JP Estrella gave Michigan a lift Monday, but it still wasn’t enough to keep the Wolverines from taking another loss on their European trip.
Playing without projected starters Moustapha Thiam and Trey McKenney, Michigan rallied from eight points down in the fourth quarter and briefly tied the game before falling to Lithuania’s reserve team, 82-77, one day after losing to the top squad. The defeat was the second straight for the Wolverines under new coach Mike Boynton Jr.
Estrella, a transfer from Tennessee who started at center, bounced back after fouling out in 15 minutes the previous day. Against Lithuania’s reserves, he finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Point guard Elliot Cadeau, dealing with foul trouble for a second consecutive game, paced Michigan with 19 points and eight assists.
“This whole Lithuania trip has been really good, just learning about our team,” Estrella said in a postgame release. “We’ve got some things that we’ve got to clean up, but we were also talking about it in the locker room. You can see how good we can be, and we can see how much we can improve.
“We’ve got to take what we learned over to Croatia, play those games, get excited again and get this thing rolling.”
The game also served as another learning session for Michigan’s freshmen, with Brandon McCoy scoring 15 points and Quinn Costello adding nine. Costello had a quieter night after going 5-for-10 from 3-point range the day before; this time, he made just three of 11 shots from deep.
Michigan’s perimeter shooting was shaky overall, as the team connected on 11 of 43 3-point attempts for 25.6%. The Wolverines also struggled to finish around the rim, making 11 of 22 dunks and layups and 17 of 33 2-pointers. As a group, they shot 36% from the floor.
The roster was missing more than just Thiam and McKenney. Ricky Liburd also sat out while “rested nagging injuries as a precaution,” per the team. Michigan entered the trip already without Jalen Reed, who is dealing with an Achilles injury, and Lincoln Cosby, who has an ACL injury.
“We’ve talked all along about this just being a growth opportunity for our guys,” Boynton said. “Our guys are getting unbelievable experience in this environment against really true road competition. We’re seeing really, really good segments of basketball, and now we’ve just got to find a way for this group to sustain it.
“Once we get more of our bodies healthy and back on the court, we feel like this team will be exactly where we thought it could be.”
Michigan’s trip now moves to Croatia, where it will close out its European slate against Serbia’s Mega Superbet on Thursday, Aug. 27, at 1 p.m.
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