Penn State erases 14-point deficit to beat Michigan at The Palestra
Late in the first half, it looked like Penn State was going to potentially lose a second straight game in blowout fashion but Mike Rhoades's program instead would put together a huge comeback to defeat the Michigan Wolverines on Sunday afternoon at The Palestra 79-73.
Ace Baldwin had 25 points while Kanye Clary had another big game of his own with 17 points in the win for the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions on Sunday started the game off sluggish and slow. They missed their first nine shots in the game, not finding their first basket until the 16:11 mark of the first half, finding themselves down 7-2 within the first five minutes of action.
Michigan capitalized on the slow start, extending their lead to 12-2 by the 15-minute mark. Despite the Nittany Lions improving and hitting five of their next eight shots, the Wolverines maintained their strong shooting efforts early, making nine of their first 13 attempts to establish a commanding 21-11 lead by the midway point of the first half.
Although Penn State experienced some offensive success, they soon encountered another rut, missing eight of their next 10 attempts. Michigan took advantage of this lapse, further widening their lead to 36-22 with under five minutes remaining in the first half.
The Nittany Lions managed to close the first half with a small 5-1 run, narrowing the deficit to just 10 points at halftime. All things considered, this was a positive outcome for them. In the first 20 minutes of action, Penn State struggled from the floor, shooting only 30.3% (10-of-33), while Michigan maintained a 50% shooting accuracy. Additionally, the Nittany Lions faced a significant rebounding disadvantage, being outrebounded 26-16 overall and 21-10 on the defensive boards.
Despite the team's challenges, Ace Baldwin and Zach Hicks emerged as key contributors for Penn State in the first half, scoring 11 and six points, respectively. Baldwin's performance marked his first 20+ point outing since his impressive 27-point game against VCU in late November.
In the second half, Penn State quickly found their offensive rhythm, rebounding from a missed initial shot to make eight consecutive baskets. Kanye Clary's three consecutive baskets helped narrow Michigan's once 10-point lead to just 45-43 within the first five minutes of the second half.
Clary would have a huge second-half effort for the Nittany Lions scoring 15 of his 18 total points including going 5-for-6 at the free-throw line. Ace Baldwin followed up his first half effort of 11 points with a 14-point effort while DeMarco Dunn also had a hot hand with 10 points on 3-of-4 including 2-of-3 from three-point range.
While the Nittany Lions were not able to sustain that offensive success throughout the entirety of the second half, they were able to take advantage of Michigan's misses in the second half but also took advantage of nine Michigan turnovers which turned into 13 points at the other end for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State would take their first lead of the game with 11:36 remaining in the second half and never looked back, growing their lead to as much as 65-54 with five minutes left in the game.
The Wolverines would look to stage a late-game comeback, coming within four of the Nittany Lions in the final seconds but Penn State would be able to hold onto pick up the huge comeback victory by the final score 79-73.
UP NEXT
With the win, Penn State's schedule will not get any easier as they'll host the Northwestern Wildcats on Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Wildcats are 10-3 on the season including 1-1 in conference play but are currently coming off a 96-66 loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 2. The Wildcats will be in action on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. against the Michigan State Wolverines.
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