A familiar face awaits Duke Blue Devils in late-season showdown with Michigan
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Elliot Cadeau transferred from UNC to Michigan and is the starting point guard.
- Cadeau averages 10.1 points, team-high 5.5 assists and shoots 40% from three.
- Michigan reached 25-1, its best start, and faces No. 3 Duke in a high-profile game.
College kids write a lot of things on social media and Michigan’s Elliot Cadeau recently posted something both personal and poignant.
“Sometimes when things seem to be falling apart they may actually be falling into place,” he wrote on his Instagram account.
That came just after the Wolverines had taken an 83-71 road win against Michigan State that had Cadeau score 17 points and hand out six assists. And that game came after Cadeau’s eight-turnover misery in Michigan’s 75-72 victory at home over Nebraska.
North Carolina basketball fans likely are not surprised by the juxtaposition. In the two years Cadeau was in the UNC program, the point guard hit a variety of peaks and valleys with his play, sometimes in the same game. For some fans, he could be both exciting and infuriating, consistently inconsistent.
A five-star recruit who reclassified to the class of 2023 so that he could join the Tar Heels, the New Jersey native wanted to jump into college basketball, step up in competition.
“I just thought I was ready for this level,” Cadeau said in an N&O interview during the 2023-24 season. “I thought it was the best decision for my development and getting better as a player.”
After two seasons, another decision was made: it was best to move on.
Cadeau lands at Michigan
And things are falling into place for him nicely at Michigan. Cadeau is the starting point guard for the No. 1 team in the country. He’ll be starting Saturday when the Wolverines, who moved into the top spot in the polls this week, take on No. 3 Duke (24-2, 13-1 ACC) at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.
The Wolverines moved to 25-1 overall and 15-1 in the Big Ten by going into Purdue’s Mackey Arena on Tuesday and coming away with a 91-80 win over the No. 7 Boilermakers as Cadeau had 17 points and 7 assists.
“Elliot was a wizard tonight,” Michigan coach Dusty May said in his postgame press conference.
Looking to the Duke game, May said the high-powered late-season matchup should be a “really cool moment” and, in some ways, prepare the Wolverines for what’s to come in the NCAA tournament.
“We’re going to treat it like a Sweet 16 game, hopefully a Final Four game,” May said.
Cadeau played five games against the Blue Devils in his two years at Chapel Hill, winning the first two his freshman season and losing three times to Duke last season – the third in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in Charlotte.
Cadeau’s solid play helped Tar Heels push the Devils in the tournament matchup before Duke pulled out a 74-71 win. He had 15 points, going 3-for-3 on 3-pointers, and five assists against the Devils, who were playing without injured Cooper Flagg.
The Tar Heels were chosen for the NCAA Tournament, winning a First Four game against San Diego State as Cadeau had 12 assists, before bowing out against Mississippi in the next round in Milwaukee. Cadeau had eight assists in the loss to Ole Miss but missed seven of his eight shots and scored four points.
After starting 68 games over his two years with the Heels, Cadeau decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Within a few days, he announced he was going to Michigan, leaving the ACC for the Big 10.
“That was his dream and he gave it everything he had for two years,” Cadeau’s mother, Michelle Cadeau, posted on her Facebook page after the move. “I’m proud of him making a choice he felt he had to do to get where he wants to be. It was never easy because we never had it in our plans to transfer but he felt this was what was needed.”
An instant star for the Wolverines
Talk about making an immediate impact with your new team. In the season opener against Oakland, Cadeau had 14 assists in Michigan’s 121-78 blowout. He then had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists as the Wolverines outlasted Wake Forest in overtime for an 85-84 win, hitting a go-ahead free throw with 14 seconds left in OT.
The Wolverines’ 25-1 record adds up to the best start in Michigan’s basketball history. The previous record was 20-1, achieved twice under former coach John Beilein.
“It’s great to be a part of history,” Cadeau told the Michigan media. “There’s been really, really good teams here and for us to be mentioned in the same sentence with those teams is a really good honor for us.”
Cadeau has heard some of the same noise he had at UNC – he’s too short, can’t shoot well enough, doesn’t come up big in big games, yadda, yadda, yadda.
At 6-1 and 180 pounds, he can be a physical defender. He’s averaging 10.1 points and a team-high 5.5 assists a game, and has been a 40% shooter from 3-point range.
While at UNC, Cadeau was once asked if he’d rather win a game with a nice pass to a teammate for an easy basket or on a drive and dunk of his own.
“I definitely would rather make a really good pass because I feel like if I throw a lot to the bigs it’s a highlight for us,” Cadeau said. “If I just dunk, it’s just a highlight for me. So why would I want one highlight when I could have two?”
That was his mindset then and remains it now, even though he’s passing to the likes of Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr., or Aday Mara of the Wolverines, not R.J. Davis and Seth Trimble.
And he’ll soon be seeing Duke one more time.
