Michigan basketball survives 2nd-half scare, tops PSU 79-69 to stay unbeaten in Big Ten
Michigan coach Juwan Howard extended his arms and pumped them in the air, encouraging the raucous crowd at Crisler Center to get loud.
Moments earlier, the Wolverines (9-5, 3-0 Big Ten) allowed Penn State (11-4, 2-2 Big Ten) to rip off an 11-0 run to tie the game with 15:06 to play, before Howard's club responded by putting together its best two-minute stretch of the season. Freshman Jett Howard, his son, got the run started when a three-pointer from the wing ended scoring drought of more than four minutes.
Kobe Bufkin followed with a jumper from the elbow off a baseline inbound pass and after Hunter Dickinson swatted a dunk attempt by Kebba Njie, Terrance Williams hit a long ball from the same spot as Howard.
On the next trip down, Howard made an and-1 layup in transition.
"On your feet! On your feet!," the Michigan student section, 'The Maize Rage' chanted as the rest of the crowd came to a stand. Howard calmly sunk the free throw which put a cap on an 11-0 run in 1:47 of play. Michigan would get its lead out to 14 and despite another 11-0 PSU run to cut it to three with 4:08 to play, the Wolverines held off Penn State 79-69 on Wednesday night to remain unblemished in Big Ten play.
Dickinson had 17 points and six rebounds, Jett Howard scored 14 points with seven rebounds, Bufkin added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists while Dug McDaniel scored 12, Joey Baker added nine and Terrance Williams had eight points and nine rebounds.
Penn State's Jalen Pickett led all scorers with 26 points and nine rebounds, followed by Seth Lundy with 16.
Michigan has rival Michigan State up next at Breslin Center in East Lansing at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Surviving a late run
It felt like Michigan had the game in hand, up 68-54 after Baker drained a three for the third time in the game. Baker skipped down the court and hit the side of his head with three fingers as McDaniel held his hands up to his eyes like a pair of goggles.
But consecutive buckets by Camren Wynter, followed by a layup and pair of free throws by Seth Lundy made it a six-point game. Transfer Andrew Funk buried a long ball from the top of the key with 4:28 to play to get back within three.
After McDaniel and Williams each split a pair of free throws, a Pickett fadeaway over Dickinson got Penn State back within three. Bufkin followed by making a layup from a tough angle with 3:0x to play, Michigan's first field goal in more than five minutes.
The Nittany Lions had the ball down three when an Andrew Funk three-point attempt rolled around the rim and out with 1:37 to play. On the other end, McDaniel responded with the biggest bucket of the night, when he drove and hit a floater to make it a five-point game with 1:08 to play.
Pickett missed a free throw on the other end before U-M held on for the win. The Wolverines got the victory in large part because of improvement in key areas, like rebounding. After losing the battle of the boards by 19 (49-30) to CMU last week including 17 offensive rebounds, Michigan out-rebounded PSU 37-35 and gave up four offensive rebounds which resulted in just four second-chance points.
The Wolverines also committed only three turnovers, the fewest on the year for the team which entered play No. 2 in the nation in turnovers per game. Penn State, which was the beset in the country in that regard, turned the ball over eight times.
Depth on display early
Michigan's offense went through Dickinson and Howard for the majority of the first half of the season, with Bufkin emerging as a more-than-capable third option over the past month.
However on Wednesday, the Wolverines got as much help from some of its newer pieces as they have in some time.
It started with freshman guard Dug McDaniel, who hit a step-back mid-range jumper to open the scoring, before he hit two more floaters in the game's first seven minutes and change.
His fellow Class of 2022 commit Tarris Reed Jr. also had a nice stint to open the game when he hit a spinning layup before catching a lob from Bufkin and throwing down the slam. That capped Michigan's 17-6 run with 11:43 to play in the first half to make it 22-13.
As Penn State started chipping away with a Myles Dread long ball on the ensuing possession (which put the Detroit native over 1,000 career points for the Nittany Lions), Joey Baker answered with a pair of three-pointers less than 90 seconds apart to extend Michigan's lead to 10.
The three combined for 16 of the team's first 28 points less than 11 minutes into the game. Michigan's bench out-scored Penn State's 14-10.
Michigan looked like it was going to go into the break with an 11-point lead, but a half-court heave by Evan Mahaffey was good off the glass, and made it 42-34 at the break.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan survives PSU rally to win 79-69 and stay unbeaten in Big Ten
