Here are 5 takeaways from Penn State men’s basketball’s 79-69 road loss to Michigan
Penn State men’s basketball fell on the road against the Michigan Wolverines on Wednesday night 79-69 to drop to 11-4 on the season and 2-2 in Big Ten play.
Here are five takeaways from the Nittany Lions’ second conference loss this season.
Evan Mahaffey’s offensive involvement
Penn State knew it had to find ways to turn Hunter Dickinson’s size into a disadvantage for the Wolverines, and early on that meant using him in ball screens. Sometimes, that meant getting him the ball and letting teammates set picks for him; other times it meant he set the screen for guards like Jalen Pickett. Those situations proved to be fruitful at times for the Nittany Lions.
They were able to get some easy buckets on that action, with Mahaffey blowing by Dickinson or Pickett finding him as rolling to the rim as the Michigan big man got caught in space. That was an important part of the team’s offense when it went small against the Wolverines.
Michigan’s first-half efficiency
While Penn State worked through dealing with Dickinson as a defender in the first half, it struggled to stop the Michigan offense on the other end. The Wolverines were able to make their 3-pointers and still get shots around the rim, with Penn State not sufficiently taking away any part of their offense. That allowed them to score 42 points and enter the half with an eight-point lead.
The biggest issue wasn’t even Dickinson. The 7-foot-1 center has a massive size advantage on every Nittany Lion on the roster, but he was still held to only three made field goals on seven attempts in the first half. The bigger issue was the team fouling him and letting him get four free-throw attempts in the half.
Wolverines answer 11-0 run
Penn State had trouble out of the gate in the second half but managed to go on an 11-0 run that began when the Nittany Lions were down 47-36. The stretch allowed them to get back in the game and tie it back up with plenty of time to make a run and earn a victory. However, Michigan immediately responded. The Wolverines went on a quick 14-0 run that once again allowed them to take control of the game.
There were more opportunities down the stretch for the Nittany Lions — namely another 11-0 run that cut it close — but that was arguably the best one they had all game, and Michigan’s immediate response fizzled out the Nittany Lions’ hope for a road victory.
Funk and Dread go cold from deep
Penn State generally depends on its best shooters to make their open looks, but some nights that just won’t happen, and that was the case Wednesday for both Myles Dread and Andrew Funk. The duo combined to make only two 3-point attempts in the game while trying 12 of them. They were both able to get good looks — although there weren’t as many available as usual — but they just didn’t fall for the Nittany Lion seniors.
Road games in the Big Ten are incredibly difficult to win without some of your best shooters making shots, so when that happens it makes an already tough task nearly impossible.
Penn State gets outshot from 3-point range
The other side of that coin is it allowed Michigan to be a more efficient offense from beyond the arc. Penn State has to make a higher percentage of its shots from deep to beat teams, and those two being cold opened the door for the Wolverines to be better. They made 42.1% of their 19 3-pointers while Penn State only made 32.1% of their 28.
The Nittany Lions generally have a highly efficient offense and wins the scoring efficiency battle despite their lack of size. That wasn’t the case in Ann Arbor, and that helps explain why they weren’t able to win the game.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 9:27 PM.
