Michigan basketball to host exhibition against Oakland in Detroit
Michigan Wolverines basketball will tip off the season and begin the head coach Dusty May era with a Nov. 4 opener against Cleveland State at Crisler Center. But prior to that, the Maize and Blue will take the Little Caesars Arena floor in Detroit, the home of the Pistons, for a charity exhibition game against Oakland Oct. 20.
The event will benefit Forgotten Harvest, a non-profit food insecurity organization whose vision is to work with communities to end hunger and create individual, neighborhood, economic and environmental health. Food insecurity is one’s inability to obtain sufficient food for their household’s needs.
The game will tip off at 5 p.m. ET and be streamed live on B1G+. Tickets go on sale Friday (Aug. 23) at 10 a.m. at 313Presents.com, Ticketmaster.com and the Xfinity Box Office at Little Caesars Arena.
Michigan and Oakland have played nine regular-season games, with the most recent being an 81-71 overtime win by the Wolverines Nov. 29, 2020. Michigan has an 8-1 mark against the Golden Grizzlies. This will be the third time the teams will square off at the home of the Detroit Pistons, having matched up at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2008 and 2011.
The game will serve as the debut for May and a brand new coaching staff, along with nine new Michigan players who joined the program this offseason (six transfers, three freshmen).
Oakland head coach Greg Kampe, meanwhile, is entering his 41st season at the helm. This will be the first outing for his team since the No. 14-seeded Golden Grizzlies knocked off No. 3 seed Kentucky in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. Oakland fell to NC State, 79-73 in overtime, in the round of 32.
Michigan has 11 non-conference games on the books:
Home: Cleveland State (Nov. 4), TCU (Nov. 15), Miami Ohio (Nov. 18), Tarleton State (Nov. 21), Purdue Fort Wayne (Dec. 22), Western Kentucky (Dec. 29)
Neutral: Wake Forest (Nov. 10 in Greensboro, N.C.), Virginia Tech (Nov. 25 in Fort Myers), South Carolina or Xavier (Nov. 27 in Fort Myers), Arkansas (Dec. 10 in New York), Oklahoma (Dec. 18 in Charlotte, N.C.)
Michigan has its Big Ten schedule breakdown, but not dates and tip times for any of its conference games.
Home: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Northwestern, Oregon, Penn State, Washington
Road: Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
Home/Road: Michigan State, Purdue, Rutgers
