Michigan Wolverines basketball has added a non-conference game against McNeese State Dec. 29 at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, according to CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein.
Michigan is 0-1 all time against McNeese State, with the lone meeting coming Dec. 29, 2023 — a stunning, 87-76 setback at Crisler Center. That came as part of the Wolverines’ dismal 8-24 campaign under head coach Juwan Howard, who was fired following the season.
Michigan allowed 1.23 points per possession to McNeese State, and star guard Shahada Wells went off for 30 points, 6 assists and 10 rebounds.
Dusty May replaced Howard and is entering his second year with the Maize and Blue, who went 27-10, made the Sweet 16 and finished No. 10 in the Associated Press poll in 2024-25.
The only Michigan players still on the roster that were a part of the team for that loss are graduate guard Nimari Burnett, graduate forward Will Tschetter and junior forward Harrison Hochberg.
At the time, McNeese State was coached by Will Wade — the former Chattanooga, VCU and LSU head man who was fired in Baton Rouge amidst an FBI probe. Wade has since been hired by North Carolina State.
Interestingly enough, McNeese State hired Bill Armstrong — who most recently led Branson (Mo.) Link Academy at the high school level — as its next head coach. May and Armstrong are close friends, and their relationship actually played a factor in the Wolverines landing junior point guard Elliot Cadeau from North Carolina through the transfer portal.
Armstrong told Cadeau, who played for him at Link Academy, that the college coach most similar to his style of leadership is May.
“I definitely see the similarities, and I’m looking forward to seeing even more similarities as I get to know Coach even more,” Cadeau said in a recent appearance on the ‘Defend The Block’ podcast.
The Cowboys are coming off a 28-win season in which it earned a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament and upset No. 5 seed Clemson, before falling to No. 4 seed Purdue.
Also in non-conference play, the Wolverines will play at TCU (Nov. 14), a home game versus Villanova (Dec. 9), and neutral-site contests against Wake Forest (in Detroit Nov. 11) and Duke (in Washington D.C. Feb. 21). Plus, the Maize and Blue are in the Players Era Festival, a tournament in Las Vegas that has the Wolverines set to take on San Diego State (Nov. 24), Auburn (Nov. 25) and potentially one more opponent.
Michigan has its schedule breakdown for Big Ten play, but the dates and tip times are TBA.
Home: Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
Away: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Northwestern, Oregon, Purdue, Washington
Home/Away: Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State
Michigan will also reportedly play an exhibition game against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York.
“The schedule is exciting,” May said in a recent podcast interview. “We’ve got a couple really unique exhibition games, as well, that will help prepare us for that schedule.”
