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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It didn’t take very long into their college debuts to see why Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate, Michigan basketball’s two five-star signees, are special.
Houstan had 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal, whereas Diabate had 7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Both immediately looked at home, with Houstan in the starting lineup and Diabate coming into the game early off the bench.
It was no surprise to head coach Juwan Howard that either were able to come in and make an early impact, given what he had seen from each in the lead-up to their first official game.
On Diabate’s performance in the first half, he said: “Love it, love it. Doesn’t surprise me at all, because that’s the kind of player he is. He brings energy, effort, toughness.”
“Caleb, man — he’s shown so much poise as a young freshman,” Howard later said about Houstan. “Think about it: this guy re-classed up. So he’s supposed to be a senior in high school at Montverde. But he decided to make the jump. With his maturity and how he competes out there on the floor, you just think he’s been around for a very long time. He’s always, like Terrance, always listening, asking questions, want to learn, want to get better. I trust that he’s always gonna make the right play. Every player make mistakes. One thing about Caleb, this is a game of growth. It’s hard when you have foul trouble and you’re playing so well and now you have to sit for a while and lose your rhythm. But, in the start of the second half, I was trying to get him to lean up down the floor, get him loose, run him a few sets, get him more comfortable and get back to the flow he had in the first half. And he came out and he made a big 3 for us during that run after Terrance made his 3.”
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But it wasn’t just Howard singing their praises. Their sophomore teammates also had a lot of positives about the two after the game.
It’s hard to pick which one was more dynamic in their debuts, so forward Terrance Williams II spoke about both, and what he liked about each in their first time out.
“I’m gonna start with Mouss — Mouss came in with a lot of energy. The crowd was rocking with him,” Williams said. “The crowd (was going): ‘Mouss!’ — he plays on the offensive and defensive end. I feel like the fans love it, we love it. The shot-blocking he has, attacking the rim, rebounding, contesting the shots that don’t show up in the stat book — a lot of contests on No. 34 — he made him miss a lot. There was a lot of energy, the crowd’s gonna love him, we love him for that.
“Caleb came in, started hot. He got into foul trouble, but we’re not even worried about that, to be honest. He played his game. He still had a great game. He made a big shot down the stretch that we needed. So, both of them played really well in my opinion as freshmen, and I feel like it will continue.”
Hunter Dickinson, of course, got to pair up more specifically with Diabate when, instead of Diabate playing the five, Howard inserted a lineup that saw him at the four with Dickinson remaining at the five.
Dickinson says that Diabate has a lot to his game that makes it particularly enjoyable when the two are paired up.
“Yeah, it’s fun! Just two really big guys out there,” Dickinson said. “He’s really athletic, he’s able to cover a lot of ground and he’s able to make up for a lot of mistakes for the other four players on defense. And offensively, he attracts so much attention. When he has the ball, sneaks around and moves freely out there. Playing with him, he’s another high IQ guy, so definitely love playing with him offensively and defensively.”
Considering Dickinson’s history of playing big-time ball in the DMV, has he seen another big that’s been able to come in and do the types of things that Diabate does?
“No, he’s such a freak of nature athletically,” Dickinson said. “Like I said, he’s got so much potential. I don’t think he knows how much potential he has so far. Us, we’re trying to show him what he can do and how good he can be. Sky’s the limit for him and he’s gonna keep getting better as the season progresses.”
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