Michigan’s exhibition finale against Houston did exactly what a good test is supposed to do: it exposed the soft spots before the games start counting.
The Wolverines fell 83-66 on October 25, closing exhibition play at 2-1 and leaving with a blunt reminder that talent alone won’t carry them. Michigan shot 34 percent from the field, hit nine of 33 from beyond the arc, and got beaten on the glass 42-30. Those numbers told the story of a team that still has some tightening up to do.
That doesn’t mean the sky is falling. It does mean the details matter now, because exhibition basketball is less about the final score and more about how a team handles contact, pace, and adversity. Against Houston, Michigan had stretches where the offense looked out of sync and the possession battle tilted the wrong way.
The shooting line is the easiest place to start, but the deeper issue is shot quality. A high volume of threes isn’t automatically a problem.
What matters is whether those looks come from good movement, a crack in the defense, or a possession that has already gone sideways. The Wolverines need to look hard at what happened before the shot went up: did they get the ball inside, did a screen create space, did they make the extra pass?
Rebounding is just as important. A stop isn’t really a stop until someone secures the ball, and Houston’s 42-30 edge meant Michigan gave away extra chances that can wreck a defensive possession. That kind of gap makes it much harder to survive an off night from the perimeter.
There were still a couple of bright spots. Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 14 points, and Moustapha Thiam finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Those are useful numbers, and they showed Michigan can get production from more than one place even when the team as a whole isn’t clicking.
But the bigger challenge is making the pieces fit together. Scorers need space.
Bigs need help when they rotate. Guards need cutters and receivers who are in the right spots at the right time.
That’s the part Michigan has to sharpen before the real thing begins.
The regular season starts November 2 against Oakland at Crisler Center. Michigan is ranked No. 16, and tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on Big Ten Network. That opener will be the first chance to see whether the Wolverines absorbed the lesson Houston delivered.
A win will matter, but the cleaner indicators will be in the habits: better offensive rhythm, sharper communication on defense, and stronger work on the boards. Those are the signs that this exhibition loss served a purpose.
Houston showed Michigan where the cracks are. Oakland gives the Wolverines their first chance to prove they’ve already started patching them.
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