Coach Mike Rhoades’ squad typically prides itself on winning the turnover battle, which leads to numerous opportunities for the team to increase its own chances of winning by throwing the opposing team out of sync.
Entering Monday night’s game, Penn State averaged 15.8 turnovers forced per game — the second highest in the Big Ten — while Michigan gave the ball away 15 times per game — the most in the Big Ten. It seemed that the Nittany Lions had a prime matchup to take advantage of their usually strong turnover-battle-winning ways.
However, that wasn’t the case against the Wolverines, who won the turnover battle by forcing 18 Penn State turnovers while only giving up nine, en route to a 76-72 victory inside the Crisler Center on Monday.