Michigan played before a sellout crowd at Crisler Center and hung last year’s regular-season Big Ten title banner in a pregame ceremony before beating Buffalo on Tuesday night.
The victory aside, the Wolverines came away feeling tested.
The sixth-ranked Wolverines scored an 88-76 victory over the MAC preseason favorite Bulls, but they needed some defensive stands to hold off a series of second-half surges, one that brought Buffalo to within five points with just over five minutes to play.
They’ll look to take another step Saturday against Prairie View A&M in the Coaches vs. Racism Classic Saturday in Washington, D.C.
“Obviously you don’t want to lose the lead and make it close,” said sophomore center Hunter Dickinson, who led the Wolverines with a game-high 27 points. “Juwan (Howard) probably got a couple more gray hairs from that. But I think it was a good test for us, a good showing of resilience because we are a younger team. I feel like things like that will definitely help us down the stretch in terms of the tournament and later in the Big Ten season.”
Prairie View returned its top six players from last year’s eight-man rotation.
Howard was happy with his team’s fast start against Buffalo, and he also was pleased with their resilience defensively in the second half.
“We knew Buffalo was a tough team,” Howard said. “We got a number of key contributions, and we will be a work in progress with a young team.We were in a game of runs, and I was glad how they responded defensively down the stretch. We’re looking forward to meeting Prairie View, and they also will be a good test for us.”
The three-time defending SWAC champion Panthers dropped their season-opener to St. Mary’s, 87-68, Tuesday night. Senior guards Jawaun Daniels — SWAC preseason Player of the Year selection — and D’Rell Roberts paced the Panthers with 15 points apiece.
Prairie View finished 16-5 last season. They arrive to D.C. with two games under their belts following Thursday’s meeting with the University of San Francisco.
Panthers’ head coach Bryon Smith anticipates his club will be ready, not weary, after a loaded opening week.
“We have a young team, and we have some things to work on,” he said. “We always look forward to a challenge like this, and playing the best teams helped us gauge our program.”
–Field Level Media
