Penn State basketball rallies to beat Michigan at the Palestra

The Penn State basketball team overcame a 14-point deficit to pick up a massive 79-73 win over Michigan Sunday and get back over .500 on the season. The win comes at the historic Palestra in Philadelphia and marks a return to victory in the arena after the Nittany Lions‘ disappointing loss to Purdue last year. 

Penn State basketball overcomes slow start with complete second half performance

It was a rough opening for Penn State basketball at the start of this game in the “Cathedral of College Basketball.” The offense struggled to create open shots, and the defense felt a step slow. The energy just felt low, which allowed Michigan to build a 36-22 lead with 4:40 left in the first half.

From there, however, the energy seemed to shift in the Palestra. It started with defense, with the Nittany Lions only allowing 2 more points for the rest of the half, heading into the break down 37-27. In the second half, Penn State was able to keep that defensive intensity up, holding Michigan to 36 points while the offense erupted for 52 points.

Penn State forced 19 turnovers and was efficient in scoring off of those Michigan mistakes. The Nittany Lions played much more team-oriented on offense, which led to many different players getting involved in the scoring. The second half of this game was the most complete stretch of basketball we have seen from this Penn State team all year.

Ace Baldwin shines in the Palestra

Ace Baldwin led the way for the Nittany Lions, scoring 25 on 8-13 shooting from the field. Baldwin has been more of a volume-shot taker this year, but he was much more patient today. He picked his spots really well, which led to this efficient scoring performance. Baldwin was also looking to get his teammates involved, picking up 4 assists, and he created havoc on defense, as always, with 3 steals.

Qudus Wahab was another standout. Wahab only scored 8 on 4-6 shooting, but all of his points were all in the second half. He was able to get some nice inside buckets that anchored the offense and took some of the pressure off the guards to create. On offense and defense, Wahab looked solid and comfortable out there. It was possibly the most impressive Big Ten performance in his career.

D’Marco Dunn continues to provide a great spark off the bench, scoring 13 points on 4-7 shooting from the field and 2-4 shooting from deep. Dunn has great touch inside and out and always seems to stay calm and level-headed when attacking the defense. He may be the most reliable scorer Penn State basketball has, and his emergence has been huge for the team. 

The final word

It was not the prettiest game, with Penn State shooting just 42% from the field and 30% from deep, but the Nittany Lions did the dirty work to pull out this win at Palestra. Penn State had 10 more shot attempts than Michigan, thanks to creating and capitalizing on turnovers.

This game was the prime example of what we expected when Mike Rhoades got hired, and it shows the benefits of this style of play.

Penn State basketball will look to continue this strong play on Wednesday when the Nittany Lions take on 10-3 Northwestern back in the Bryce Jordan Center. The game is at 6:30 PM EST and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

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