Michigan Basketball survives upset scare from Penn State to stay unbeaten

SB Nation

The Michigan Wolverines survived a scare from the Penn State Nittany Lions, 74-72, on Tuesday. Dusty May’s team certainly didn’t play up to their usual standard, but they fought off a near upset to improve

to 14-0 overall and 4-0 in Big Ten play.

Here’s how it all went down.

FIRST HALF

Despite entering the game as heavy favorites, Michigan got off to an uncharacteristically slow start and trailed 10-6 at the first media timeout. The Wolverines were very sloppy early on, committing five turnovers in the first seven minutes.

Michigan finally started to find a rhythm on offense as L.J. Cason came in off the bench and connected with Aday Mara for an alley-oop dunk, followed by Cason drilling a three-pointer to cap off a 9-0 run and give the Wolverines a 15-12 lead. Cason’s impressive first half continued as he finished through contract to hit a layup to push the lead to 19-14.

Just moments later, Nimari Burnett scored five straight points to go up 24-17 and force Penn State to call a timeout.

The Wolverines opened up a 37-27 lead and took a 40-31 edge into halftime as Cason led all scorers with 14 points. Michigan was out-rebounded 24-18 in the first half, but had more fast-break points (11-0) and points in the paint (20-14).

HALFTIME: MICHIGAN 40, PENN STATE 31

SECOND HALF

Yaxel Lendeborg didn’t look like himself for much of the night, possibly hampered by the calf injury he suffered in a win over USC on Friday. However, he did sink a sweet layup off the dribble to go up 51-40 in the early stages of the second half.

Penn State continued to hang around to keep the deficit within single digits early in the half until Roddy Gayle Jr. and Trey McKenney knocked down back-to-back three-pointers. That helped Michigan extend the lead to 61-48 with 12:10 remaining.

It appeared the Wolverines would cruise to a win, but Penn State forward Ivan Juric caught fire and fueled a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to 63-60. Michigan answered on the other end, though, as Lendeborg found Mara for a dunk to go up 65-60.

Elliot Cadeau came up clutch in the final minutes, making two free throws and finishing a layup to give Michigan some breathing room. Gayle also had a critical offensive rebound and put-back layup, pushing the lead to 73-64 with 3:09 left.

Penn State quickly stormed back in the final minutes, going on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 73-72 with just 1:04 left. The Nittany Lions had a potential game-winning three-pointer but it came up empty as Michigan escaped with a 74-72 win.

FINAL SCORE: MICHIGAN 74, PENN STATE 72

MICHIGAN STAT LEADERS