Divine Ugochukwu scored a career-high 23 points in his first start of the season and saved No. 9 Michigan State with two late 3-pointers for a 76-72 win over Penn State on Saturday in University Park, Pa.
Ugochukwu made the most of his opportunity, finishing 5 for 5 from 3-point range to set another career high.
Jaxon Kohler added 10 points and 12 rebounds and Carson Cooper had 10 points for the Spartans (9-1, 2-0 Big Ten).
Freddie Dilione V led upset-minded Penn State (8-3, 0-2) with a career-best 23 points. Kayden Mingo contributed 11 points, seven rebounds and eight assists for the Nittany Lions and Ivan Juric added 10 points.
Mistake-prone Michigan State squandered a nine-point lead in the first half and a 10-point margin early in the second as it coughed up a season-high 17 turnovers, which Penn State turned into 23 points.
Down three with five minutes to go, Michigan State pushed back in front off Cooper’s two free throws and Ugochukwu’s go-ahead triple. The sides traded empty possessions and Dilione missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 1:16 to go.
Ugochukwu ran the baseline to get open on the right side, Jeremy Fears Jr. found him and Ugochukwu stroked his fifth 3-pointer to give Michigan State just enough cushion.
Dilione canned a late 3 to trim the margin two 74-72, but Ugochukwu hit two clutch free throws with eight seconds left.
Michigan State shot 6 for 10 to open the game, and Kur Teng’s 3-pointer gave the Spartans an early 17-8 lead.
That’s when the tide began to turn. During Penn State’s extended 23-5 run, Juric hit the game-tying triple from the left wing and Dilione leaked out for a fastbreak layup for the Nittany Lions’ first lead, 22-20 with 8:33 left in the half.
The Spartans pulled within one after consecutive dunks by Carr and Kohler. But Eli Rice pitched in with a 3 and Tibor Mirtic banked in a reverse layup before the buzzer to send Penn State to the locker room up 39-36.
Michigan State finally regained the lead as Ugochukwu scored the first five points of the second half, and soon a 10-point spurt capped by Jordan Scott’s four-point play handed the Spartans their biggest lead at 51-41.
Penn State countered with an 11-0 run. Dilione, the team’s second-leading scorer despite coming off the bench, continued to star. His fastbreak 3-pointer made it 51-50 with 12:39 left and his transition layup off a blocked shot put Penn State up 60-58 at the under-8 timeout.
