Divine Ugochukwu's career day leads Michigan State past Penn State

Tom Izzo won’t be happy about that one.

In its first road game of the season Saturday against Penn State, No. 9 Michigan State trailed in the first half and at various points throughout the second in a turnover-marred outing. Though Penn State nearly pulled off the upset at its own Bryce Jordan Center, the Spartans clawed back for a 76-72 win.

"The only thing I'm proud of my guys about is ... ," Izzo told reporters, "we did find a way in the end, and good teams have to find a way to win, because they had a lot of things going for them."

Coming off a loss to No. 4 Duke and coping with changes to its guard rotation, Michigan State (9-1, 2-0 Big Ten) found a career-high 23 points from shooting guard Divine Ugochukwu, who also hit a career-high five 3s, including the dagger with 43 seconds to play.

Forward Jaxon Kohler and center Carson Cooper also scored 10 points for Michigan State. Kohler had 12 rebounds to pace a 39-27 advantage for MSU in the game and 24-12 in the second half. For Penn State (8-3, 0-2), Freddie Dilione V scored 23 to lead the offense, where 23 points off 17 turnovers nearly caused Penn State’s sixth top-10 upset in 10 seasons. Michigan State missed a dozen layups, doubling the six layups it actually made.

"That is ridiculous," Izzo said. "We missed some against Duke. We missed some here, and you shouldn't win games when you do that."

Michigan State faced a 39-36 deficit at halftime, but it took a 41-39 lead in the first two minutes of the second half off a layup and a 3 from Ugochukwu, normally the backup point guard, who got his first start at shooting guard alongside Jeremy Fears Jr. Ugochukwu kept the lead with another layup after Penn State tied it up again.

From there, Michigan State took control with a 10-0 run with contributions from four players. Jordan Scott, a freshman wing, converted an and-one 3 to give Michigan State its largest lead of the day at 51-41. Izzo, who earlier this week said Scott’s shooting will be the key to his role on this team, looked as excited as anyone when Scott drew the foul, picking him up off the ground and patting the side of his head.

Penn State didn’t stare at a 10-point deficit for long. In a little over a minute, it was looking at a lead. An 11-0 run, featuring two 3s and an and-one layup, gave Penn State a head-turning 52-51 lead.

As Michigan State held onto a one-point lead, it was Ugochukwu who settled the offense. After a series of offensive rebounds, he drained his third 3 of the game on perfect shooting.

Yet again, Penn State pulled back with a layup yet another turnover — its 15th of the game. Freshmen Kayden Mingo finished a layup to tie, and the Penn State freshman (one of three starting for Mike Rhoades' squad) dished another layup to Dilione to take a 60-58 lead with 7:26 to go.

"We did not play good. We turned the ball over too much," Izzo said. "But they had a lot to do with that."

After flirting with a two- or three-point deficit over a three-minute stretch, Ugochukwu sank his career high fourth 3 of the game with 3:22 to play for a career high 18 points, breaking marks he set earlier this year against East Carolina.

"Divine did a great job offensively," Izzo said. "Got some work to do defensively, and that's where we're at."

And it would be Ugochukwu who hit the dagger, with 43 seconds to play, to keep building on his own records. With a 73-67 lead, Michigan State just had to survive the final minute. Dilione made it hard. He finished a layup with 28 seconds on the clock and added a 3 with about 10 seconds remaining to trail 74-72 and mark the first time any team had scored 70 on Michigan State this season.

Fitting for how the game had gone, Ugochukwu iced the game with free throws with 8.1 seconds remaining.

"I almost wanted to apologize to 'em," Izzo said. "I thought they outplayed us and most of the way, and we found a way to win. And if (Rhoades) can keep these teams together, with those young kids that he's got, this is going to be a good team this year and a really good team in the future."

Ugochukwu drew five of Michigan State’s first seven points and helped build an 11-8 lead five minutes into the game.

With 14:37 to play, Penn State forward Josh Reed stepped up to screen Cooper but more so rammed into him. He knocked the MSU center down hard, where trainers had to help him get off the court. Officials called a flagrant 1 foul on Reed. Cooper made both free throws then went back to the bench.

The use of Ugochukwu changed up MSU’s rotation, bringing third-string point guard Denham Wojcik on the court six minutes in. He fed shooting guard Kur Teng for a 3 to stretch a 6-0 run. But Wojcik also had a turnover, and he couldn’t get under a screen to cover a 3 from Dilione. As Fears checked back in with 12 minutes left in the half, Fears subbed back in with a 17-11 lead.

"I ain't worried about that at all," Izzo said of the effects that Ugochukwu's start had on the rotation. "I mean, we're gonna play Denham some because we have some consistency. Then I think Divine this week, we put him at the two and said learn it, get comfortable with it. We got a couple other guys that gotta play a lot better. Couple were starters. Couple were subs that have been starters."

It was all Penn State for the next six minutes, as Penn State sparked runs of 7-0, 7-0 and 9-0 as Michigan State’s offense went cold. Dilione, a guard, led the way with nine points for the Nittany Lions while Mingo and Ivan Juric added seven.

Michigan State didn’t miss a whole lot of shots, just untimely ones. The Spartans shot 14 for 26 in the half, but gave up more offensive rebounds (four) than it hauled in (two). Eight turnovers, two each from Fears, Ugochukwu and Wojcik, gave Penn State eight more shots than MSU at the half.

As Dilione broke for another an easy layup at 7:01, Fears fouled him hard and received a flagrant one foul of his own. That parked Fears on the bench in foul trouble, taking the nation’s assist leader off the court when MSU needed to mount a comeback.

Michigan State dug out of a 31-22 hole slowly, with a jump hook from Kohler and a 3 from Teng. But even though Penn State made just three shots over the last 6:25 of the half, Penn State still led 39-36 at the half.