Instant Recap: Penn State 84, Michigan 78

Sloppy first half; collapse in the second. Michigan worked inside for its first 10 points against Penn State, but the Nittany Lions overcame a 4-0 deficit with five offensive rebounds in less than four minutes to hang around before stunning the Wolverines with 48 second half points in an 84-78 win. They also hit five of 10 triples in the stanza to rally after Michigan took a 17-10 lead.

It took a steal and finish by Mitch McGary just to allow the Wolverines to escape with a 39-36 lead at the half.

A triple from sophomore point guard Trey Burke, a Tim Hardaway pull-up two and freshman Nik Stauskas inside helped U-M bolt to a seven-point lead 17-10 before Penn State answered with a three. Michigan was effective offensively while PSU switched between man defense and its 2-3 zone, but continued to struggle defensively. A Jermaine Marshall triple cut it to 20-18 before Hardaway and Stauskas worked inside to make it a six-point lead.

Stauskas missed his first triple badly and then passed up a wide-open triple from the top, resulting in a turnover. He'd heat up later, though, to help U-M pull away.

Two free throws from Horford and an alley-oop from Spike Albrecht to Hardaway made it 28-23, but Michigan got careless with the ball. Two consecutive turnovers in the backcourt led to four easy points in transition, and it was a one-point game. PSU actually took the lead, 34-32, after a Burke turnover, one of 10 Michigan miscues in the first half.

Stauskas finally tripled from the top to give Michigan the lead back at 1:30. He finished with nine first half points.

Second Half

Morgan gave Michigan a second chance with an offensive rebound and freshman Glenn Robinsion III took advantage following a Tim Hardaway Jr. miss, finishing with a strong reverse to put Michigan up five. A Hardaway drive and finish, a Burke finish in transition and a Stauskas steal to Burke, to Hardaway for the jam quickly made it 47-36 before the Nitany Lions scored their first two points.

McGary missed two free throws and Penn State countered with a jumper to cut it to four. Stauskas made a triple from the top, and Hardaway added another from the corner following a stop to push the lead back to 10 points.

Hardaway hit another triple in transition to bring the lead to 13, and it appeared the rout was on.

U-M varied its lineups, at one point going with Horford and Morgan on the floor with frosh Caris LeVert. The lead expanded to as many as 15 in the second half when Horford scored on an inbound pass with 11 minutes remaining.

Penn State, though, continued to chip away. They cut it to seven on a Jermaine Marshall three with 8:00 to go, but Burke answered with a jumper from 12-feet to push it back to 72-63. PSU missed two free throws, but the offensive rebound killed Michigan again when a tap-out resulted in a PSU triple; another after a Hardaway drive and finish brought it to 74-69 with only 6:15 remaining.

Stauskas turned it over for another easy transition hoop that cut it to three.

The Nittany Lions tied it on their next trip and took possession with 4:00 remaining, having erased a 15-point deficit in a span of six minutes when Michigan struggled to defend the three-point line.

PSU then took control. They went up 79-75 at 2:04 and continued to take advantage of Michigan turnovers. Burke struggled with his handle and Penn State continued to score while U-M missed 2-of-4 free throws at the other end.

Burke finally hit a pair to make it 79-78 with 1:20 remaining. PSU scored on a circus finish and Robinson missed a reverse lay-up on the other end. U-M then waited 15 seconds to foul, putting PSU at the line with 30 seconds to play. Robinson missed a triple and the Nittany Lions closed out the biggest upset of the year from the line.

Hardaway scored 19 and Burke 18 in the loss.