Michigan ends with one last dud in B1G tourney loss to Penn State

The Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball season officially came to a close on Wednesday night in a 66-57 loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament. The defeat dropped the team to an abysmal 8-24 record to end the year and made them losers of 19 of their last 21 contests.

Senior forward Terrance Williams II led the team in scoring with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Nimari Burnett added 11 points and hit a trio of three-pointers.

Michigan now heads into an offseason full of question marks, starting with the status of head coach Juwan Howard. All options appear to be on the table after the bottom fell out this season.

Here’s the recap from the season finale in Minneapolis.

First half

Michigan won the opening tipoff, but it was Penn State who got on the board first on an Ace Baldwin layup at the 18:24 mark to go up 2-0. The Wolverines answered with a Nimari Burnett three-pointer 16 seconds later to take an early 3-2 lead. The Nittany Lions would lead 5-3 at the under-16 media timeout (after a free throw make from Qudus Wahab and another layup from Baldwin.

The teams would remain cold over the next few minutes. Penn State closed out a 6-0 run at the 14:57 mark to build its lead to 8-3. Michigan went on a mini-run of its own with layups from Tarris Reed and Jaelin Llewellyn, cutting things to 8-7 in favor of PSU. Over the next 1:46, Penn State rattled off five points to push its lead to 13-7 prior to a three-pointer from Burnett, his second of the night. The Nittany Lions were up 13-10 at the 8:51 mark.

Zach Hicks of PSU hit a three to push the advantage to 16-10 with 7:48 to go before the under-8 media timeout hit. Reed cut the lead in half on a dunk and free throw after being fouled, trimming the deficit to 16-13 with 6:46 left in the half.

Penn State’s Puff Jonson hit a pair of free throws, followed by another three-pointer from Burnett. Michigan trailed 18-16 before a jumper from Wahab pushed the lead to 20-16 in favor of PSU at 5:51. A 4-0 run from U-M’s Terrance Williams II tied the game at 20 with 4:27 remaining in the half.

Penn State started to take control late in the half from there, using a 10- run to take a 30-20 lead with 2:16 left on the clock. Williams got the deficit back to eight points before a Zach Hicks three-pointer closed out the half for the Nittany Lions. Michigan trailed 33-22 at the half.

Second half

Michigan came out of the locker room on fire, using a 7-0 run on baskets from Burnett, Dug McDaniel (three-pointer) and Williams to trim Penn State’s lead to 33-29 with 18:07 on the clock. Baldwin got two points back on a layup, answered by a McDaniel layup 21 seconds later to trim the lead to 35-31 (17:46). Baldwin answered with a three-pointer, answered eight seconds later with a jumper to get back within five points at 38-33. PSU’s Nick Kern and U-M’s Reed exchanged layups to bring the score to 40-35 with 16:30 to go.

Penn State’s Wahab went to the free throw line and sunk a pair, pushing the lead back to seven points at 42-35 with 16:10 on the clock. Hick’s followed it up with a three at the 15:34 mark to push Penn State’s lead back to double digits at 45-35 before the under-16 media timeout at 14:57. Hicks followed it up with a jumper coming out of the timeout to push the lead to 47-35.

Michigan came out of the media break on a 6-0 run on a pair of jumpers from Williams and a paint shot from Reed, trimming the led back down to six points at 47-41. Puff Johnson scored on a layup and-1 opportunity, extending the Nittany Lion lead to 50-41 with 11:31 remaining. Another U-M scoring burst followed on a 5-0 run led by Williams and McDaniel, climbing back within four points at 50-46 with 9:53 to go.

Penn State put together a 5-0 run in response, pushing the lead back to nine at 55-46 with 8:12 left on the clock. Reed snapped it with a layup at 7:53, followed by a Wahab jumper (7:31) just before the under-8 media timeout.

Reed hit a free throw, followed by a 4-0 run by PSU, who push the lead back up to 12 points at 61-49 with 5:01 remaining. Jett Howard split a pair of free throws for the Wolverines, matched by a pair from Penn State’s Kern. The Nittany Lions led 63-51 at the final media timeout with 3:50 remaining.

Final Michigan vs. Penn State box score