Michigan raised the banner, introduced their freshmen, and started a hopeful season with a 12-point win over a team that projects to be one of the better in the MAC. They also learned a lot of things about themselves as Juwan Howard shuffled through multiple lineups trying to find a good fit.

Four point guard types got their opportunities in the first half with starter Davante Jones in some early foul trouble, then Eli Brooks (moved over from his starting SG position), Frankie Collins, and finally Kobe Bufkin for a stretch at the end of the first half. Transfer PG DeVante’ Jones produced two of his patented steals for points, plus a pair of assists in 7 minutes before picking up his second foul and kicking off the point guard carousel. He added three assists to one turnover in another 11 minutes of the second half. The freshmen had seven and four minutes, with Collins looking confident in a defensive/secondary role. The rest of the time was served by Eli Brooks, who was his solid self on defense and more of a floor general than normal on offense, especially on a key sequence in the 2nd half when he slithered past Mbala for a layup then ran at him again only and over-the-back passed to an open Terrence Williams III.

The newcomers were close to their billings. Moussa Diabate showed off electric athleticism and ludicrous length, plus a well-above-freshman level of vision, including an early no-look pass to fellow five-star freshman Caleb Houstan, who proceeded to bury the first three of his career. That was part of an enticing yet short first half for Michigan’s top-rated recruit; he scoring eight in the frame before going out for 10 minutes with his second foul. His length also proved quite consequential as Michigan was finally putting this game away late, tipping out a Jones’s free throw miss to give his team an extra clock-killing possession.

But it wasn’t just fouls keeping Houstan mostly on the sidelines, as his defensive feet were not enough to prevent Buffalo’s Jeenathan Williams from having a career day: 32 points on 24.5 shot equivalents, and most of those left-handed floaters.

The Williams problem helped the Bulls cut Michigan’s 51-36 halftime lead down to five points. Things started to go sour after Jones and Hunter Dickinson trapped Buffalo’s other star forward, Josh Mballa, on the sideline, and Jones picked up a very questionable third foul as Mballa tripped out of there. The ensuing possession saw Dickinson fall asleep on a recovery, and Buffalo buried a three, inducing a timeout from Howard. Buffalo continued their run as Houstan traveled off a dribble handoff, Mbala cut it to ten on his quick drive on Dickinson and Johns, and then Michigan turned it over again on an offensive foul.

That’s were things also started to get “chippy” as Mbala got in a free hard foul on Johns under the basket after his teammate picked up the tab first. The second pair of double techs were issued to Dickinson and the Bull to whom he was registering his offense. Williams got another floater to go after Brooks launched a long two early in the shot clock. A third set of double-techs came down shortly after, during the aftermath of a weird play where Williams slid under Dickinson, and two officials made opposing block/charge calls. Williams took his tech smiling and buried a three to put Buffalo within two possessions.

The answer to Williams, Janeethan, turned out to be Williams, Terrance, who took over at the four from there. The sophomore managed to stay in front of the first great enemy of the season, forcing the offense back to Mbala versus Michigan’s bigs, and the three he hit off of Brooks’s afore mentioned over-the-back put Michigan back up 8 points with just over five minutes to go. Even more consequential was his defense a minute later, as J.Williams tried to go left, found himself in T.Williams’s chest, and got called for both a travel and a flop warning. Brooks hit a floater off of Spain action to put the Wolverines up 12 with under 4 minutes, and then repeated his behind-the-back move to Houstan, now back for his final appearance, who canned the three-pointer and put the game out of reach for good.

TW5 also seemed to bring out the best in his classmate and old AAU teammate Dickinson, who finished with 27 points on 21 shot equivalents and showed a new spin move on the baseline when Buffalo focused on his favorite shoulder. His Buffalo counterpart also fouled out, and the replacement immediately got bodied out of the building on a box-out that left Dickinson all alone to collect a missed Houstan three.

Adrian Nunez had perhaps his best game as a Wolverine, with 5 points in 8 real minutes with Brooks at point, though his perimeter defense remained exploitable. Brandon Johns got 23 minutes in varied roles but it was one of his less impactful nights as he turned down a couple of three pointers to drive and contributing to some of the issues against Buffalo’s bucket man. two-big lineup of Dickinson and Diabate generally struggled to prevent the up-tempo Bulls from taking advantage of Dickinson up high, though it did lead to some highlight drives for Diabate and an impenetrable sea of arms when both bigs were set. It does seem those two shouldn’t be out together with Houstan or Johns.

Howard now gets to go back and watch the tape to figure out who should be on the court together. If the opener was any indication, it’s going to be an interesting mix, and a fascinating season.

[Hit THE JUMP for the box score and photos]