4 Immediate Takeaways from Michigan Basketball's Mixed Win Over Oakland

Michigan's opening game of the 2026-27 season was a mixed bag. The Wolverines entered the game against Oakland as a 26.5-point favorite, but the Golden Grizzlies hung around for the majority of the game.

The Wolverines' turnovers and foul issues allowed Oakland to remain in the game, but Michigan was without its starting center in the game. Cincinnati transfer Moustapha Thiam was held out due to an illness and Michigan had to reconfigure its starting lineup and rotation.

While they didn't play their best, the Wolverines moved to 1-0 after taking down Oakland, 84-68.

J.P. Estrella was great without Moustapha Thiam

Michigan forward J.P. Estrella (13) passes the ball — USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Moustapha Thiam's debut will have to wait and Michigan hopes to get him back into the starting lineup on Friday against UConn. He is battling an illness and the Wolverines opted to start Oscar Goodman at forward alongside J.P. Estrella, who shifted to center.

Oakland is a smaller team and we wanted to see if the Wolverines could use their size and dominate down low. While we assume Thiam would've had a big game, it was Estrella who was the force down low for Michigan. The Tennessee transfer had a double-double in the beginning of the second half and he had his way with the Golden Grizzlies.

Estrella finished the night with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Quinn Costello is going to be a real weapon

Michigan forward Quinn Costello (8) makes a jump shot — USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

You don't want to overreact to one game, but we saw a sniper from three during Michigan's overseas games and that came to fruition in Game 1 of the 2026-27 season. Freshman Quinn Costello could very easily be the Wolverines' secret weapon off the bench.

Costello has a smooth stroke and scored 13 of Michigan's 22 bench points. He made an immediate impact on the offensive side of the ball. The big-time four-star recruit still needs to add some weight and if he can learn to play adequate defense in the Big Ten, Costello could see a lot of minutes for the Wolverines this season.

Three-point shooting remains a potential concern

Michigan Wolverines guard Trey McKenney — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It's not the third game in a row that Michigan has struggled from three. In the Wolverines' last two exhibition games, Michigan went 25% and 27%, respectively, from deep. And things didn't look much better against Oakland.

The Wolverines shot 21% from three as a team and the Wolverines couldn't find a consistent stroke. Both Ricky Liburd and Oscar Goodman missed all of their threes in the game, and both players are expected to play a big role on the team this season

Mike Boynton Jr. said before the season that the Wolverines would shoot more threes this season, but if Michigan is going to struggle as a team knocking them down, the Wolverines could find themselves on the losing side against some of the better teams.

More foul issues for Michigan

During Michigan's exhibition games, fouls haunted the Wolverines. Michigan plays a physical brand of basketball, but it's going to be punished at times for doing so. College basketball officials are very inconsistent and you have no idea what they are going to call on any given night.

On Monday, both teams were getting called for ticky-tack fouls. As for Michigan, the Wolverines had 23 fouls as a team and J.P. Estrella fouled out around the five-minute mark in the second half. With the Wolverines not being super deep, Michigan has to play smarter to keep its players on the court moving forward.

Michigan will take on UConn this Friday and the Wolverines don't want a repeat with foul trouble.

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