Michigan Basketball: 5 Predictions for Wolverines in 2019-2020
Two scrimmages in, and we still have no idea about the identity of this Michigan basketball team. What we do have here are five bold predictions for the season, however.
On October 24th, Michigan basketball appeared in a closed scrimmage against Detroit Mercy, and what we got were crumbs of a giant pie that only the players, coaches, and essential personnel were able to participate or witness.
The Wolverines won the game 82-75 on the back of David DeJulius who was 7-of-8 from the 3-point line.
Michigan beat Detroit Mercy 82-75 in tonight's scrimmage
— James Hawkins (@jamesbhawkins) October 25, 2019
David DeJuilius scored 21 off the bench (7-for-8 on 3s)
Zavier Simpson: 7 pts, 7 reb, 13 ast
Jon Teske: 15 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast
Isaiah Livers: 14 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast
Brandon Johns Jr. (ankle) was held out as precaution
Defensively, Michigan was unable to stop Antoine Davis, but then again, no one can stop Antoine Davis. The guy averaged 26.1 points-per-game last year, attempting 11 three’s and hitting on 38% from the outside. In this matchup, Davis fell short of his average with 26 points.
On the first day of November, Michigan basketball retook the court this time with Saginaw Valley State standing in their way. The second exhibition was a lot more successful than the first.
Story (with photos from @mulho2mj) from Michigan's exhibition win over Saginaw Valley State.
— Andrew Kahn (@AndrewKahn) November 2, 2019
Isaiah Livers scored 20.
Eli Brooks went 10-for-10 from the free throw line.
Juwan Howard deployed 10 different lineups in the first half.https://t.co/Pix636ojcr
The Wolverines obliterated the Cardinals, 82-51, giving birth to a new tradition of scoring 82 points every game under Howard.
In the second exhibition, personnel movement was the key as MLive’s Andrew Khan noted in his Tweet, ‘Juwan Howard deployed 10 different lineups in the first half.’ This makes a ton of sense considering star freshman and likely starter, Franz Wagner is out for four to six weeks with a wrist injury. Coach Juwan Howard is finding an interim starter with the absence of his German phenom.
Howard is also figuring out which combinations work best during tough times. At one point in the game, Michigan went a little over six minutes without a score until Isaiah Livers snapped the team out of it with a three.
Two games, very few answers, but enough to pull out some predictions.