Nothing is going to come easy in the Big Ten.
The Wolverines found that out on Sunday when a game that appeared to be on the verge of a blowout turned into a grind-it-out dogfight that went down to the wire.
After squandering a 15-point first-half lead, Michigan used a late defensive stand and another stellar outing from freshman Hunter Dickinson to pull out a 62-58 victory over Penn State in the Big Ten opener at Crisler Center.
“That’s a Big Ten basketball game right there,” fifth-year senior center Austin Davis said. “You’re going to have a lot of ups and downs, a lot of adversity. But the teams that are going to be successful have to find a way to push through it and come together through it. We obviously had some things that didn’t go our way, but we didn’t let it separate us or get us down too bad.”
Dickinson had a season-high 20 points and made the game-tying and game-winning baskets in the final 2:08. He added seven rebounds, three blocked shots and finished 9-for-14 from the field in his first career start in place of Davis, who is out indefinitely with a right foot injury.
Senior guard Eli Brooks added 12 points and came up with a critical defensive stop on Penn State’s final possession for Michigan (6-0, 1-0 Big Ten), which committed 16 turnovers and finished 17-for-20 from the free-throw line to help overcome rough second-half shooting. Senior forward Isaiah Livers added 10 points and made two free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory.
Izaiah Brockington had 14 points and Myreon Jones and Sam Sessoms scored 10 apiece for Penn State (3-2, 0-1), which shot 30.8% from the field (20-for-65), had 13 offensive rebounds and attempted 20 more shots than Michigan.
