The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542609
FEBRUARY 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 41 BY JOHN BORTON E lliot Cadeau answered ev- ery question, unflinching, an unchanging expression of resigned, forced patience in his gaze. There are places he'd rather have been, instead of explaining his team's first loss of the season to inquir- ing minds, but duty called. Michigan's junior guard no doubt wished to be discussing a home win over Wisconsin, and the continued pursuit of perfection at 15-0. But 14-1 became the reality after a stunner of a 91-88 Badgers upset over the Wolverines on Jan. 10. Cadeau opted for the role of philoso- pher point guard. "It's definitely important not to over- react," he acknowl- edged. "We had a lot of overly unrealistic expectations. Talking about that we're going to go undefeated the whole season, stuff like that. It's just nice to know that we kind of need to be humble and not feed into those types of things." Cadeau very nearly fed his teammates a 15th-straight victory to open the sea- son. After sitting out much of the first half with two fouls and going scoreless in the opening 20 minutes, he went wild after intermission. On repeated drives to the hole punctuated by a banked-in three-pointer, he fired in 19 points to lead all Michigan scorers. It just wasn't quite enough, with Wisconsin drilling 58.8 percent (10-for- 17) on second-half threes, compared to Michigan's 28.6 percent (4-for-14). When the final couple failed to find the mark, the Wolverines' undefeated run was done. "He plays so hard and he's aggressive, it's tough to play him with two [fouls] in the first half," head coach Dusty May said. "He's so important to us. So, it was just get it to halftime and we're still where we needed to be. He ignited our offense in the second half. He was very, very effective. But during that stretch where he got in such a good rhythm, our defense wasn't able to get any stops." "Getting in foul trouble early wasn't good for me or the team," Cadeau noted. "I guess I picked it up in the second half, but I should have played that good in the first half as well." The Wolverines, certainly a potential No. 1 or 2 seed when March Madness rolls around, were left talking about les- sons learned and improvements to be made immediately. May stressed attitude, mindset, and getting back to what worked so well in Michigan's stunning start. His point guard didn't stray much from the main message. "We didn't talk about 14-1, or 1-14," May said. "Our processes have slid a little bit. We haven't been on it like we were most of this year. Let's fix those things and feel like we've done what we needed to do, to deserve to win. I'm not sure we feel like we deserved … the de- serving team won this game. "That's part of what makes it so dif- ferent. It's because you don't feel like you deserved to win this game because of what we did in preparation for it." "We can just take away that it's pos- sible to lose to anybody, even on our home court," Cadeau said. "We've got to come out with different energy. We can't take any game off." Regarding May, Cadeau simply said: "He just told us we've got to be better, on a day-to-day basis — especially in practice, every day." Every day and night, life in the Big Ten will feature no lack of bumps, thumps and bruises. Cadeau got his latest lesson in that department against Wisconsin. The junior acknowledged: "Defi- nitely, I feel like that was the most physical defense, for sure, for the whole season, up to this point." Yet another lesson. "I just learned that I've got to play through it," Cadeau noted. "It's a dif- ferent conference than I was in last year. It's kind of different, with the physical- ity they allow. I'm going to just learn to play through it." IT'S NOT THE ACC Cadeau played in the Atlantic Coast Conference a season ago, performing in his second year at North Carolina. He averaged 9.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game, starting all 37 games for the Tar Heels. He has prob- ably averaged considerably more fore- arm shivers, hits from behind and two- handed shoves on drives to the basket so far this season. In an exclusive conversation with The Wolverine later after Michigan's first loss, Cadeau acknowledged the Big Ten is definitely a different animal, when it comes to physicality. "A lot of times when I'm boxing out, guys are just coming in and hitting me, pushing me in my back," Cadeau noted. "Looking at the refs, and they're just letting it go. When I'm driving, there are two hands on my body, which is kind of different from what I'm used to. I'm just learning how to play through it." Not that he doesn't occasionally talk it over with the men in black and white. "I do talk to the refs, in a respectful manner sometimes," Cadeau said. "We have conversations. I'll just keep it at that." He could probably speak to them in any manner he wanted, if he spoke Swedish. Cadeau could actually pull that off, given that he's quite fluent in the Nordic country's language. He's even represented Sweden in interna- tional competition. No, he wasn't born there. Rather, Cadeau first arrived in Brooklyn, N.Y., and grew up in West Or- ange, N.J. His father, James, comes from Haiti. His mother, Michelle, is a native of Skane, Sweden. That became his ticket to performing for Sweden in interna- tional competition, a connection trig- gered when his middle school team per- formed in a tournament there. Coaches discovered his heritage, and got him involved in a number of overseas cham- pionships, including helping Sweden win a gold medal at the 2022 FIBA U18 ❱ Cadeau, comparing the Big Ten with the ACC "It's a different conference than I was in last year. It's kind of different, with the physicality they allow. I'm going to just learn to play through it." One of only three Wolverines to start in all of Michigan's first 15 contests this season, Cadeau came through that stretch averaging 10.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and a team-high 5.2 assists per game. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL