UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Despite holding the No. 2/1 Michigan Wolverines without a field goal over the final 3:09 and closing the game out on a 7-1 scoring run, the Penn State men’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 74-72 contest to the undefeated Wolverines on Tuesday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State trimmed a 15-point second-half deficit down to one with 1:04 to play and had a chance at a game-tying or game-winning shot on the final possession. The Nittany Lion defense held Michigan to 74 points, the undefeated Wolverines’ second-lowest scoring game of the season.
The Nittany Lion defense put on a dominant display as the game wound down, with PSU keeping Michigan off the board for over three minutes. A crucial 3-pointer from Tunca with 1:53 to play cut the Wolverine lead to three points, and a pair of makes at the charity stripe from Rice got PSU within one, but the Blue & White came up just short on the final play of the game to concede the narrow defeat against one of the nation’s top-ranked teams. PSU managed to outrebound Michigan by a 43-37 margin, marking just the second time this season a Wolverine opponent managed to haul in more boards.
Freshman forward Ivan Jurić led the way for PSU, dropping a career-high 20 points on six made field goals and a pair of makes from long distance. Redshirt junior guard Freddie Dilione V poured in 17 points with a game-high-tying four assists. Senior forward Josh Reed notched the first double-double by a Nittany Lion this season, dropping 13 points with a season-high 10 rebounds. Penn State was notably without the services of freshman guard Kayden Mingo, who was sidelined due to injury. Mingo is PSU’s statistical leader in scoring, rebounding, assists and minutes played per game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Michigan came away with the opening tip and scored the first points of the game on the opening possession, but Jurić answered back with a putback layup on the other end. PSU’s defense forced turnovers on back-to-back possessions and surged ahead with a 7-0 scoring run to take a 7-2 lead in the early going. Stingy defense from the Blue & White helped preserve the PSU advantage through the first media timeout with the Nittany Lions leading 10-6 at the 15:48 mark of the opening half.
- The Wolverine offense continued to turn the ball over as the early moments of the first half ticked along, with PSU able to extend its lead to six following a layup from Jurić. Michigan answered back with a 6-0 scoring run to deadlock the game at the second media break, a run that would eventually balloon to an 11-0 stretch and a 17-12 Wolverine lead at the 10:45 mark.
- A 3-pointer from Stewart trimmed U-M’s lead back to two points at the 9:23 mark, but an 11-4 stretch from the Wolverines saw the lead grow back to nine. Reed delivered a triple from the left wing to keep things within single digits until the Wolverines booked two separate 10-point leads at the 3:16 and 1:53 marks. Michigan went on to carry a 40-31 advantage in-to the halftime intermission.
- PSU opened the second stanza on a 5-0 scoring run powered by baskets from Jurić and Reed, but the Wolverines answered right back with a 7-0 stretch. Sasa Ciani made a strong cut into the lane and delivered with an and-one layup to temporarily halt the Wolverine momentum at the 16:30 mark, but U-M extended its lead to 53-40 with 15:14 to play in the game.
- The Blue & White rattled off an 8-2 scoring dun powered by impressive individual efforts from Dilione V and a driving reverse layup from Rice. Michigan’s lead continued to hover around double figures, but a 9-0 Nittany Lion scoring run highlighted by seven points from Jurić saw PSU pull back within six at the under-eight media timeout, trailing the Wolverines by a narrow 63-57 differential. Dilione V kept the momentum rolling with a straight-away triple on a feed from Tunca to cut the lead to three points with just over seven minutes to play.
- Michigan benefitted from multiple foul calls as the second half continued to wind down, but quality marksmanship from Dilione V kept things close. The Wolverines led by as many as eight points with 3:09 to play, but a 7-0 scoring run by the Blue & White highlighted by a triple from Tunca with 1:53 to go electrified a raucous BJC atmosphere. PSU trailed by two with the ball on the final possession of the game, but a last-second heave by Dilione V failed to find the bottom of the net, closing out the 74-72 final result.
GAME NOTES
- Penn State drops to 9-6 overall and 0-4 in Big Ten Conference matchups, while the unbeaten No. 2/1 Wolverines improve to 14-0 overall and 4-0 in league play.
- PSU continued to wreak havoc against its opposition, with the Nittany Lions winning the turnover battle for the 11th time in 15 opportunities, moving to 8-3 when doing so. Penn State outscored U-M in terms of points off turnovers by a 17-8 margin.
- The Blue & White matched their season high in rebounding as a team on Tuesday night with 43, matching the total set against Providence on November 22. PSU outrebounded Michigan by a 43-37 margin, marking just the second instance in the 2025-26 campaign that the Wolverines were outrebounded. The only other time that occurred this season was on December 13 when Michigan faced the Maryland Terrapins in College Park.
- Penn State held Michigan to 74 points, the Wolverines’ second-lowest scoring output of the season. Michigan entered Tuesday’s matchup ranking second in the country with with 96.7 ppg.
- The Nittany Lions were without freshman guard and leading scorer Kayden Mingo due to injury. Mingo leads the team in points (14.9 ppg), rebounds (3.9 rpg), assists (4.5 apg) and steals (2.5 spg).
- Freshman forward Ivan Jurić immediately impressed against the Wolverines, cracking double digits in the first five minutes of Tuesday night’s game. The Zagreb, Croatia, native went on to finish with a career-high 20 points on 6-for-13 efficiency from the field and 2-for-5 marks from deep, cracking double figures for the seventh time in his collegiate career and the second time against a Big Ten Conference opponent.
- Jurić led the Nittany Lions in scoring for the second time this season. He added four rebounds, an assist and a steal in just 24 minutes of action.
- Redshirt junior guard Freddie Dilione V chipped in with 17 points on six made field goals and a pair of makes from 3-point range, cracking double digits for the 12th time in the 2025-26 season and third time against a Big Ten Conference challenger. Dilione V also contributed four assists, setting the Nittany Lion team high in that statistic for the third time.
- Senior forward Josh Reed booked the first double-double by a Nittany Lion this season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Reed logged his sixth double-digit scoring performance since arriving in Happy Valley and first against a Big Ten Conference opponent. He led the Blue & White on the glass for the second time this season and became just the second Nittany Lion to crack double figures in the rebounding column, joining Tibor Mirtič’s career-high 11-rebound effort set against Fairfield on opening night, November 3.
- Penn State utilized the starting lineup of Jurić, Dilione V, Stewart, Rice and Mirtič for the first time this season.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions hit the road to face #5 Purdue inside Mackey Arena Saturday at 2 p.m. on Big Ten Network.