After two top-10 wins last week, Michigan Basketball led for all but 90 seconds against Penn State on Thursday. Here are 4 takeaways from the blowout victory:
In its first game of February, the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines dominated Penn State at home, 110-69. This was first time Michigan scored more than 100 points since the McNeese game in December.
Penn State is the first opponent Michigan is facing for the second time this season. In the first game at the Bryce Jordan Center, the Nittany Lions put up a hell of a fight and turned 12 Michigan turnovers into 17 points, but Michigan squeaked out a win, 74-72. The Nittany Lions have gone 1-6 since then, winning their most recent game against Minnesota.
Against a short-handed team at the bottom of the Big Ten standings, Michigan did what it was supposed to do. Penn State led for just 90 seconds, as Michigan jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The foot never came off the gas, exactly what this coaching staff was looking for after two top-10 victories last week.
Here are four takeaways from the victory.
Another dominant defensive performance
Michigan got out to an 11-2 start not because the offense was crisp, but because the Wolverines locked down defensively as they have all year long.
Michigan rotated well and smothered the Nittany Lions with size, as Penn State missed nine of its first 10 shots and could not get comfortable early on. After scoring the first basket of the game, Penn State went on a 6:57 scoring drought as Michigan clawed to a 15-2 lead. The lead only got bigger from there, as Michigan forced Penn State into what felt like a hundred contested long twos.
Michigan kept up the defensive intensity, as Penn State only made 35 percent of its shots. It got even harder for the visiting team when Michigan turned on the full-court pressure, speeding up a shorthanded team that looked frazzled facing a diamond press.
Great defense led to easy offense for Michigan, which hasn’t looked this good defensively since it won the Players Era in November.
Nimari leads the way with a new career-high
Nimari Burnett always seems to play better at Crisler Center, and Thursday night was no exception. He hit a three for Michigan’s first basket of the game, and finished some possessions where the Wolverines moved the ball extremely well. Back-to-back two-handed slams gave him 10 points late in the first half, the first off a nifty feed from fellow senior Will Tschetter.
He followed that up with blowing right past a Penn State defender in a mediocre zone for another easy dunk. Burnett was also red hot from three, knocking down seven of his 10 attempts, two makes away from tying the school record (Garde Thompson with nine made threes against Navy in 1986-87).
Burnett led the team with a career-high 31 points. Pretty much every Big Ten defense will be better than Penn State’s, but it was nice to see him getting going into a tough stretch of February games.
A great night from three
Like pretty much every team in college basketball, Michigan shot the three-ball well at home, helping to widen the lead over Penn State. Michigan made seven of its first 13 attempts from three, rotating the ball well to get those open looks.
Will Tschetter knocked down a deep three to give Michigan a 44-18 lead, which felt like a dagger with just over three minutes to play in the half.
The Wolverines weren’t forcing threes either, as they have occasionally when the ball is sticking offensively. They were just taking what the defense gave them and hit those shots at a 52 percent clip. When you combine this with Michigan dominating inside, and Penn State didn’t stand much of a chance.
Size advantage on full display
After he was hot from three and scored a season-high 20 points in the first game against Michigan, Penn State was without 7-footer Ivan Juric for this game. The tallest player in the starting lineup for the Nittany Lions was 6-foot-8 Josh Reed, and Michigan took advantage of a bigger size advantage than usual.
Ten of Michigan’s first 15 points came in the paint, including a few offensive rebounds where Aday Mara (11 points, six rebounds, six blocks) was simply too big to box out.
Speaking of boxing out, the Nittany Lions did not do that well, as Michigan grabbed 11 offensive rebounds, including four in the first 10 minutes of the game. Penn State had just four rebounds in the first half compared to Michigan’s 24. It was just a bloodbath in the paint, with Michigan winning easily on the boards (44-21) and in points in the paint (50-36).
Up Next
The Wolverines head to Columbus this weekend to take on Ohio State. Tip-off for this Super Bowl Sunday matinee is set for 1 p.m. on CBS.
Category: General Sports
