Opening round opponent revealed for Michigan hoops in Battle 4 Atlantis

The Michigan Wolverines will be competing in the Battle 4 Atlantis for the first time since 2019, and now we know who their opening round opponent will be.

The program announced Wednesday evening that it will take on Memphis in the opening round of the regular season tournament. The game will be played on Nov. 22 — the day before Thanksgiving — at 5 p.m.

The Wolverines had a solid showing the last time they competed in the Battle 4 Atlantis, as they won the whole tournament, beating two top-10 teams in No. 6 North Carolina and No. 8 Gonzaga. Jon Teske was named the Tournament MVP, and Juwan Howard earned quite a bit of respect nationally in his first year at the helm.

The winner of that game will take on the winner of Arkansas and Stanford. UNC, Northern Iowa, Villanova and Texas Tech round out the rest of the tournament field.

Michigan has a jam-packed non-conference schedule. No game times have been publicly announced, but here is a list of non-conference matchups in 2023-24:

• vs UNC Asheville (Nov. 7)
• vs Youngstown State (Nov. 10)
• vs St. John’s at Madison Square Garden (Nov. 13)
• vs Long Beach State (Nov. 17)
• vs Memphis and possibly others at Battle 4 Atlantis (Nov. 22-24)
• at Oregon (Dec. 2)
• vs Eastern Michigan (Dec. 16)
• vs Florida at Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C. (Dec. 19)
• vs McNeese (Dec. 29)

As we’ve covered this spring and summer, it’s been a tumultuous offseason for the men’s basketball team, who lost their top three scorers and lost out on a number of talented players in the transfer portal. With all the roster turnover and last year’s inconsistency, it will be important for Michigan to get off to a good start in non-conference play. Winning the Battle 4 Atlantis could do wonders for a young team full of new faces.