ANN ARBOR — Michigan men’s basketball (15-5, 7-2 Big Ten) edged out a win over Penn State 76-72 on Monday night. The Nittany Lions had a one point lead (72-71) late until Wolverines guard Tre Donaldson hit a go-ahead three pointer with 24 seconds left. He finished it off with two free throws and ended with a game-high 21 points.
“Just trying to continue to make steps in the right direction,” Donaldson said of the win after the game. “Everything’s not going to go perfect. We’re going to lose some games, and that’s part of it, but can we play basketball the right way? Can we do everything we want to do the right way, and play Michigan basketball for 40 minutes? That’s the biggest thing (moving forward).”
Tre Donaldson three pointer pushes Michigan basketball past Penn State
Michigan fought tooth and nail with the Nittany Lions (13-8, 3-7 Big Ten) in the first half, and the score was locked at 35-35 going into halftime. Each team shot over 40 percent from the field and from three in the first 20 minutes. The Wolverines were having trouble with guards Nick Kern Jr. and D’Marco Dunn, as they combined for more than half (18) of Penn State’s total going into the break.
“They were kind of just moving, kind of random cutting,” Michigan guard Rubin Jones said. “It’s kind of hard to scout that team because it’s so random. We knew it was a lot of ball screens, a lot of stack action, and we kind of scouted that all week.
“… The random things kind of threw us off (and) had us looking over our shoulder a lot, so they got a couple back-doors and a couple wide open shots because we were in rotation. But, nothing that film can’t help fix.”
The Wolverines got it done by committee in the first half, as four players contributed at least five points. Penn State had a 20-9 rebound advantage going into halftime, and the margin finished at 34-26. Jones said rebounding was a factor in the halftime adjustments.
“We came together as a team and talked about it,” Jones said. “We saw the offensive (and) defensive rebound numbers and said, ‘we’ve got to get on the glass if we’re going to go win this game’.”
Each team reached their biggest lead of the game in the second half as they traded blows Monday night. Center Vlad Goldin was on the sidelines for most of the game, and Wolverines head coach Dusty May revealed after the game that he’s feeling ill, and “shouldn’t have played”. May said his team showed him something by hanging around.
“… For this game to be back-and-forth and our guys to stay with it when things weren’t going well,” May said. “We didn’t shoot free throws, during a very pivotal moment in the second half we missed shots around the rim that we typically make, we missed some open threes, and for all that to happen and our guys not to drop their head and keep battling and fighting is a good sign going forward.
“… Despite us not clicking yet, we do feel like we’re making steps in the right direction on the things that are the most important and have the most staying power, which is communication, which is effort (and) things like that.”
Michigan forward Danny Wolf finished with 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Nimari Burnett was the only other Wolverine to reach double digit points, but the bench contributed 21, led by forward Will Tschetter (7).
Michigan will look to start stacking wins again as it visits Rutgers next on Feb. 1. at 3:30 p.m. on FOX
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