3/13/2024 basketball Edit

Penn State opens Big Ten Tournament with 66-57 win over Michigan

Dylan Callaghan-Croley • Happy Valley Insider

Editor

The Penn State Nittany Lions are moving onto the second round of the 2024 Big Ten Tournament. On Wednesday night, the 11th seeded Nittany Lions defeated the 14th seeded Michigan Wolverines, 66-57.

Zach Hicks led the Nittany Lions on the night with 20 points but was terrific from three-point range making 6-of-11 attempts including four in the first half. He also had six rebounds in the win for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State also received a 17 point, six rebound, five assist game from guard Ace Baldwin and a 13-point, eight rebound performance out of senior center Qudus Wahab in the win.

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Earlier on in Wednesday night's matchup, it was an ugly shooting affair with both teams struggling mightily to find a basket. Penn State started out making just 4-of-13 attempts in the first 10 minutes of action while Michigan was 3-for-15.

Entering the back half of the first period, the Nittany Lions found themselves up just 11-7. The scoring pace wouldn't pick up for either team till just around the 4:30 mark of the first half with the game tied 20-20 after a pair of Tre Williams free throws tied the game.

Immediately following Michigan taking the lead, the Nittany Lions would go on a 10-0 run which featured a pair of Zach Hicks there pointer, to take a 30-20 lead entering the final two minutes of play. Hicks would add another three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining to take a 33-22 lead into halftime.

After starting 4-of-13 in the first half, the Nittany Lions would make six of their next 14 attempts, outscoring Michigan 22-15.

Coming out of halftime, the Nittany Lions wouldn't find a basket for the first two minutes of the half, seeing Michigan cut their lead down to 33-29 in the process. The Wolverines opened up the second half, making each of their first six attempts.

However, an Ace Baldwin layup would be the start of the Nittany Lions making five straight baskets of their own and going on a 12-4 run to expand that lead to 47-35 with 14:40 remaining. That run for the Nittany Lions also coincided with Michigan missing four straight shots after starting out 6-for-6 in the half.

The Nittany Lions would cool off after that run, making just three of their last 13 attempts but were sent to the line 17 times in the second half, making 14-of-17 attempts to help seal their victory.

Michigan in the second half was unable to find any success of their own and following the 7:53 mark of the half would not make another shot until forward Jackson Selvala hit a long two point jumper as time ran out.

Despite missing nine straight shots before Selvala's buzzer beater, Michigan still shot better in the second half than the Nittany Lions, making 44.8% of their second half attempts. Penn State made just 40%, hitting 8-of-20.

Neither team shot well for the game as a whole, Penn State finishing the night with 18 makes on 47 attempts (38.3%) and Michigan hitting 20-of-58 (34.5%). The Nittany Lions had the advantage from deep, making 7-of-17 attempts (41.2%) to Michigan's 4-of-18 (22.2%).

Penn State also had the advantage at the free throw line going 23-of-29 while they only sent the Wolverines for 18 total free throws in the game, Michigan would ultimately end up going 13-of-18 from the line.

Michigan also won the rebound battle in the game with 42 total rebounds including 16 offensive rebounds. The Wolverines, however, struggled to convert those second chances into points, with just six second chance points, one more than the Nittany Lions' five despite having just six offensive rebounds.

UP NEXT

With the win, the Nittany Lions will move onto facing the No. 6 seed, Indiana Hoosiers on Thursday night. The game is scheduled to begin 25 minutes following the end of the 6:30 p.m. ET battle between No. 10 Ohio State and No. 7 Iowa.

Penn State and Indiana met twice this season in the regular season, the Nittany Lions winning both matchups. In January, they defeated the Hoosiers 85-71 in Bloomington before also taking their matchup at the Bryce Jordan Center last month, 83-74.