After months of hype and anticipation, Michigan opened the season with fireworks. The Wolverines set a program record for first-half points (69) and rolled Oakland by a 121-78 final score, even with deep reserves and walk-ons playing out the final eight minutes.
Nobody knows up from down or good from bad on opening night, but Michigan unleashed off the sort of outlier performance that opens eyeballs. Oakland isn’t up to its program standard yet, but this isn’t a program ranked in the deep 300s. The Golden Grizzlies are a competent mid-major, a top-200-type squad, and Michigan turned this game into a laugher.
The Wolverines scored 1.56 points per possession, which was the program’s second-best offensive output of the KenPom era. The only team to top it was the 2013-14 Wolverines (against Houston Baptist), who won the Big Ten by three games and finished with the No. 3 offense in the sport.
It’s always a concern to read too much into an early buy-game, but as a sheer display of force and talent, Michigan’s performance was impressive. The Wolverines did the things that great teams do: they rattled off a 20-0 run in the first half, recorded seven dunks in the first half, had seven double-digit scorers, and extended the lead to 46 in the second half
Tougher tests await, but on opening night, Michigan looked every bit worthy of its preseason accolades.
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