Michigan
Canisius
Michigan to Open 2025-26 Against Canisius
10/31/2025 5:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 13-ranked University of Michigan women's basketball team (0-0) kicks off the 2025-26 season by hosting Canisius (0-0) on Tuesday (Nov. 4) at Crisler Center. Tip is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on B1G+.
Notes
• After starting last season in Las Vegas against No. 1 South Carolina, U-M is back at Crisler, hosting Canisius in the first contest of the regular season. Michigan is 2-0 all-time against Canisius, last squaring off during the 2014-15 season.
• Michigan is 11-2 in season openers under 14th-year head coach Kim Barnes Arico. Both losses have happened away from Crisler Center.
• The Wolverines are ranked No. 13 in The Associated Press preseason poll, the second-highest preseason ranking in program history (No. 11, 2021-22). Michigan comes in at No. 16 in the WBCA Coaches' poll.
• U-M brings back a trio of starters in Olivia Olson (16.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg), Syla Swords (16.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and Mila Holloway (9.8 ppg, 4.4 apg), along with six other Wolverines who saw the floor last season.
• Michigan welcomes a three-member freshman class in Ciara Byars, Jessica Fields and McKenzie Mathurin. The class is ranked No. 19 by ESPN, with all three Wolverines ranked in the top 100.
• The Wolverines also brought in two transfers during the offseason in 2025 Patriot League Player of the Year Ashley Sofilkanich and 2024 McDonald's All-American Kendall Dudley. Dudley joins Olson and Swords as McDonald's All-Americans on the roster, just the second time U-M has had three on the team at the same time.
• Swords and Olson were each named to the preseason All-Big Ten team by both the coaches and the media. The duo was also named to the Naismith Trophy Watch List. Swords (Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard), Olson (Cheryl Miller Small Forward) and Sofilkanich (Lisa Leslie Center) were each named to positional watch lists by the Basketball Hall of Fame.
• Michigan added two new assistant coaches during the offseason in Jordann Reese and former Wolverine Danielle Rauch. Reese joins U-M from Creighton, with Rauch returning to her alma mater after spending a season on the sidelines at Western Carolina.
• U-M came away with a 108-58 win over Ferris State in its lone exhibition contest on Thursday (Oct. 30). Olson had a 22-point, 10-rebound double-double, with Holloway (17) and Brooke Quarles Daniels (11) joining her in double figures. Twelve Wolverines found the scoring column in the contest that Michigan led wire-to-wire.
• Michigan concludes a two-game homestand to start the season next Sunday (Nov. 9), hosting Harvard at noon. The Crimson are coached by former U-M assistant Carrie Moore.
Single-game and group tickets are now available.
