A missed free throw invited groans, which rumbled through the first Crisler Center crowd in a while, as what should have been a joyous evening veered toward peril.
No. 6 Michigan basketball had blown a tire in the second half against Buffalo, the plucky MAC favorites who whittled a 24-point deficit to five with under six minutes remaining. A glorious first half in which the Wolverines shot 57.6% from the floor and registered 11 assists on 19 field goals had given way to foul-induced slop. The absence of point guard DeVante’ Jones, whose third foul sent him to the bench with 17:23 remaining, exposed a potential weakness for Juwan Howard’s club as veteran Eli Brooks shifted out of position and the offense balked.
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But just as the game began to teeter, as a season-opening upset seemed possible, Michigan’s offense surged to life. A missed free throw by Jones gave way to a 3-pointer by Terrance Williams II and a dunk by Hunter Dickinson, a mid-range jumper by Brooks and another 3 from Caleb Houstan. The Wolverines survived their opener with a 12-2 spurt in the final minutes as they pulled away for good. Dickinson scored 15 of his game-high 27 points in the second half to secure an 88-76 win that was every bit as challenging as the final score indicates.
Five-star men
In a lauded recruiting class — with comparisons to Howard’s own Fab Five — the prized signees were Houstan and Diabate, a pair of five-star recruits already on the radar of NBA scouts. The smooth-moving, silky-shooting Houstan carved out a place in Howard’s starting lineup as a prototypical small forward, while Diabate was the first player off the bench against Buffalo and split minutes between power forward and center.
Their wide-ranging influence Wednesday affirmed the lofty expectations. Just as Houstan did in Friday’s exhibition against Wayne State, after which Howard said he resembled a seasoned veteran, the freshman from Canada oozed cool on the offensive end. The breadth of his offensive arsenal ranged from a spinning layup following a pump-faked jumper to a three-point play in transition — when he converted through contact — from a give-and-go 3-pointer on a feed from Diabate to a beautiful assist after curling around two screens and finding Diabate for a dunk.
An envy-inducing combination of size, quickness and athleticism push Diabate into the upper echelon of two-way players. His influence on defense was obvious, where his ability to switch screens and alter shots in the lane flummoxed the Bulls for stretches of the first half. The repertoire he flashed on offense, where his vision to pass out of double teams and willingness to put the ball on the floor, seemed well ahead of schedule.
Odds and ends
Sophomore guard Zeb Jackson was the only scholarship player unavailable for Wednesday’s game as he remained sidelined by a non-Covid illness. Jackson, who was on the bench with his teammates, missed last week’s exhibition as well. … Prior to tipoff, the Wolverines enjoyed a banner-raising ceremony to commemorate last year’s Big Ten title. Players and coaches also received their championship rings.
Contact Michael Cohen at mcohen@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13. Send questions for his next U-M mailbag.