The Michigan Wolverines took a close and physical game from the Penn State Nittany Lions on Monday night. It was a game that head coach Dusty May felt came down to Michigan’s defensive intensity in a game where they were allowed to play physically.

The Michigan basketball team narrowly avoided a disastrous home loss to Penn State on Monday night thanks to some late-game heroics from Tre Donaldson. The Wolverines led for most of the game and there were a couple points in the second half where it looked like they were going to pull away.

“We’ve got to fix some things,” May said. “We’ve got to find some solutions to the problems that we face.”

Point guard Tre Donaldson wouldn't call his game-winning final sequence a season-saver, but he did call it a morale "booster" for the team.

Michigan coach Dusty May was thoroughly impressed by the environment at Purdue's Mackey Arena on Friday night, calling it, 'more impressive' than he thought.

Michigan coach Dusty May said his team failed to match Purdue's level of physicality in the blowout loss at Mackey Arena.

Dusty May had an interesting comparison for Michigan’s home crowd based on the intensity during the 76-72 win over Penn State.

Michigan State (14-2) has won nine in a row under Tom Izzo, now in his 30th year on the job. The Spartans, ranked No. 16, clobbered Washington at home and won at Northwestern on Sunday (78-68) since the last poll came out.

Purdue forward Trey Kaufman-Renn (4) reaches for the ball between the legs of Michigan center Vladislav Goldin (50) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in West Lafayette, Ind., Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) AP

Under the leadership of Dusty May, it looked like Michigan was poised to become the next juggernaut in the Big Ten, and while that still might be the case, the Wolverines definitely hit some stumbling blocks with recent road losses to Minnesota and Purdue.

May, when discussing the game, threw some big complements Painter's way as he previewed the matchup with the media.

A busy week in the Big Ten created significant volatility in the conference standings. However, those results did lead to significant movement at the bottom of the rankings. Minnesota (2-0), USC (1-0) and Ohio State (1-0) each made big jumps,