STATE COLLEGE — With nine minutes to go in the second half — a time by which the No. 2 Michigan men’s basketball team usually has a firm grasp on their contests — Penn State trailed by just six.
And after a 3-point attempt from Lendeborg hit the far side of the rim and ricocheted out of bounds, the Nittany Lions, with a roaring crowd behind them, found themselves in position to slay a giant.
The Wolverines (14-0 overall, 4-0 Big Ten) got out sloppy against Penn State (9-6, 0-4) Tuesday, as they had in both previous road contests this season. The Nittany Lions constantly capitalized with the door left open, and Michigan scarcely escaped their third uneasy road contest in the final moments, 74-72.
After pregame fears of an injury preventing him from contributing Tuesday, graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg got the scoring started in the contest with an assertive drive to the rim that put Michigan up 2-0.
Lendeborg displayed in that possession the ease with which the Wolverines have been finding points at the rim all year. But after its initial slip-up, Penn State’s interior defense started looking much stronger than advertised, and the once potent Michigan offense appeared off kilter.
Struggling more than usual to get the ball inside, the Wolverines were turning to the 3-pointer to keep afloat. Freshman Trey Mckenney even had to launch one from the base of the logo as the shot clock ran down to zero on one early-half possession, a rarity for one of the most efficient offenses in college basketball.
Michigan looked out of it in transition as well for much of the first half, missing its mark on multiple fast-paced passes and 3-point attempts.
But luckily for the Wolverines, the Nittany Lions weren’t looking any sharper on offense. Michigan’s trademark interior defense remained a steady presence all half, and an ice-cold shooting night from Penn State allowed the Wolverines enough time to find their footing offensively. This often came in the form of Cason, who showcased his dynamic scoring ability with slashes to the rim and a pair of calm 3-point makes.
Cason finished the half with a team-leading 14 points, and Michigan still managed to carry a nine-point lead into the half. An advantage, but not the kind it had grown used to.
The Wolverines’ lead hovered around 10 for a while in the second half. This time, it was freshman guard Trey McKenney bearing the weight of his team’s offense as Cason passed the baton. McKenney scored seven points in a two-and-a-half-minute stretch that kept the stewing threat at bay.
But slowly, the Nittany Lions began to chip away. Hitting almost all of their second-half free throws and draining every three they needed to, they shrank Michigan’s lead to just four points with five minutes to play.
For the first time since November, the Wolverines found themselves on their heels.
A 3-pointer from Penn State guard Melih Tunca followed by another set of made free throws put the Nittany Lions within one point of the once-immovable Wolverines with just a minute to play.
Penn State guard Freddie Dilione V left a mid-range jumper short, allowing junior center Aday Mara to get to the line on the other end and expand the Wolverines’ lead to two.
The Nittany Lions had one final chance, one final possession, on which Dilione missed what would’ve been a season-defining 3-pointer off the back iron.
With that, Michigan walked off the court — rather gingerly — with their 14th win of the season. The job had been done at State College, but for the first time in a long time, that could only be said once the final buzzer had rang out.
