Michigan basketball: Dug McDaniel shines in season-opening blowout win over UNC Asheville

Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball opened the season with a 99-74 win over visiting UNC Asheville, a 2023 NCAA Tournament team, on Tuesday night in Ann Arbor.

Sophomore point guard Dug McDaniel was outstanding, scoring a career-high 22 points with 8 assists. Graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua led all scorers with 25 points (11-for-16 shooting) in his regular-season debut at Michigan with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Senior forward Terrance Williams and guard Nimari Burnett had 15 and 13 points, respectively.

It was the first of what is expected to be a cluster of games without head coach Juwan Howard as he continues to work his way back from heart surgery. In his absence, the team will be led by associate head coach Phil Martelli.

Here’s a recap of how things went down on Tuesday night at Crisler Center.

First half

The Wolverines and Bulldogs opened up play with the road squad winning the opening tip. UNC Asheville took a quick 2-0 on a pair of free throws before Nimari Burnett scored the first Michigan points of the season on a three-pointer. Dug McDaniel followed it up with a layup to help a 5-0 scoring run, putting U-M up 5-2 with 18:28 to go. Two more five-point runs would occur before the first media timeout, helping balloon the Michigan lead to 13-6 at the 15:31 mark before it extended to 15-6 at the 14:54 mark on a layup from Burnett.

UNC Asheville trimmed the lead down to five on a layup and a jumper, bringing the game to a 15-10 score in favor of Michigan at the 14:03 mark. Olivier Nkamhoua got on the board for the first time as a Wolverine at the 12:37 mark on a putback while Tray Jackson joined him on the next trip down the floor on a fast break layup of his own. At the 10:59 mark, Michigan held a 24-16 lead after McDaniel’s second three of the night.

McDaniel’s bucket kicked off a 10-0 scoring run for Michigan, who would extend its lead to 31-16 at the 9:05 mark, forcing a Bulldog timeout. UNC Asheville hit a trio of free throws to narrow things to 31-19 before Will Tschetter hit a three to put Michigan back up 34-19 before the under-8 timeout.

Michigan would keep rolling throughout the half, extending its lead to 21 points after a lob from McDaniel to Nkamhoua that brought Crisler to its feet at the 2:18 mark up 48-27. The Bulldogs would go on a quick 5-0 run to end the half, cutting Michigan’s lead to 48-32 heading into the locker room.

Second half

The Wolverines opened the half on a 6-0 run thanks to a McDaniel three-pointer and an and-1 layup and free throw from Burnett, extending U-M’s lead to 54-32 at the 19:20 mark. Michigan kept its foot on the gas, pushing the lead up to 67-40 at the 15:02 mark and first media timeout of the half. By the time the under-12 timeout hit, Michigan held its largest lead of the night thanks to a dunk by Nkamhoua, extending the score to 75-46 with 11:35 remaining.

UNC Asheville cut the lead down to 24 on five-straight free throw makes from star Drew Pember to make things 75-51 with 10:08 to go. McDaniel and Nkamhoua would hit three-pointers in the next stretch that would keep the U-M lead in the 20s at 82-59 with 7:36 to play. The two teams would continue to trade blows over the next few minutes with Michigan leading 92-69 at the final media timeout (3:51).

Michigan started to empty its bench with around three minutes left and would ride it out with Harrison Hochberg, Cooper Smith, Jackson Selvala, Ian Burns, George Washington III and Youssef Khayat the rest of the way. When the clocks hit zero, U-M claimed a 99-74 victory.

Michigan vs. UNC Asheville: Final box score

What’s next for the Wolverines?

Michigan is back in action on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. ET against Youngstown State at Crisler Center. Big Ten Network will carry the television broadcast.