Michigan Opens Title Defense Against Eastern Michigan at Crisler Center

The defending national champion Michigan Wolverines began their 2026-27 season preparations on Sunday, October 11, hosting Eastern Michigan in a preseason exhibition at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as new head coach Mike Boynton Jr. started his first home game leading the program.

Michigan entered the matchup after a 37-3 championship season that ended with a 69-63 victory over UConn in the 2026 NCAA championship game, according to Michigan and ClickOnDetroit. The Wolverines also won the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles.

Boynton took over after two seasons on Michigan's staff, during which the program went 64-13 and won multiple conference championships before the national title, according to mgoblue.com.

The roster features returning stars Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney, while Michigan replaces three 2026 NBA lottery selections: Morez Johnson Jr. at No. 9, Yaxel Lendeborg at No. 11 and Aday Mara at No. 12.

Cadeau, the Final Four Most Outstanding Player, started all 40 games last season and averaged 10.5 points and 5.9 assists. McKenney averaged 9.9 points, made 68 three-pointers and shot 39.1 percent from beyond the arc.

Boynton addressed the team's frontcourt transition at Big Ten Media Day, highlighting the incoming transfers J.P. Estrella, Moustapha Thiam and Jalen Reed.

"We're still pretty strong in the frontcourt," Boynton said, according to Maize and Blue Review.

Boynton said the new big men will have expanded roles after Michigan developed previous frontcourt players who moved to the NBA. He also discussed adding perimeter skills to the offense.

"I think most importantly for them, it's a part of the player development aspect of our program, where we want to add something to a player's game that they haven't unlocked before. But it's also very critical for them to unlock those skills to get our team to function, because we do need space for Elliot to be able to penetrate, a guy like Roddy to get downhill, so if you got two guys in there that don't shoot well, it makes it pretty difficult, and they both shoot pretty well. They'll probably shoot more threes each individually than they've shot before, and that will be good for us," Boynton said.

He described Estrella as a physical presence and said Thiam could provide several skills Michigan previously received from NBA-bound big men.

"JP is like the brute force, physical guy, in the similar mold to Morez. He's one of the best offensive rebounders in the country, he was one last year, that will continue, but the evolution of his game, we play a lot different stylistically than he's played the last three years, so playing on the perimeter more, being in more playmaker situations and shooting more threes honestly, is something that he's worked on this summer," Boynton said.

"It's been a challenge for him," Boynton said. "You play a certain way for so long, it's hard to change, but he's worked really hard at it. Our staff has worked on film and spent some individual time with him and he's taking the challenge on."

Boynton also said Reed was recovering from an Achilles injury and could surprise observers as he returns to action.

"I think he's going to be better than people think because he hasn't played," Boynton said.

Michigan's exhibition schedule continues against Oregon State on October 16 before a matchup with Houston on October 25 in Grand Rapids. The regular season opens November 2 against Oakland.