On Tuesday night, the No. 2 college basketball team in the country, 13-0 Michigan, was in State College to take on Penn State.
Not only was Penn State looking to shock the college basketball world, but it was also looking for their first Big Ten win of the season.
With star freshman point guard Kayden Mingo inactive for the game, Penn State certainly had its hands full.
Penn State ended up coming a shot away from beating Michigan, but fell, 74-72.
But Penn State came out swinging and took an early 10-6 lead at the (15:48) mark. Freshmen 7-footer, Ivan Juric, had eight of the Nittany Lions’ ten points.
Michigan was playing sloppy and had five turnovers already in the game (13:00). Penn State, though, was not capitalizing on these extra opportunities. The score was all locked at 12-12 with (12:00) to play in the half.
The Wolverines’, L.J. Cason, then hit a transition three to give Michigan the lead 15-12 with (11:17) left in the half.
Cason was heating up and scored seven quick points by the (10:08) mark.
Shots were not dropping for the Blue & White even with good looks. Michigan was taking advantage of this and leading PSU 24-17 with (8:01) to play in the first half.
Freshman, Mason Blackwood, and redshirt junior, Freddie Dilione V., then registered back-to-back buckets to inch closer to make the score 25-21, but then Michigan’s, Elliot Cadeau, knocked in another jumper and the score was 27-21 in favor of the Wolverines (5:44).
The Wolverines were shooting 52% from the field to the Nittany Lions’ 32%.
Michigan was making high percentage shots and increased their lead to nine, 40-31, with 36 seconds left in the first half. Cason was leading all scorers with 14 points.
At the half, it was the Wolverines 40 Nittany Lions 31. Cason had 14 points for Michigan and Juric had 10 for the Nittany Lions.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.To begin the second half, Juric converted a quick hoop inside and then drew a foul next time down the court and knocked in 1-of-2 free throws to cut the deficit to only six points, 40-34 (18:54).
The No. 2 team in the country, though, was answering any Penn State run. The Nittany Lions kept battling and with (15:47) left to play it was Michigan 49, PSU 40.
Michigan seemed to start wearing out the Mingo-less Nittany Lions. With (15:14) left to play, it was Michigan 53 Penn State 40. The Wolverines’, Nimari Burnett, joined teammate, L.J. Cason, in double figures with 12 points.
Penn State was not going away. They had cut the lead to seven, 55-48, with (13:07) to play after an Eli Rice reverse layup.
Both teams were going back-and-forth answering each other’s runs, and with (7:30) left in the game, it was Penn State cutting their deficit to six points, 63-57. Juric had 20 points in the game and Dilione had 11.
PSU’s Dilione then knocked in a three from downtown to trim the lead to three. Michigan’s, Aday Mara, then answered with a reverse dunk.
Dilione drilled his second three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to four, 67-63 (4:58).
Freshman, Melih Tunca, then knocked in a three to make the score Michigan 73 Penn State 70.
Next time down the court, teammate, Eli Rice, then drew a foul and made both of his foul shots, and Penn State was only down by one point, 73-72 with (1:00) in the game.
Dilione missed a 15-foot jumper with 15.1 seconds to play, which forced Penn State to foul, but Michigan’s Aday Mara only made 1 of his 2 foul shots to make the score Michigan 74, Penn State 72.
Penn State took the last shot of the game with Dilione missing a three pointer and Michigan hanged on to defeat the Nittany Lions 74-72.
