At the Buzzer: Michigan 110, Penn State 69

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Rapid reaction to Michigan’s 110-69 win over Penn State.

The Moment 

Thursday night’s game was already over nearly eight minutes into the game when the No. 2 Michigan men’s basketball team took a 15-2 lead. But when the Wolverines really sealed the deal against Penn State was when it claimed a 20-point lead through a pair of emphatic dunks and didn’t look back.

Junior guard Elliot Cadeau dished it down to graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who slammed home the first dunk. Then Nimari Burnett elevated on a drive and dunked over Penn State defenders for the second.

Crisler Center was content with the way the Wolverines were playing up to that point, but finally erupted with those two key plays. Michigan set the tone early; the consecutive dunks were simply the exclamation point.

The Takeaway

Scoring 50 points in a half is still possible for the Wolverines. After entering the thick of Big Ten play, Michigan has struggled to amass the same caliber of shut-out wins as earlier in the season, with the last win of more than 14 points coming Jan. 2 against then-No. 24 USC. 

Behind a career performance from Burnett and a supporting cast of nine different Wolverines scoring at least six points, Michigan’s offense truly fed off of the intensity and physicality of its defense the same way it did early in the season — picking up its seventh win of 40-plus points on the season.

The Wolverines dominated the paint, outscoring the Nittany Lions 50-34. Michigan also shot a blistering 15-for-29 from three as Penn State went 2-for-20. Scoring in different ways, the Wolverines’ ability to get out in transition or set up their half-court offense seemed impossible for the Nittany Lions to stop.

The Star

Normally a relatively unnoticed contributor for the Wolverines, Burnett made himself known all night long against Penn State. 

Burnett started the avalanche of scoring by making a 3-pointer on the Wolverines’ second possession of the game. Then, midway through the first half, he notched a two-minute stretch where he slammed home three dunks. With 15 first-half points, Burnett set the tone from deep and also down low.

In the second half, Burnett continued to bang in threes. In his first five attempts in the second half from range, he converted on four of them. On the night, Burnett finished with a career-high 31 points on 11-for-16 from the field and 7-for-10 from deep.

The Stat

The game was only close for the first two minutes. Michigan quickly separated itself with the switch-heavy defense it was accustomed to, forcing Penn State to take missed midrange shots and converting from all over the floor.

But the key difference in the first 10 minutes of the game was the rebounding battle when the Wolverines went up by the under-12 timeout. The Nittany Lions didn’t haul down their first rebound until the 12:25 mark in the first half, and didn’t get their second until 9:24 remaining.

Michigan was getting second chance after second chance in the first half, racking up 15 in the first half alone on six offensive rebounds while also outpacing Penn State in total rebounds 24-4. The Wolverines’ size simply overwhelmed the Nittany Lions all night, allowing them to take a quick lead.

Four Factors