Takeaways From Michigan's Convincing Win Over Penn State

The 2nd ranked Michigan Wolverines crushed the undermanned Penn State Nittany Lions by a score of 110 to 69. Michigan used a dominant first half to get out to an early lead and never looked back after that. They were already up 56-24 at the break as Nimari Burnett was a key offensive catalyst in that first half for Michigan. Then in the second half came more of the same, as the Wolverines would go on to win by over 40 points. Burnett ended up leading Michigan in scoring in this one, with a career-high of 31. Lets dive into three takeaways from Michigan's dominant win over Penn State below.

Michigan looks to be firing on all cylinders right now

After two top 10 wins last week, Michigan came back home and smoked a depleted Penn State team. It's really hard to beat teams this badly in college basketball no matter the circumstances, and Michigan made it look very easy tonight. After winning the close one against the Cornhuskers, I think Michigan has put together two straight great performances in beating Michigan State at home, then beating this Penn State team by 40 after the big, emotional rivalry win against the Spartans. To me it looks like this team is really settling in and playing some of their best basketball of the year and that's a great sign for Wolverine fans.

This team is incredibly deep, and balanced

Nimari Burnett has been fairly quiet so far this year for Michigan but he came up huge tonight. He was lights out shooting it from distance, and even made three dunks as well. He ended up with 31 points on 11/16 from the field and 7/10 from 3-point range. He set a career high in this game for Michigan and his success speaks to a larger point of just how deep and talented this Michigan team is offensively. No offense to Nimari Burnett, but he's not exactly the guy other teams circle on the scouting report but even he can go off for 30+ points on any given night. This team is super deep and talented, and Nimari's performance tonight is yet another example of that.

Michigan has the country's best defense

Michigan held Penn State to 37% shooting from the field and 10% from 3-point range. They also blocked 8 shots, and got 3 steals as well. It was another great defensive performance, and it's just further proof of how good this Michigan defense has been so far. They rank 2nd nationally in opponent shooting percentage on the season at just 39%, behind only St. Louis who is playing a far easier schedule. They're also 5th nationally in blocks per game at 6 per game as a team. The advanced analytics also agree with my premise, that Michigan has the best defense in the country, as Michigan is 1st nationally in Team Defensive Efficiency.

After another dominant showing against Penn State, Michigan will look to keep it rolling as they square off with the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, OH this Sunday. It'll be the second time they face Ohio State, as the Wolverines won the first matchup 74 to 62 at home.

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