Monday night was another close encounter at home for the Wolverines. They almost relinquished their perfect record at home to Penn State. The Nittany Lions had an 80% chance of winning with two minutes left and a five-point edge. That's when Tre Donaldson took control. Penn State would not score another point and went on a scoring drought at the most inconvenient time.
Here are some of the takeaways from Monday night's win for Michigan basketball.
1. Tre Donaldson's clutch sequence
With two minutes to go Penn State went up by five and things looked bleak for the Wolverines. That's when Tre Donaldson orchestrated the comeback. On the ensuing possession Donaldson drove the ball into the paint to find a cutting Roddy Gayle Jr. for an easy dunk to get within three. Seconds later, Ace Baldwin turned it over.
On the other end of the court Donaldson calmly knocked down a contested jumper from the free throw line to cut it to one with under a minute on the clock. Penn State's layup was blocked by Danny Wolf, giving the ball back to the hot hand and Donaldson did it again. He stepped back from his defender to drain a three and go up by two with 24 seconds to go.
Tre Donaldson might have just saved Michigan's season. You can't really afford to lose 2 of 3 to Minnesota, Northwestern, and Penn State... Especially when the NW win was thanks to an ejection.
— Derick Hutchinson (@Derick_Hutch) January 28, 2025
Badly needed that late 9-0 run.
The Nittany Lions missed their last shot to retake the lead and Donaldson secured the rebound and iced it at the line with his final two to seize victory from the jaws of defeat. You can argue that Penn State choked it away or that Donaldson grew up right before our collective eyes during that stretch.