Michigan basketball returns to action tonight (6:00 p.m., B1G+, save 50% with code HOOPS50) for its first exhibition action of the 2025-26 season. The Wolverines host the Cincinnati Bearcats at the Crisler Center as they make their unofficial debut.
Division I exhibition games are still relatively new in college basketball, but it is essential to remember that college coaches are still treating these games as dressed-up secret scrimmages rather than competitive fixtures.
“I’m one of the few coaches that I would like to get beat in the exhibition,” Dusty May said at Media Day. “I want to play teams that can beat us to expose some weaknesses.”
The goal of tonight’s game isn’t to win or lose—it isn’t even about game planning, scouting, or preparation. Instead, it is about seeing what your team can do on the floor against a different color uniform.
Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller recalled a conversation with May in which they aligned on what they hoped to achieve from the game.
“I’ve watched zero film on Michigan,” Miller said this week. “Dusty May and I talked last week, and he said, ‘Hey, let’s save each other some time.’ I said, ‘I was going to say the same thing to you.’
“‘You tell me what you’re going to do. We’ll prepare for it. I’ll tell you what we’re going to do, and let’s just get out there and play,'” Miller recalled May saying. “So no scouting report, no film, certainly no history lesson.”
The Bearcats
The Wes Miller era at Cincinnati has been stuck in neutral. The Bearcats are 32-42 in conference games over Miller’s four seasons in charge and haven’t made the NCAA Tournament.
His teams have been excellent defensively — finishing 19th and 22nd in adjusted defensive efficiency over the last two seasons — but Miller has yet to put a top-50 offense on the floor in his career.
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