The Michigan Wolverines earned their seventh straight victory, destroying the Penn State Nittany Lions, 110-69, behind Nimari Burnett’s career-high 31 points. Dusty May’s team improved to 21-1 overall and 11-1 in Big Ten play, now the best start to a season in school history.
Here’s the recap, highlights and stats.
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FIRST HALF
Michigan got off to a fast start, taking an 11-2 advantage into the first media timeout. The Wolverines turned down three straight shots during the run and held Penn State scoreless for nearly seven minutes.
After the timeout, Michigan extended the lead to 21-8, as LJ Cason and Elliot Cadeau made consecutive three-pointers. Cason then grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a step-back layup to give Michigan a 23-10 lead with 10:13 left in the half.
The Wolverines continued to pour it on as Burnett made a three-pointer. Cadeau then used a sweet crossover to get into the lane and complete a layup, extending the lead to 31-12 and forcing the Nittany Lions to call a timeout.
Michigan seemingly got the shot it wanted on offense, making 7 of 8 shots during a 15-2 run, including three straight dunks from Burnett to extend the lead to 44-18. After a timeout, Burnett scored three points to bring his total to 15 points.
The Wolverines led 56-24 at halftime after posting huge advantages in rebounds (24-4), points in the paint (28-12) and second chance points (15-0). Michigan also shot a scorching 7 of 13 from beyond the arc.
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HALF TIME: MICHIGAN 56, PENN STATE 24
SECOND HALF
The Wolverines started the second half with a bang, as Aday Mara and Yaxel Lendeborg threw down dunks while Burnett scored 11 points in less than five minutes to eclipse his career high. Mara also made back-to-back blocks to get the crowd excited.
Michigan knocked out most of the starters with about 12 minutes left and an insurmountable lead, but the highlights didn’t stop there. Oscar Goodman threw down an alley-oop dunk on his first possession after coming off the bench.
After barely avoiding an upset at Penn State last month, the Wolverines wanted to make a statement and they did just that by putting together one of their most complete performances of the season with a 110-69 win over the Nittany Lions.
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Michigan was far superior in all facets of the game, compiling advantages in rebounds (44-21), paint points (50-36), second chance points (22-6), assists (31-7) and blocks (8-3) while holding Penn State to 2 of 20 from three-point range.
FINAL SCORE: MICHIGAN 110, PENN STATE 69
MICHIGAN STATE LEADERS
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G Nimari Burnett: 31 points (career high), 5 rebounds, 2 steals
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F Morez Johnson Jr: 12 points, 8 rebounds
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G LJ Cason: 12 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds
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G Trey McKenney: 12 points, 4 rebounds
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C Aday Mara: 11 points, 6 rebounds, 6 blocks
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F Yaxel Lendeborg: 6 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds
PENN STATE LEADERS
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G Freddie Dilione V: 19 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds
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F Josh Reed: 15 points, 4 rebounds
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G Melih Tunca: 15 points, 3 assists
FOLLOWING
The Wolverines will ride a seven-game winning streak into a road clash at Ohio State on Sunday at 1 p.m. on CBS.
