The UConn vs Michigan point guard duel between Elliot Cadeau and Silas Demary Jr. sits at the heart of Friday night’s national championship rematch at TD Garden in Boston. Both programs believe they have the best backcourt in college basketball, and both point guards open the season as front-runners for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation’s top floor general.
A point guard matchup too close to call
Cadeau is the creative engine for Michigan, a playmaker who blends speed, power and improvisation. He would prefer to finish with 12 assists rather than 20 points, but new Wolverines head coach Mike Boynton Jr. may need him to carry a heavier scoring load than ever before. That assignment is complicated by Demary, a 6-foot-5 point-of-attack defender who takes personal offense when opponents score on him. The team that gets the better point guard play should win, yet the individual matchup looks like a draw on paper.
New big men on the block
Both rosters underwent significant frontcourt turnover, with five NBA players combined no longer in the fold. UConn addressed the gap by landing Seton Hall transfer Na’jai Hines, a physically imposing center. Michigan countered with Cincinnati transfer Moustapha Thiam, a 7-foot-2 big man expected to play after missing the opener against Oakland with an illness. Portal bigs often need time to settle in, but neither team has that luxury. Hines and Thiam must make an immediate impact.
One specific area to monitor is how UConn defends Michigan’s ball screens. The Huskies aggressively hard-hedge, which can put Hines in foul trouble when he flies out to disrupt. Those avoidable fouls frustrated Dan Hurley in the preseason and cost Hines playing time. That coverage also forces the ball out of Cadeau’s hands and into Thiam’s, and the Wolverines need Thiam to make sound decisions to generate good shots. He is not yet a strong passer, so Friday’s game should be revealing for both sides.
Preseason clues and defensive questions
Preseason results can be misleading, but they are not meaningless. UConn’s defense looked well ahead of schedule, clamping down on Purdue for long stretches. Hurley has grown men, positional size and at least one elite defender at every level. Michigan, meanwhile, does not look fully connected on defense yet. The Wolverines were never expected to match the special defensive group from the 2025-26 season, but the question is whether this unit is top-25 or top-50. A disconnected defense will be tested severely by UConn’s intricate offense.
Bench depth could tilt the scales
The starting fives are remarkably even. Cadeau and Demary cancel each other out. Shooters like Trey McKenney and Braylon Mullins are similar. The difference may come from the bench. UConn can bring a potential first-round pick in Colben Landrew off the bench. Michigan planned a similar luxury, but five-star freshman Brandon McCoy Jr. blew out his knee on the Wolverines’ international tour. UConn is deeper and appears ahead of schedule on both ends. Michigan’s defense is not airtight, and it is hard to see how the Wolverines create good shots if Cadeau gets into foul trouble.
Odds and prediction
The line opened with UConn as a three-point favorite and has since ballooned to six. Two full possessions feels rich for a game where the top-end talent is basically even. UConn can out-physical many teams, but not Michigan, whose guards—Roddy Gayle Jr., Cadeau and McKenney—are all physical. If Hines gets into foul trouble, Oskar Giltay may not be ready to swing the game against a talented Michigan frontcourt. UConn is unlikely to lose in Boston, but the points are the right side at anything north of six. If the line drops back inside two possessions, pivoting to the Huskies makes sense.
Pick: Michigan +6
How to watch
Date: Friday, November 6
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: TD Garden — Boston, MA
TV: TNT; FUBO
Live stream: CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App
