ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Penn State men's basketball team saw its five-game win streak come to a close Wednesday night as the Nittany Lions dropped a hard-fought road game at Michigan, 79-69.
It was a game of runs, as three separate scoring spurts of 11 or more points defined the second half. Penn State was able to construct two of the three 11-point runs as the Nittany Lions battled back from a 14-point deficit in the final eight minutes to pull within three before Michigan closed the game from the charity stripe in the final minute.
Myles Dread scored his 1,000th career point in the first half, becoming the 38th member of Penn State's 1,000 point club. Jalen Pickett scored a game-high 26 points while adding nine rebounds and four assists. Seth Lundy tallied 16 points and five boards.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Lundy nailed two triples in the first 3:17 and Michigan called an early timeout at the 16:23 mark with Penn State ahead 6-4. The Wolverines then used a 13-2 run over a 3:32 stretch to take a 20-10 lead with 12:17 left on the first-half clock.
- The Nittany Lions rattled off a 17-11 run over the next seven minutes that included Dread's 1,000th career point to pull back within four at 31-27 with five minutes left in the first half.
- Michigan scored 11 of the next 14 points, however, before Evan Mahaffey banked in a half-court buzzer beater to end the half as the Wolverines took a 42-34 lead into the locker room.
- The Wolverine lead was at 11 just over a minute into the second half before a Pickett layup sparked an 11-0 Nittany Lion run. Pickett scored six during the stretch as Penn State clawed back to tie the score at 47-47 with 15:06 to play.
- Michigan responded with a 15-0 run over the next 3:53 to immediately jump back in front 62-47 with 11:20 left on the clock.
- The Wolverines took their largest lead yet at 68-54 three minutes later, but Penn State responded once again with an 11-0 stretch over the next 3:50. Back-to-back jumpers from Camren Wynter started the streak and an Andrew Funk 3-pointer ended it as the Nittany Lions pulled themselves all the way back within three at 68-65 with 4:28 to play.
- A potential game-tying Funk 3-point attempt was halfway down and rimmed out before Michigan added a jumper at 1:03 and closed the game from the free throw line in the final minute for the 79-69 win.
GAME NOTES
- Penn State now sits at 11-4 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten, while Michigan improves to 3-0 in conference action.
- The loss snapped Penn State's five-game win streak.
- Myles Dread scored his 1,000th career point with his first basket of the game, a 3-pointer, at the 11:23 mark of the first half. Dread becomes the 38th member of Penn State's 1,000 career-point club and the first Nittany Lion to join since Mike Watkins in 2020.
- Jalen Pickett tied his Penn State career high with 26 points, reaching the mark for the second-straight game. He added nine rebounds and four assists.
- Seth Lundy scored in double figures for the 13th time this season, finishing with 16 points and five rebounds.
- Evan Mahaffey scored a career-high seven points, including a buzzer-beating triple as time expired in the first half.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions makes their return to the City of Brotherly Love when Penn State hosts #1 Purdue at the historic Palestra in Philadelphia Sunday evening at 6 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. General public tickets for the highly-anticipated game sold out within hours in early November.
The 2022-23 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.