Pickett helps Nittany Lions pummel Wolverines
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UNIVERSITY PARK -- Jalen Pickett scored 25 points with eight rebounds and eight assists, Andrew Funk surpassed 1,500 career points and Penn State raced past Michigan 83-61 on Sunday.
Seth Lundy scored 22 points for the Nittany Lions (14-7, 5-5 Big Ten Conference), who matched last season's win total. Funk had 19 points and Michael Henn added 10.
Penn State, which lost the first meeting 79-69, was shooting 58% and led by 32 midway through the second half before finishing 4 of 13. The Nittany Lions were 13 of 30 from the 3-point line after having their worst outing of the season (4 of 26) in a loss at Rutgers on Tuesday. Lundy and Funk were both 4 of 9 on 3-pointers.
"I had to challenge them after that game at Rutgers," Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said. "But that's what families do. They get on each other, they challenge each other, they fight, they do what they need to do, but they are still family. There's nobody else that I'm rolling with but these guys. I challenged them, and they responded."
Jett Howard made 5 of 7 3-pointers and scored 21 points for the Wolverines (11-10, 5-5), who were coming off a five-point loss to No. 1 Purdue. Howard missed the game against the Boilermakers with an ankle injury and was questionable for Penn State. Leading scorer Hunter Dickinson, who averages 18.3 points and 8.9 rebounds, had six points and two boards.
"We were flying around defensively and making it tough on them," Shrewsberry said. "Jett Howard got too many open looks, and we had to clean that up a little bit better, but I thought we did a great job on everyone else keeping them to one shot. The last six minutes of the first half, they didn't get any offensive rebounds."
Penn State had an 18-0 run starting with five-straight 3-pointers in the closing minutes of the first half for a 49-30 lead. Funk had the last two 3s and capped it with a three-point play 31 seconds before halftime. Michigan added a basket and trailed 49-32 in what was PSU's highest-scoring half of the season.
"For us, we felt like we had a good plan coming in and a new lineup," Pickett said. "We were getting good shots early, and we just had to clean up some mistakes we were making on the defensive end. We felt like once we started to get on that run, we were moving and connected on defense. We were talking, and that was allowing us to get out of offense."
Pickett had 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and Funk 14 on 5 of 7 as Penn State shot 9 of 17 from distance and 61% overall in the first half.
"We played with more purpose offensively," Shrewsberry said. "We talked about our purpose offensively and what we are looking for on every possession. I thought we did that, and it got (Lundy and Funk) better looks. We have to keep playing that way. There's no secret. You have to do it every single time. Just because we did it against Michigan, doesn't mean we'll do it every single time. We have to do it again against Purdue with the same purpose. If those guys do that, they are going to make more than they are not."
Howard was 7 of 8, 4 of 5 behind the arc for 18 Michigan points in the first half. He had 13 points when the PSU lead was 16-15 and his 3-pointer at the 4:31 mark had the Wolverines within 31-30 but they missed their next five shots.
Lundy opened the second half with a 3, Henn made a layup and the lead was never below 20 after that. Lundy had five points and Pickett four in a 9-0 spurt that made it 73-41 midway through the second half.
"Jalen made a bunch of shots early," Henn said. "And we never looked back."
Michigan outscored Penn State 20-10 over the final 10 minutes.
The Nittany Lions go to No. 1 Purdue on Wednesday. Michigan plays at Northwestern on Thursday.
"I know this group, I know their character and I know their makeup," Shrewsberry said. "I knew how they were going to play today. I didn't know we were going to win like this, but I knew they were going to compete and play the right way. We did that on both ends of the court."
MICHIGAN (11-10): Williams 3-6 1-1 7, Dickinson 3-9 0-0 6, Bufkin 4-10 0-0 8, Je.Howard 8-13 0-0 21, McDaniel 1-7 2-2 4, Baker 1-5 0-1 2, Ja.Howard 2-4 1-2 6, Reed 1-2 1-2 3, Barnes 0-1 0-0 0, Tschetter 2-2 0-0 4, Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-59 5-8 61.
PENN ST. (14-7): Dorsey 0-2 0-0 0, Henn 4-4 0-0 10, Funk 7-12 1-1 19, Pickett 10-17 3-4 25, Lundy 7-14 4-5 22, Dread 1-4 0-0 3, Wynter 1-2 0-0 2, Njie 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 31-57 8-10 83.
Halftime--Penn St. 49-32. 3-Point Goals--Michigan 6-22 (Je.Howard 5-7, Ja.Howard 1-3, Dickinson 0-1, Williams 0-2, Baker 0-3, Bufkin 0-3, McDaniel 0-3), Penn St. 13-30 (Funk 4-9, Lundy 4-9, Henn 2-2, Pickett 2-4, Dread 1-4, Dorsey 0-2). Rebounds--Michigan 26 (Williams, Bufkin 6), Penn St. 34 (Pickett 8). Assists--Michigan 14 (Dickinson, McDaniel 3), Penn St. 20 (Pickett 8). Total Fouls--Michigan 8, Penn St. 9. A--12,047 (15,261).