After a lopsided loss last Friday to the 11th ranked Purdue Boilermakers, the Michigan Wolverines returned home last night to host the Penn State Nittany Lions. Despite being on a Monday evening, the Wolverines played in front of their fifth straight sell out crowd at Crisler Arena and gave fans an exciting game that came down to the last minute.
The Wolverines scored the first five points of the game before the Nittany Lions came back on a small run of their own. The entire first half was a back and forth battle as the teams tied or traded lead changes several times before going into halftime tied 35-35. In a fairly low scoring performance, both teams shot 48% for the first 20 minutes with the largest lead in half by either team being a six point differential by Michigan.
Penn State opened the second half with the first field goal to break the tie but then Michigan had a 12-5 run to go up by seven and eventually eight points midway through the second period. However the fans in maize and blue couldn’t relax as the Nittany Lions fought back, continuously cutting into the Wolverines lead to tie the game with four minutes left and then taking a five point lead with two minutes remaining in the contest.
The last two minutes had the crowd on the edge of their seats but on the floor, it turned into the Tre Donaldson show. The Wolverines guard took control, scoring or assisting on Michigan’s final nine points including hitting the go ahead three pointer with 24 seconds left to give the team the lead for good. It was only fitting that he would then grab a rebound, get fouled and make both free throws with four seconds left to seal the victory for Michigan.
The Nittany Lions, who were held to zero field goals in the game’s final three minutes, were led in scoring by Nick Kern with 16 points in their eighth loss on the season. Donaldson finished with 21 points and 7 assists to lead all players in the game in both stat categories.
For the Wolverines, turnovers have plagued them in many of their previous games but on Monday night, it was the Nittany Lions that struggled to take care of the ball as they committed 18 turnovers overall to Michigan’s 9.
Next up for Michigan (15-5) will be a road trip to New Jersey on Saturday as they take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (10-10). Penn State (13-8) will prepare to host the Ohio State Buckeyes (12-8) on Thursday at home.
Final Score: Michigan 76 – Penn State 72
