Michigan found a steady hand when its backcourt needed one Friday night, and Kenny Noland delivered it.
With eight minutes left in the first half, the Wolverines were sitting on a slim two-point edge and staring at foul trouble for their top guards, senior Elliot Cadeau and sophomore Trey McKenney. That left an unusual group on the floor, and it was Noland who settled everything down against Oregon State.
After a quieter outing last weekend against Eastern Michigan, the graduate guard came in and immediately looked like the veteran Michigan needed. He gave the offense structure, made smart reads and kept the ball moving while Cadeau and McKenney were off the court.
“We watched tape on I don’t even know how many people, and he was kind of the perfect person in terms of super high floor, but somebody who’s been through some battles, who’s seen some things,” Wolverines coach Mike Boynton said of Noland’s recruitment. “But (he) also has an appreciation for being here at Michigan and competing at a really high level, and he brings a high degree of intellect to the game.”
The Wolverines have made their guard duo the center of the offense, and that figure is expected to hold as the season goes on. But when they needed someone else to take over, Noland stepped into the role of floor general without hesitation.
He found junior center Moustapha Thiam for a hookshot jumper, then immediately followed that with a drive into the paint before kicking out to graduate forward J.P. Estrella for a three. Those were the kinds of decisions Michigan needed in the moment: calm, quick, and clean.
Noland also gave the Wolverines a scoring punch. Despite standing 6-foot-2-inches, he kept attacking the Beavers’ defense and carved out space for three layups in the paint. He also took three shots from deep, and while none dropped, Boynton wasn’t concerned.
“He can shoot the ball,” Boynton said. “He scored it really well in his previous stop. We won’t ask him to do that as much, but on a night like tonight, where we need him to, he’s capable of doing it.”
His work helped Michigan build its biggest cushion of the night, pushing the lead to 13 with four minutes left in the quarter.
The box score was modest enough: six points, three assists, two rebounds and one steal in 24 minutes. But Noland’s value showed up in the stretches that mattered most, especially with the game tightening and the guards in foul trouble. He stayed composed, kept Michigan organized and gave the Wolverines a much more comfortable answer for the next time their backcourt runs into problems.
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Michigan Just Took A Tough Backcourt Recruiting Hit
Michigan had been in the mix for a major backcourt addition in Devin Cleveland, but the four-star guard chose Missouri instead, closing the door on what had looked like one of the Wolverines better recruiting battles. For a program that has already dealt with recent coaching turnover, with Mike Boynton Jr. taking over for Dusty May, losing out on a guard of Clevelands caliber stings a little more because of what he represented for the next wave of roster building.
The miss also leaves Michigan without an immediate impact backcourt piece in the 2027 class, which puts a little extra pressure on the staff as it keeps chasing perimeter help. There is still time for the Wolverines to reshape that group, but this was the kind of recruiting swing that can change the feel of a class, and for now it is Missouri that gets the benefit. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Just Got Called Out Before A Season Defining Penn State Game
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Now comes a home date with Penn State, another team still winless in the Big Ten, in a matchup that suddenly feels like a reset point for both sides. Michigan needs more from Bryce Underwood and a more reliable attack to keep the season from drifting further off course, while Penn State arrives with its own offensive issues under first-year coach Matt Campbell, leaving both programs to sort out the same problem under a brighter spotlight. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Already Faces A Tough Kyle Whittingham Reality
Michigans coaching search ended with a big-name hire in Kyle Whittingham, a move that instantly shifted the conversation in Ann Arbor from crisis management to expectation. After firing Sherrone Moore amid misconduct allegations, Michigan landed a veteran with a long track record of stability and success, the kind of presence that can calm a program that has been thrown into disarray. It is the sort of reset that usually comes with optimism, but it also comes with a familiar warning attached to any coach arriving from a proven stop: the rsum travels, the context does not.
Penn States decision to move on from James Franklin and turn to Matt Campbell only sharpens that reality, because it shows how quickly even established coaches can be judged by the latest stretch of results. Both Whittingham and Campbell bring respect from their previous programs, but midway through the season their new teams are already living with the same blunt truth - reputation alone does not fix immediate problems. For Michigan, the early returns will matter fast, because the patience that comes with a fresh hire can disappear just as quickly if the transition does not take hold. [Read more 🡒]