Asked to evaluate his performance in the Michigan basketball team’s exhibition 87-54 win over Wayne State, Moussa Diabate stopped for a moment to think.
In his first college game in front of fans, the five-star freshman had just posted a team-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, five rebounds and three blocks. He also recorded the highlight play of the night, finishing off a fast break with a posterizing two-handed dunk through contact.
Still, leaning against the tunnel in the WSU Field House, he offered nothing but self-critique.
“I’d grade it to be a C, maybe a C+,” Diabate said. “Definitely have to work on some stuff, details.”
If that was a C+, there’s no telling how Diabate would grade his performance in the first half of the Wolverines’ season-opener on Wednesday. He did a little bit of everything in the opening frame, recording seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, two rebounds, three assists and two blocks. His strong play helped Michigan establish an early 21-point lead in what ultimately became an 88-76 win over Buffalo.
But the sheer numbers aren’t what made Diabate stand out. Rather, his performance was defined by highlight plays across the board. He ran the floor exceptionally well and threw down multiple big dunks. He picked up his first career assist when he kicked out to Caleb Houstan in the corner for three, and a few minutes later, he dished out another perfect extra pass after receiving a short pick-and-roll.
Diabate made his presence felt at the other end of the floor, too. His length and lateral quickness allowed him to switch ball screens across the board, while his leaping ability put him in position for highlight-reel rejections. Diabate looked like the best player on the floor in the first half — and it wasn’t particularly close.
“Moussa played great,” Hunter Dickinson said. “He’s so active out there. Really a great defender, and offensively, he’s so gifted. I think he’s a mismatch problem for a lot of teams and he’s able to guard ‘1’ through ‘5.’ He’s a special piece for us and I think as the season goes on, he’s going to keep getting better and better. I can’t wait to see him at the end of the season, how good he is.”
And for Diabate, Wednesday night is just the floor.
“He’s such a freak of nature athletically,” Dickinson said. “He’s got so much potential. I don’t think he knows how much potential he has. For us, we’re trying to show him what he can do and how good he can be. The sky is the limit for him.”
Diabate wasn’t the only five-star freshman who helped Michigan jump out to an early lead, as Houstan scored eight points in the first five minutes of action. He could’ve been two months into his senior year of high school right now, but he elected to reclassify up a year as a recruit last summer. He won’t turn 19 years old until January.
But after watching Houstan play at Montverde Academy, Juwan Howard quickly noticed the polish few young stars are capable of showing. So far in Ann Arbor, that hasn’t changed.
“Caleb, man, he’s shown so much poise as a young freshman,” Howard said. “… With his maturity and how he competes out there on the floor, you’d just think he’s been around a really long time. He’s always listening, asking questions, wants to learn, wants to get better. I trust he’s always going to make the right play.”
Houstan finished his debut with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He made his first three shots and added consistent offensive play throughout the game, but foul trouble took him out of his rhythm for the middle part of the night. Still, he canned a dagger 3-pointer to put the game out of reach with three minutes left.
“That’s easy for him to get hot,” Dickinson said. “He’s just a couple shots away from really heating up. He’s such a great shooter, and the way our offense is designed with the pressure we put on those low guys, he’s going to have a lot of those open shots. He’s a great shooter, so he’s going to knock them down for us. He’s got a really good opportunity this year to score a lot for us and do a lot for us.”
Throughout the Wolverines’ offseason, the excitement around the program’s second-ranked 2021 recruiting class was well-documented. And as the faces of the star-studded group, Houstan and Diabate lived up to expectations in their debut.
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