Walters with 9; Rubin Jones with 6; Phat Phat Brooks with 3.
The distribution was relatively similar in the second half — with no Phat Phat and more minutes for Rubin Jones. The second-half minutes: Donaldson, 16; Gayle Jr. and Jones, 15; Goldin, 13; Wolf, 12; Cason, 8; Burnett, 7; Tschetter, 7; Walters, 6.
The starters were the primary unit May leaned on when Toledo cut the lead to a single possession with under three minutes to play, though Cason also earned possessions. U-M went to Roddy Gayle Jr. and Vlad Goldin for key buckets inside. Gayle Jr. buried a catch-and-shoot 3, and Tre Donaldson drove to the basket with 35 seconds left for an important finish.
Turnovers forced … and committed
The Wolverines start two 7-footers and have tall guards, plus a number of players who are tenacious defenders. That was evident against Toledo, as U-M forced 10 first-half turnovers and 17 in total. Four of those TOs occurred in the first three minutes.
Phat Phat Brooks saw limited minutes, but his time was highlighted by a steal that led to his fast-break layup with 7:52 remaining in the first half. Tre Donaldson, Rubin Jones and L.J. Cason also had active hands. Jones helped secure the result with a block on a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
The Wolverines have work to do with defensive rotations and help defense, but the individual effort and potential were evident during both exhibition games. As players and coaches alike have noted, a switch-heavy scheme like Michigan’s is new to a majority of its players.
On the offensive side of the ball, U-M committed 15 turnovers Friday night. They came in all forms: Sam Walters lost the ball when attacking a kickout, Nimari Burnett passed directly to a Rocket in a halfcourt set, L.J. Cason got too aggressive when trying to feed a back cut, Rubin Jones drove but passed between two Michigan teammates, Will Tschetter lobbed an inbounds to a Toledo player, and so on.
The Wolverines committed 14 turnovers in the first exhibition against Oakland, which Dusty May also characterized as too high. Last year’s FAU team ranked 113th nationally in turnover percentage. We expect Michigan will remain turnover-prone, particularly early in the regular season, given its tempo and the nascent chemistry between new players and coaches.
LJ Cason: On fire in the first half, and better than expected
In the offseason, Dusty May said the following of L.J. Cason, the freshman guard who followed him to Ann Arbor from Florida Atlantic: “I knew we signed a really good player. I don’t think I realized how good of a player.”
Safe to say Cason introduced himself to those outside the program with his performance Friday night. The freshman had a game-high 18 points in the first half, coming off the bench and making all six of his field goals — including four 3-pointers. The deep shots were of both the catch-and-shoot and off-the-dribble variety, including a between-the-legs stepback heat check that he buried. Cason also contributed a block, a steal and two rebounds in the first half.
He cooled after the break, with a missed layup and a turnover on a back cut contributing to just two points after halftime, but U-M trusted him as a ball-handler in crunch time.
Cason needs to continue improving as a distributor and getting adjusted to the speed of the college game, but two exhibition games have shown he can have a sizable role on this team.
Michigan likes to run, and it has the players to do it
The Wolverines played fast against Oakland, and it seemed they took it to another level versus Toledo. U-M regularly ran off of made buckets, generating transition looks at the other end of the court. They finished with 82 possessions, well above last year’s average (71.3).
Will Tschetter, down 20 pounds from last season, was a beneficiary of this fast pace. In the first half, he rebounded a Roddy Gayle Jr. miss for a second-chance layup, and he later got a three-point play four seconds after a Toledo made field goal.
Toledo, for its part, seemed comfortable with the high tempo, as you might expect from a Tod Kowalczyk program that consistently ranks well in offensive efficiency. (The Rockets were in the top quarter nationally in tempo last year, per KenPom.) At times, Michigan did feel a little too sped up, but they never seemed gassed. When it clicked, the Wolverines put pressure on the Rockets and got easy buckets.
Other thoughts: Like last year, Roddy Gayle Jr. remains very good at drawing fouls. That’s one of the characteristics that Dusty May was most interested in. … Danny Wolf will need to be stronger in the paint against high major bigs. So will Vlad Goldin and many of his teammates, for that matter, as Michigan shot just 17-for-30 on layups and 3-for-6 on dunks. … Tre Donaldson found a way to contribute defensively and as a distributor on a night his shot wasn’t falling.
