Penn State Basketball earned a convincing win at the Crisler Center, over Michigan.
Penn State Basketball defeated Michigan 72-63 for their first Big Ten road victory of the season. The Nittany Lions started out hot in the first-half shooting 48.3% inside the arc and a respectable 33.3% from beyond the arc. Lamar Stevens and Myreon Jones combined for 27 of Penn State’s 37 points in the first stanza.
Penn State came out firing in the second half and scorched the nylon from three-point land shooting 57 percent. Curtis Jones, Jr. went 3-4 from deep and scored all of his 18 points in the second half, propelling the Blue & White through the final stretch preserving the road win. Here’s Head Coach Pat Chambers take courtesy of the Big Ten Network.
Wins have been historically hard to come by for @PennStateMBB in Ann Arbor, but they just pulled it off for the third time in 24 all-time attempts.
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 23, 2020
Patrick Chambers joined postgame to discuss how the Nittany Lions got it done: pic.twitter.com/Lht29TbUHP
Penn State got the job done on the defensive rebounding side of the ball. The Lions grabbed 32 defensive boards that keyed their transition offense scoring 13 fast-break points. Penn State’s bench returned to form as they outscored their Wolverine counterparts by a 31-4 margin.
Lamar Stevens played a full 34 minutes finishing with 19-points and 9 rebounds. Just as important, he only committed two personal fouls all game. This played a key role in Michigan’s team defense. When Stevens had the ball, Michigan often double-teamed him and even had a third defender creep weak-side. This left Myreon Jones and Curtis Jones Jr. with enough space to get good open looks when the ball came their way. Stevens presence changed the defensive scheme and opened up shooting and driving lanes.
With this win, Penn State bagged its fifth quad-one victory with thirteen Big Ten games left to play. That statistic places them in the same conversation as Kansas (8), Iowa and Seton Hall (6), Wisconsin, Baylor and Oregon (5).
Penn State has a full week off. They play Indiana Wednesday, January 29, at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions had 14,750 fans show up for Ohio State. Now that Penn State is officially a “basketball school”, the Legion of Blue will be in full force. Over 7,000 students packed the Jordan Center the last time out and they can be expected to “Bring the Roar”.