'We lost our edge': Michigan basketball blows double-digit lead, drops fourth straight

Philadelphia — This season keeps going from bad to worse for the Wolverines.

After losing three straight games, they were hoping to snap out of their funk at one of the most iconic college basketball venues in the country.

But not even the historical aura of the Palestra could help turn things around, as Michigan blew a 14-point lead, unraveled in the second half and continued its skid with a 79-73 loss to Penn State on Sunday in front of a sold-out crowd.

BOX SCORE: Penn State 79, Michigan 73

“We came out in the second half — a problem that we've had all year — maybe entitled or comfortable or relaxed. They came out foot on the gas pedal,” said grad transfer forward Olivier Nkamhoua, who had 13 points and nine rebounds.

“We got that lead and thought if we just kept doing what we were doing, we would be OK. But in situations like that, you have to take it up another level. You play even better defense. You have to be even more on-point. Penn State has had these comebacks. We were aware of that, and we didn't handle it the right way.”

Phil Martelli served as Michigan’s head coach for the game, a decision that was made by Juwan Howard. The Palestra matchup was set up largely as an opportunity for Martelli, the former longtime coach at Saint Joseph’s, to return to Philadelphia.

The Wolverines couldn’t make it a triumphant one. After leading by as many as 14 points in the first half and by 10 at halftime, they gave it all away during a disastrous second half.

Michigan (6-9, 1-3 Big Ten), which struggled against Penn State’s disruptive press all game long, turned the ball over on three of its first four possessions, on a travel, an offensive foul and a poor pass. The Nittany Lions took advantage each time, providing a sign of things to come.

Even after Michigan took a timeout to calm things, Penn State kept clawing. Back-to-back baskets by Kanye Clary capped a 14-5 surge out of the break and whittled Michigan’s advantage down to 42-41 with 16:33 remaining.

Sophomore center Tarris Reed Jr. momentarily stemmed the tide with a three-point play. Then after Penn State pulled within one once again, sophomore guard Dug McDaniel (11 points) scored on a driving layup.

The Nittany Lions eventually broke through with a 19-5 run, as the wheels fell off for Michigan. A turnover by redshirt sophomore forward Will Tschetter in the paint led to a 3-pointer the other way by D’Marco Dunn (13 points) and the Nittany Lions’ first lead.

By the time Dunn put the finishing touches on a string of 10 unanswered points — with another deep ball following an offensive rebound and a fast-break layup off another careless turnover — Penn State pulled ahead, 56-49, with 10:13 to play.

“The most glaring thing is 19 and seven,” Nkamhoua said, citing Michigan's and Penn State's respective turnover total. “Regardless of how well we're hitting shots or they're not hitting shots, that's going to come back and get you, at some point in time. You can't keep turning over the ball and allowing them to get easy buckets off those turnovers.”

The Wolverines couldn’t stop the bleeding. After Nkamhoua snapped a four-minute scoring drought with a layup, grad transfer guard Nimari Burnett (10 points) hit a deep ball to cut the deficit to four before Penn State pulled away and widened the margin to 65-54 with 5:03 to go.

Michigan made a late push and pulled within 75-71 on a layup from senior forward Terrance Williams II with 27 seconds left. But it was too little, too late, as the Nittany Lions made enough free throws to hand the Wolverines their fourth straight loss and seventh setback in nine games.

Williams finished with a career-high 24 points, but it wasn’t enough. Penn State nearly matched that by scoring 23 points off Michigan's season-high 19 turnovers.

Ace Baldwin Jr. scored 25 and Clary 18 for the Nittany Lions (8-7, 2-2), which shot 55.2% from the floor in the second half after struggling to make anything other than layups in the first half.

“We didn't handle (the noise) well in the second half because our defense stopped communicating,” Martelli said. “We ended up with five islands out there. In this league and with that offense that they run, you can't be on an island. And that’s unfortunately what it was.”

The first half was a different story. The Wolverines scored the first seven points and jumped out to a 12-2 lead less than five minutes into the game. Penn State, meanwhile, couldn’t make anything in the early stages and missed its first nine shot attempts.

Even though Michigan was slowed by Penn State’s full-court pressure, it was in control the entire half. The Wolverines eventually ripped off a 15-6 run that was fueled by Burnett and Williams to grab their largest lead.

Burnett scored five straight to cap a 7-0 burst. Williams followed with a three-point play and a baseline jumper. By the time sophomore forward Youssef Khayat capped the spurt by making a free throw after being fouled on a 3-point shot, Michigan led, 36-22, at the 3:15 mark.

Despite having trouble initiating the offense down the stretch with McDaniel on the bench in foul trouble, Michigan held Penn State to just five points over the final five minutes and took a 37-27 halftime lead that it ultimately couldn’t hold.

“I think we lost our edge,” Nkamhoua said. “Penn State has recently been known to come out in the second half with a whole new energy. We came out flat or with the same energy we had in the first half. We didn't take it to another level like they did and that showed.”

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

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