Recap: Michigan outlasts Emoni Bates, Eastern Michigan in a thriller in Downtown Detroit

Michigan men’s basketball moved to 2-0 on the young season with an 88-83 victory over Eastern Michigan on Friday night from Little Caesars Arena in Downtown Detroit. It was a unique night and a terrific basketball game with both teams trading jabs back and forth.

The game was the first for former local phenom Emoni Bates, who played his first game with EMU after a brief courtship with Michigan during the offseason. He was as advertised, and then some on Friday night, scoring 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting. Michigan countered with a dominant performance from junior center Hunter Dickinson, who had 31 points and 7 rebounds on the night.

Objectively speaking, the game was a treat for the local basketball fans in attendance. The lower bowl at LCA was nearly full with a Michigan advantage, but the EMU fans in attendance were loud and added to the atmosphere.

First half

The Wolverines and Eagles were locked in a tight game through Detroit’s first four minutes of action. Bates scored his first basket in an EMU uniform to give Eastern a 2-0 lead at the 19:08 mark of the first half. Sophomore U-M guard Kobe Bufkin drew the assignment on the former phenom to start the contest. The two teams would be in a tight one at the under-16 timeout with EMU taking an early 11-9 lead at the 15:54 mark.

Things would stay tight over the next four minutes with Michigan taking its first lead thanks to a 3-pointer from junior forward Terrance Williams at the 12:45 mark to put things at 15-14. Still, the Eagles and Bates would not go away. After spending a few minutes on the bench, Bates returned to game action and hit a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 22-21 lead before the media timeout at 7:44 to go in the first half.

The heated environment would continue well into the latter stages of the first half. Both the Wolverines would go back and forth throughout the next 10 minutes of game action with Michigan leading 32-31 at the 3:38 mark.

Bates and the Eagles would never go away in the first 20 minutes of play. Bates led all scorers with 17 points (7-for-9 shooting) in the first half, while guard Noah Farrakhan added 15 points of his own. Michigan was led in first-half scoring by Dickinson with 12 points and a rebound in the first half.

Second half

Michigan came out flat to start the 2nd half with EMU jumping out to a 51-43 lead in the early stages. The Wolverines would claw back to within 51-48 at the under-16 media timeout with Dickinson shooting a pair of free throws out of the break. He made both, setting the score at 51-50 EMU at the 15:49 mark. A pair of buckets from Bates and some bad defensive mistakes kept the Eagles in front 60-58 at the 12:03 mark before Juwan Howard called timeout. Dickinson converted on an and-1 opportunity just before the under-12 media timeout, tying the game at 60 apiece before hitting the free throw coming out of the break. Michigan led 61-60.

EMU was determined to make it a 40-minute game, though. The Eagles held a 70-67 lead with 7:53 remaining in the contest before the under-8 timeout halted play. U-M point guard Jaelin Llewellyn had a 1-and-1 opportunity coming out of the timeout and converted on 1 of his 2 shots, narrowing the deficit to 70-68. Llewellyn went back to the line for a pair of free throws at the 7:17 mark and split the pair again, setting the score at 70-69 EMU.

Terrance Williams II was fouled from the 3-point line down 73-69 at the 5:49 mark and converted all 3 of his opportunities, getting the score down to 73-72 in favor of the Eagles. Dickinson gave the Wolverines the lead back at 74-73 with a layup with just under 5 minutes to play. Bates gave U-M the lead back 75-74 with 4:34 to go before an and-1 from Bufkin, giving Michigan the lead back at 77-75 with 4 minutes left.

Llewellyn got to the basket for an acrobatic layup to put the Wolverines back up 2 at 79-77, then made a pair of free throws after an EMU turnover at the 2:36 mark. A Dickinson putback on offense extended the lead to 83-77 over the Eagles with 2:06 to play before a timeout. The Eagles got 3 points back on the other end on a Tyson Acuff layup and and-1 to get things down to 83-80 with just over a minute to play. Bufkin fouled out with 1:27 left, replaced by Joey Baker in the lineup.

Llewellyn made a pair of free throws after a foul from Bates, extending the lead to 85-80 with 55.7 seconds to go. Dickinson made a bucket to go up 87-80 with under 30 seconds to go before Bates made a 3 to narrow things to 87-83. Llewellyn hit a free throw at the other end to grow the lead to 88-83, which is where things would stand to end the game.

Michigan basketball vs. Eastern Michigan box score