Five things to expect from Michigan basketball in charity exhibition against Oakland

Michigan Wolverines basketball will hit the floor in a game-like atmosphere for the first time since it lost in the Big Ten Tournament in March, and the team will look much different than it did some seven months ago.

Head coach Dusty May and 11 new players will make their debut in the maize and blue Sunday evening at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, for a charity exhibition game against Oakland that will benefit Forgotten Harvest. The contest will be streamed on B1G+, with Matt Shepard and Rapheal Davis on the call.

“It’s been a long offseason, I think for everyone in college basketball, so now it’s an opportunity for us to turn our attention to the most important thing, which is the players playing games,” May said. “We couldn’t be more excited.”

Here are five things to watch for Sunday evening.

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1. Developing on-court chemistry, establishing an identity

With so many new pieces, Michigan is looking to develop cohesiveness early on in the season. That’s a big goal for May and Co. coming into Sunday, as are helping the community and playing in front of fans in Detroit against one of the darlings of last season’s NCAA Tournament, with Oakland making the second round after upsetting Kentucky.

“From our point of view, we’re simply excited to see our team play,” the Michigan coach said. “Obviously, Oakland, the success, the history and tradition that [Oakland head] Coach [Greg] Kampe has built there. They play a different style, which will prepare us for Big Ten play, some of the teams in our league that play zone.

“But more than anything else, the more our guys can play together, the more beneficial it’s going to be. We’re a work in progress. We haven’t had our roster together for practice, because of injuries and illnesses and whatnot. Just to see where we are for October. I wish we could’ve played this a week earlier, just to see what the team looked like together.

“We’re doing a lot of observation, a lot of learning ourselves now. There’s really no other expectation than to go out and play as hard as we possibly can and develop the on-court chemistry that you need on game nights, because obviously there’s a big difference between your performance and the preparation that goes into it.

“Me personally, I’m just excited to see our guys perform in front of the fans, and also to start establishing our identity as a program.”

2. Michigan dealing with minor injuries

May has said throughout the offseason that his team has dealt with minor injuries, and they haven’t had the full roster together all that often during summer workouts and preseason practices. Only one player is definitely out for Sunday’s exhibition, though, in freshman guard Justin Pippen, a former four-star prospect.

“Justin Pippen will be held out, and we have a few others that are day to day,” May said. “Fortunately, they’re all just knick knack injuries. Most college players now, it seems like most college teams are having these same issues.

“Because our season is so long, because our most meaningful games are in February and March and hopefully April, we’re definitely not playing guys through minor injuries, and we’d like for them to get back before 100 percent.

“We’re all works in progress. We have guys that we’re still trying to learn them, and them learn us. But yeah, we’ll be close to it, just missing one freshman guard as of today.”

3. Strengths and weaknesses in practice

The Michigan staff has been pleased with the way the team has bonded early on, both on and off the court. May has been happy with the unselfishness and work ethic his group has shown. He also has some questions about how the team will play, given that it hasn’t seen an opponent yet.

“They’ve been very intentional with each other, as far as developing relationships, as far as how to communicate with each other and also just earning each other’s trust by being reliable, by being dependable,” May said.

“As far as what we’ve done that the staff has really liked or appreciated: We share the ball. We have a team that puts in the time in the gym. They put the elbow grease in. 

“As far as the things that are concerning, you never know how well you’re going to rebound the ball and take care of it until you see someone else. I think those are probably the two things that keep a lot of us coaches up at night, just wondering. Until you’ve done it, you don’t know. But overall, we’ve just been pleased with how well our group has worked together.”

May’s Florida Atlantic team last season ranked 113th nationally with a 16.2-percent turnover rate. It was 45th in offensive rebounding and 192nd on the defensive glass. This is an entirely new team, though, with much more size.

4. Michigan’s point guard depth chart

Michigan’s clear choice to start at point guard is junior Tre Donaldson, an Auburn transfer. He platooned at the position for the Tigers last season but is looking forward to playing 30-plus minutes per game, if given the opportunity.

Graduate guard Rubin Jones played some point guard but moved all over at North Texas. The 6-foot-5, 190-pounder will be a versatile piece for May and Co.

Freshman guard L.J. Cason has been getting reps at point guard behind Donaldson, partly because Jones has missed time, but Michigan won’t play without several ball-handlers on the floor, with this system not as point guard-dependent as some others.

“I could see them definitely playing together at times,” May said of Donaldson and Jones. “Tre has been our primary ball-handler in practice, with L.J. Cason getting the secondary duties on the other team.

“Rubin is just a guy that you can kinda plug into any spot. He’s shot the ball really well. He’s had a few minor injuries, so he doesn’t have the volume that Tre does right now in practice, which hopefully throughout the season will be very beneficial. But Rubin is just a guy that I think we can plug and play in any situation — big lineups, small lineups — and then he’ll be a playmaker.

“We don’t typically play like a lot of teams do with a traditional point guard. We like to have three or four different [ball-handlers] … and [junior forward/center] Danny Wolf has been a primary handler in our offense. So we like to have multiple guys.

“Point guard obviously has to get us organized and be the voice on the court, but for the most part we like to have three or four guys out there like those two that can dribble, pass and make decisions.”

If we had to guess, Michigan’s starting lineup will feature Donaldson, junior guard Roddy Gayle Jr., Wolf and Goldin. Those four are virtual locks. The fifth spot is up for grabs. Will the Wolverines go bigger with sophomore forward Sam Walters at the ‘3,’ or a bit smaller with graduate guard Nimari Burnett in the backcourt? Of course, Jones could also start, but May’s comments led us to believe he’s not likely to right away.

5. Look out for Oakland’s zone

According to Synergy, Oakland ran zone on 84 percent of its defensive possessions last season. Kampe and Co. run a unique zone that can shift between a 2-3 a 1-3-1 and a 1-1-3 within possessions.

Take a look at their rules and assignments below:

2 of 2 pic.twitter.com/NMAgndZDZS

— Alex Popp (@coachalexpopp) March 22, 2024

“When we’ve played exhibitions, we’ve always tried to play teams that are a little bit different than everyone else,” May said of his time at Michigan and elsewhere. “We try to play a little bit differently defensively. If there’s a tie, then, what do the fewer teams do? That way, our opponents aren’t seeing it every day in practice or seeing it regularly in practice.

“So we thought the zone, they do a great job of getting you out of rhythm. They’re different shots, different spots, different rhythm shots than you’re going to get most of your other games. And we’re going to see a few other [zone] teams, so we do think we’ll be able to refer back to some of the lessons we’ve learned in this game later on, and that’s why the exhibitions are so important.

“We don’t want to go play ourselves — we can go do that in practice — so we want someone that has a contrasting style.”