Penn State 53 - 71 Michigan
Final
  for this game

No. 18 Michigan drops Penn State

Dec 30, 2011 - 4:09 AM Ann Arbor, MI (Sports Network) - Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 26 points, Trey Burke had 13 and No. 18 Michigan beat Penn State, 71-53, on Thursday night in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

Evan Smotrycz added 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, collecting his third straight double-double as the Wolverines (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten) won their sixth game in a row.

Michigan, which is a perfect 8-0 at home this season, will remain in Ann Arbor to play Minnesota on New Year's Day.

"We know we still got a long way to go," said Hardaway. "This is just the first step to get to our goals."

Tim Frazier scored 20 points to lead Penn State (8-6, 0-1) and Jermaine Marshall had nine.

The Nittany Lions, who had a two-game winning streak snapped, fell to 7-13 all-time in their Big Ten openers and will travel to play Northwestern in a New Year's Day clash.

Michigan raced out to a 36-22 lead at halftime, shooting 43.8 percent from the floor despite going just 3-of-15 from three-point range.

The Wolverines, led by Hardaway's 12 points, held Penn State to just 33.3 percent shooting in the half. They didn't really start pulling away until an 8-0 run gave them a 23-13 lead inside nine minutes.

Penn State pulled within six, but Michigan used a 13-3 run to take control of the game, going ahead 36-20 on Hardaway's fastbreak layup.

The Nittany Lions never cut their deficit to single digits in the second half.

Game Notes

Michigan leads the all-time series 26-11...The Wolverines' six consecutive wins came after a loss at Virginia on November 29. Their other loss this season was at Duke.






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