Michigan basketball beats fifth-ranked Marquette in secret scrimmage
Michigan basketball fans have been down on the team, but the Wolverines reportedly beat a top-five team on Saturday in a scrimmage.
It wasn’t that long ago that I laid out five reasons for fans to be optimistic about Michigan basketball this season.
We still haven’t seen Michigan baskeball play in a game yet. But on Saturday, the Wolverines played a secret scrimmage against Marquette. It’s something just about every college basketball team does and this weekend was Michigan’s turn.
The Wolverines still don’t have head coach Juwan Howard, who is still on a leave of absence from the program after having heart surgery.
However, it appears that Michigan basketball fans were pessimistic without reason because according to Trilly Donovan, the Wolverines won their scrimmage over No. 5 Marquette on Saturday, by a score of 115-111.
Michigan beat Marquette 115-111 in a scrimmage today, per source.
— Trilly Donovan (@trillydonovan) October 28, 2023
They played four 12-minute quarters.
Obviously, the score is really high. Trilly Donovan reported that Michigan basketball and Marquette played an NBA-length game — four 12-minute quarters.
Certainly, this is an encouraging sign for Michigan basketball fans who wondered what type of team the Wolverines wil have. It’s also not something fans should overreact to.
We don’t know who played in the game even. You’d assume all the regulars would play for both sides but unless we get a stats or a box score, it’s hard to know what happened.
That being said, I wouldn’t have expected Michigan to score 115 points. Marquette had a top-50 defense last season according to Kenpom and was projected in the top 30 this season.
With the loss to Hunter Dickinson, Jett Howard, and Kobe Bufkin, there is obviously a question about how Michigan will score the ball. That didn’t seem to be an issue on Saturday.
You don’t want to see the defense give up over 100, especially when it felt like that could be the strength of this team. But again, we only know the score and Marquette had a top-10 offense last season, so it’s understandable.
Next. 5 reasons to be wildly optimistic about Michigan basketball. dark
At any rate, if this result is true, it’s a positive sign going into the 2023-24 season.