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Michigan wing Caleb Houstan receives NBA Draft Combine invite

Chris Balasby:Chris Balas•05/09/22•

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Michigan freshman Caleb Houstan
Michigan basketball freshman wing Caleb Houstan was a five-star recruit out of Montverde Academy. He earned an NBA Draft Combine invite but declined to attend. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

Michigan freshman wing Caleb Houstan has joined Moussa Diabate in earning an NBA Draft Combine invite, two sources close to it have informed TheWolverine.com. Houstan is expected to participate next week.

RELATED: Michigan basketball – Two backcourt players making major strides

Houstan was one of two Michigan players to start all 34 games this year for the Wolverines. He joined guard Eli Brooks, who received an NBA G-League invite (it was announced today). The frosh averaged 10.1 points per game and led the team with 60 made triples, shooting 35.5 percent from behind the arc.

He continued to improve defensively throughout the year and came up big in an NCAA Tournament game with Colorado State, making three triples. He finished with 13 points and five triples in a 75-63 Michigan win.

As our Clayton Sayfie wrote, Houstan was one of the Big Ten’s best freshmen in 2021-22.

“Houstan’s omission from the All-Big Ten freshman team was … a surprising one,” Sayfie wrote. “There was a fairly good argument that he should’ve made the cut over multiple players who were on the list. It included Diabate, Michigan State guard Max Christie, Wisconsin guard Chucky Hepburn, Nebraska guard Bryce McGowens and Ohio State guard Malaki Branham, who was named freshman of the year. Houstan could have reasonably made the all-freshman team over either Diabate, Christie or Hepburn. 

“Christie and Houstan are easy to compare, since they play similar positions and are on teams of a similar caliber. When the selections were made at the conclusion of the regular season, Christie was averaging 9.3 points (third on his team), 3.4 rebounds and just under 1.5 assists per game. Houstan posted 10.5 points, four rebounds and 1.4 assists per outing during the regular season.

“Both known as sharpshooters, Houstan was shooting 36.6 percent from three-point range, while Christie was at just 30.5 percent.”

A former five-star recruit, Houstan will have until June 1 to pull out of the draft and return to Michigan. He’ll have sophomore eligibility if he goes that route.

Sixty players receive NBA Draft Combine invites, determined by voting from NBA front office members. The Combine runs May 18 through 20 in Chicago, where players are tested in several areas and also participate in games.

The G-League Elite Camp takes place on May 16 and 17 and includes the next 40 next best players. Last year, Michigan big man Hunter Dickinson and guard DeVante’ Jones participated. Both performed well but chose to return to U-M.

Watch for more on this development in the days to come …

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