Penn State rolls to easy win over slumping Michigan

Penn State vs Michigan

On Tuesday night in Happy Valley, the Penn State story just got a whole lot better. But as meaningful as it is for the Big Ten to have the Nittany Lions in the thick of the conference race, it's far more alarming that Michigan's NCAA Tournament hopes are becoming more remote by the moment.

The Nittany Lions used balanced scoring and a blended inside-outside attack to throttle the Wolverines, 73-58, at the Bryce Jordan Center. Now at 4-3 in the league, coach Ed DeChellis's team is showing signs of staying power, enough to end the season in the Big Ten's upper division, which would likely vault PSU into the Big Dance. If anyone thought this group would crumble after the painfully narrow home loss to Michigan State the week before, this authoritative spanking of Michigan should put such doubts to rest. The more Penn State gets off the mat, the more this team can be trusted to stay in the mix until the very end of the season.
 
The same can't quite be said for the reeling Wolverines, who have now lost three straight conference collisions to fall to eighth place. Only the league's three bottom-feeders--Iowa, Northwestern and Indiana--rank below John Beilein's bunch in the standings, a startling development for a team that owns non-conference wins over Duke and UCLA. Those two triumphs--as big as they are--might not get UM into March Madness unless the Wolverines can stop the bleeding. An 8-10 Big Ten record, plus a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, should be enough to get Michigan into the field of 65, but with the way they're playing, the Wolverines are staring at the possibility of a 7-11 season in the conference.
 
Why should there be so much concern in the Michigan camp? It's not the three-game losing streak, in and of itself. Good teams can go on losing streaks in tough conferences (and the Big Ten definitely qualifies as one), so it's not as though the Wolverines' woes are unprecedented.

What matters, however, in discussing this downward spiral is that Michigan is losing in the same basic fashion each time it steps onto the court. A young team isn't making adjustments, and looks like it's overwhelmed by the pressure of trying to bring an NCAA bid to Ann Arbor for the first time in 11 years.
 
Saturday against Ohio State, the Wolverines attempted more three-point shots than two-point shots; posted an unsurprisingly poor shooting percentage; and scored 58 points in a game that was effectively over well before the final horn, meaning that their real offensive output--though already low--was inflated.
 
Roughly 72 hours later, absolutely nothing changed for a baffled Beilein, who watched from the bench as his team once again displayed its worst tendencies. Michigan attempted 30 threes compared to 26 shots inside the arc. The Maize and Blue hit just 5 of those 30 threes, dragging their overall shooting percentage under 40. And, believe it or not, Michigan landed on 58 points for the second straight game, with the outcome being sealed long before the end of regulation time. When Penn State used a 13-2 run to push its advantage to 53-30 with just over 12 minutes left in the second half, it was all over but the shouting. The final margin of 15 points made this game seem far more competitive than it was... and 15 points, of course, still ranks as a supremely solid thumping.
 
Basketball watchers learned on Tuesday that Penn State's not about to go away. What hoops experts in the Midwest don't know is if Michigan is about to go away. The Nittany Lions have fought back after tasting their own blood. The badly-wounded Wolverines, who have shown a lack of toughness over the past week, must now decide how they want to be remembered. They can be satisfied with yet another NIT appearance or they can get off the deck and fight like the animal associated with the University of Michigan.
 

> Find more Big Ten football news online at Big Ten Fans!