Takeaways from Michigan’s win over Penn State

Tre Donaldson was cold-blooded late in this one, scoring 16 of his 21 points in the second half — including the go-ahead three-pointer — to help Michigan take down Penn State. Here are the takeaways from the win:

When all looked lost for the Michigan Wolverines late against Penn State on Monday night, Tre Donaldson came to the rescue with a masterful second half. He capped his performance off with a step-back three-pointer that sent Crisler Center into a frenzy.

After a flurry of late threes from Penn State, Donaldson led a 9-0 comeback to help Michigan snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The Wolverines won in thrilling fashion, 76-72, improving to 15-5 on the year and 7-2 in Big Ten play

Penn State entered this game ranked 45th on KenPom. The Nittany Lions entered this game with a 3-6 Big Ten record, including an impressive 11-point win over Purdue last month. The Nittany Lions have struggled defensively as of late; per Joe Jackson with Feed the Post , over the last five games, teams have made 63.7 percent of their shots at the rim against Penn State (225th in the country out of 363 teams), 51.2 percent of shots in the paint (356th) and 44.4 percent on mid-range shots (350th). The Nittany Lions went 1-4 in that stretch (losses to Illinois, Oregon, Michigan State and Iowa, win against Rutgers).

After a demoralizing loss to that Purdue team last week , the Wolverines needed to get back on track, and after a disjointed first half, Michigan led for most of the second half. Even as Penn State grabbed momentum back, Donaldson had the final shot that sealed the deal.

Here are the takeaways from the victory

Donaldson provides Michigan with stability

This was a clunky game for the Wolverines offensively, but Donaldson was a calming presence. He had a season-high 21 points, dished out four assists to zero turnovers, and being the second-half spark plug that woke up Michigan’s offense.

In what was a disjointed, defense-heavy Big Ten basketball game, Donaldson was the guard that Michigan needed to generate good looks on offense.

I love how aggressive he is on defense, helping to kickstart easy baskets like this one, with Vlad Goldin doing his best Kevin Love impression and finding Nimari Burnett downcourt for the slam.

Guard play gets more important as the college basketball season goes along, especially come March. Donaldson can be the “it” factor on offense and a difference-maker on defense in tight games like this.

Michigan takes care of the ball, and Penn State does not

We’ve seen turnovers be this team’s Achilles’ Heel all season long, but the Wolverines did a great job taking care of the ball in this one.

Michigan had just nine turnovers in the game, with Penn State turning over the ball much, much more (18). The Nittany Lions struggled to get into an offensive rhythm to dig into Michigan’s 6-8-point held for most of the second half largely because of turnovers. Michigan’s solid defense forced a good chunk of those turnovers, too.

After Michigan turned the ball over 22 times against Purdue, this was a nice bounce back for the offense.

Not a good game on the boards

For a team with two 7-footers in the starting lineup, the Wolverines have not been crisp on the boards this season, with opponents posting an offensive rebounding percentage that’s just above average on KenPom (29.4 percent, 153rd).

Michigan gave up too many second-chance points early, with Penn State winning the battle on the boards in the first 10 minutes of play and scoring 10 points off four early offensive rebounds. Penn State ultimately won the battle on the boards (34-26), more than doubling Michigan’s rebounds in the first half (20-9).

Got to make your free throws

Not to pick on Danny Wolf, but he struggled from the free throw line. He was the only Wolverine to shoot free throws in the first half, going 1-of-5.

Wolf had a decent game playmaking-wise, but he was kind of in a funk offensively, which certainly put a damper into Michigan’s scoring.

The Wolverines didn’t get to the line much, but they also didn’t capitalize on their few chances. Michigan entered this game ranked 10th in the Big Ten in free throw percentage (72.8 percent). It would be beneficial for the Wolverines to get that number up in the coming weeks, especially with how close most of these Big Ten games have been.

Lot of three-point shots with mixed results

The Wolverines shot a high volume of three-point shots early, making five of their first seven threes as the only consistent source of scoring early.

The law of averages kicked in, with Michigan missing six shots in a row from deep. I thought Michigan was forcing some threes in that first half, especially when its two main creators in Danny Wolf and Tre Donaldson were both on the bench.

Michigan did make a decent percentage of their threes in this one (12/28, 42.9 percent), with the Penn State zone being a big reason for that, but I’d like to see more drives to the basket from this team in the coming weeks.

Up Next

The Wolverines don’t play again until this weekend, heading to Piscataway to take on Rutgers and two projected NBA lottery picks in Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. That game is set to tip-off on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 3:30 p.m. on FOX.