The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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DECEMBER 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 39 ❱ MICHIGAN BASKETBALL NKAMHOUA SETS TONE EARLY The Michigan Wolverines had a rough go of it last season, missing out on the NCAA Tournament and then losing a pair of first-round picks and a former All-America center off the roster. But that just meant it was time to go back to work. After an offseason that included hit- ting the hard reset button with fresh faces and veterans via the transfer por- tal, Michigan flexed a maturity muscle that has been in the works for months in the Nov. 7 season-opening 99-74 win over UNC Asheville. The Bulldogs won 27 games last sea- son, making an NCAA Tournament appearance, and they returned most of the players from that team. That didn't matter to Michigan and gradu- ate transfer forward Olivier Nkamh- oua, who scored 25 points and added 7 rebounds in his maize-and-blue debut after coming over from Tennessee in the offseason. Remarkably, Nkamhoua was voted a team captain by his peers in the pre- season, and it's not hard to see why he's already become a tone-setter for the program. "We're just showing everybody that anybody who steps on the court with us is gonna have to beat us," Nkamhoua said after the win. "Anybody who steps on the court with us, regardless of what they did last year, what they're consid- ered to be this year, is going to have to prove that to us on the court. "Regardless of how people see us or what the word on the street is about us, we're gonna come to play every day, every night, every morning, whichever time of the day it is. We're here to play." Nkamhoua followed up that per- formance with 17 points (on 7-for-7 shooting) and 10 rebounds against Youngstown State three days later. He dipped a little scoring-wise with 9 points and 7 rebounds against St. John's on Nov. 13, but through the first three games he was everything U-M had hoped for and more — shooting 75 percent from the field and averaging 17 points and 8 rebounds. — Anthony Broome PLAYERS EAGER FOR HOWARD'S RETURN TO PROGRAM Head coach Juwan Howard is still working his way back from heart surgery late in the offseason, but the dimmer switch continues to get pushed forward a bit more with each passing day. In late October, about six weeks after Howard's procedure, he started to make appear- ances for practices. It started from a distance, but How- ard's voice is starting to get a little louder and his presence more prominent. He was in the building for the exhibition and first three games of the season, but he has maintained a low profile and stayed out of the spotlight. "One or two weeks ago, he started kind of sneaking in, trying to be up there on the balcony," Michigan forward Olivier Nkamhoua said after U-M's 92-45 ex- hibition win over Northwood on Nov. 3. "And I think he couldn't deal with that. So, he started sneaking in a little closer … like staying away, but not really. But he's around, you know, you always find him somewhere peeking." Howard's current work with Michi- gan includes film study and making sure everyone stays on the same page in addi- Date Opponent Time* (TV) Nov. 3 Northwood (exhib.) W, 92-45 Nov. 7 UNC Asheville W, 99-74 Nov. 10 Youngstown State W, 92-62 Nov. 13 vs. St. John's W, 89-73 Nov. 17 Long Beach State 7 p.m./ B1G+ Nov. 22 vs. Memphis^ 5 p.m./ESPN2 Nov. 23 vs. Arkansas or Stanford^ TBA/ESPN2/U Nov. 24 TBD^ TBA/ESPN2/U Dec. 2 at Oregon 3:30 p.m./FS1 Dec. 5 Indiana 9 p.m./Peacock Dec. 10 at Iowa 4:30 p.m./BTN Dec. 16 Eastern Michigan 2:30 p.m./BTN Date Opponent Time* (TV) Dec. 19 vs. Florida% 7 p.m./ESPN Dec. 29 McNeese TBA Jan. 4 Minnesota 9 p.m./Peacock Jan. 7 vs. Penn State# Noon/BTN Jan. 11 at Maryland 7 p.m./FS1 Jan. 15 Ohio State Noon/FOX Jan. 18 Illinois 8:30 p.m./FS1 Jan. 23 at Purdue 9 p.m./Peacock Jan. 27 Iowa 5 p.m./FS1 Jan. 30 at Michigan State 9 p.m./Peacock Feb. 3 Rutgers 4 p.m./BTN Feb. 7 Wisconsin 7 p.m./BTN Feb. 10 at Nebraska 6:30 p.m./BTN Date Opponent Time* (TV) Feb. 13 at Illinois 7 p.m./Peacock Feb. 17 Michigan State 8 p.m./FOX Feb. 22 at Northwestern 9 p.m./FS1 Feb. 25 Purdue 2 p.m./CBS Feb. 29 at Rutgers 8:30 p.m./FS1 Mar. 3 at Ohio State 4 p.m./CBS Mar. 10 Nebraska Noon/BTN Mar. 13-17 Big Ten Tournament% TBA All times Eastern; * Gavitt Tipoff Games, Madison Square Garden, New York; ^ Battle 4 Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas; % Jumpman Invitational, Charlotte, N.C.; # at the Palestra, Philadelphia; % at the Target Center, Minneapolis ❱ 2023-24 Michigan Men's Basketball Schedule Grad transfer Olivier Nkamhoua had quite the debut in U-M's season-opening win against UNC Asheville. He finished with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL