A dominant Michigan club finally sputtered and survived a 3-pointer off the back of the rim to maintain its unblemished record.
The No. 2 Wolverines will look to bounce back from the close call when they meet Wisconsin in Big Ten play on Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Michigan (14-0, 4-0) is one of six remaining unbeaten teams entering play on Friday. It has recorded 10 wins by 25 or more points this season but almost was taken down by Penn State on Tuesday.
The Wolverines disappeared on offense down the stretch, and the Nittany Lions made a strong push. But Michigan left the Penn State campus with a 74-72 victory when a 3-pointer by Freddie Dilione V was off the mark as time expired.
“Fortunately, the last shot was off,” Wolverines coach Dusty May said. “Dilione had made big shot after big shot, and luckily the clock ran out on that one, but they played well.
“We were very fortunate to get out of here finding a way to win. We have veteran guys, so we had a look that we were going to figure out a way to win.”
Michigan led by 15 with under 11 minutes remaining. But instead of another blowout victory, Penn State scored 12 straight points to put severe heat on Michigan down the stretch.
“Defensively, I thought we buckled down and found a way to get a couple stops,” May said. “Offensively, we’ll have to look at the execution and figure out some different solutions.”
L.J. Cason scored all 14 of his points in the first half, while Nimari Burnett and Trey McKenney finished with 12 apiece for the Wolverines.
Yaxel Lendeborg had 10 points and seven rebounds but was hampered by a calf injury.
“We were told from the staff that there’s no risk of further injury, so it’s really on Yaxel how much he wants to play,” said May, who expects to have Lendeborg’s services on Saturday.
Lendeborg leads the Wolverines with a 14.7 scoring average and ranks second in rebounding at 7.0. Aday Mara is first in rebounding (8.0) and blocked shots (36) to go with a 10.2 scoring average.
Wisconsin (10-5, 2-2) has dropped the past four meetings against Michigan and 10 of the last 14. The teams met in last season’s Big Ten tournament final, and the Wolverines prevailed 59-53.
The Badgers are coming off an 80-72 home win over UCLA to improve to 10-0 when scoring 80 or more points.
Nick Boyd had 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists against the Bruins and has eight 20-point efforts this season. Boyd leads Wisconsin with a 19.5 scoring average.
May doesn’t need an introduction to Boyd, as he coached Boyd for four seasons (Boyd missed one season due to injury) at Florida Atlantic. Their second on-floor campaign (2022-23) together was the one in which the Owls famously reached the Final Four before losing to San Diego State on a buzzer-beating shot.
Boyd played one more season at Florida Atlantic before ironically joining the Aztecs for last season before moving on to Wisconsin this season.
Nolan Winter (18 points, eight rebounds) and John Blackwell (17 points) also had solid games against UCLA.
“You see your teammates shooting with confidence and you see them go ahead a few times, and it’s contagious,” Blackwell said. “It rubs off on others to make other shots and just be aggressive.”
Wisconsin has won three of its past four games, and coach Greg Gard is hopeful the momentum from the UCLA game will carry over.
“It wasn’t perfect, but when you have heart and you have fight, you have a chance,” Gard said. “We were physically and emotionally engaged.”
–Field Level Media
