Gut reactions from Michigan Basketball’s ugly win over Penn State

It was ugly but Michigan basketball notched a huge road win over Penn State on Tuesday and kept its NCAA tournament hopes alive. 

There was nothing pretty about the way Michigan basketball beat Penn State on Tuesday night. It was ugly as ugly could be.

Frankly, the game was hard to watch in the second half as the two teams combined for 47 points. Neither team could buy a bucket and really, for the Wolverines, that was the story of the game outside of a run late in the first half that changed everything.

Trailing 34-23, Michigan looked cooked. Penn State was shooting nearly 70 percent at one point in the first half and a bad loss looked to be on the horizon — one U-M couldn’t afford.

But late in the first half, the offense started to get going — Brandon Johns even scored five points in the final minute of the half, and thanks to holding Penn State without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes, Michigan finally grabbed the lead in the second half and held on for dear life.

Turnovers and a rough shooting night from everyone, Hunter Dickinson included, led to an ugly win. But 6-5 in the Big Ten is 6-5 and a quadrant-2 win is a quadrant-2 win.

Here are the gut reactions.

Gut reactions from Michigan’s win:

• It’s safe to say Michigan won with defense.
• Dickinson didn’t shoot well but made up for it on the glass and by protecting the rim. Michigan doesn’t win without him. It probably loses by 10-15.
• Caleb Houstan was clutch at the line late. So was Eli Brooks.
• For as bad as the defense started, 23 points over the final 25 minutes isn’t bad.
• Michigan’s tournament hopes are alive. Not alive and well but alive.
• The Wolverines need to upset Purdue or Ohio State this week.
• Give Juwan credit for inspiring his team when it was needed.
• This team survived on the road and that’s what matters.