Nimari Burnett scored a career-high 31 points to lead No. 2 Michigan to a 110-69 rout of Penn State in a Big Ten contest on Thursday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Burnett went 11 of 16 from the field overall and 7 of 10 from 3-point range while playing just 21 minutes. L.J. Cason, Trey McKenney and Morez Johnson each scored 12 points for Michigan (21-1, 11-1 Big Ten), which is now off to its best start in school history.
Michigan shot 60.6% from the field overall (40 of 66), including 51.7% from 3-point range (15 of 29), and held a 44-21 rebounding advantage.
Freddie Dilione V scored 19 points and Josh Reed and Melih Tunca each had 15 points in defeat for Penn State (10-13, 1-11), which shot 2 of 20 from 3-point range and 37.1% overall (23 of 62).
Going up against a bigger Michigan frontline was going to be challenging enough for Penn State, but the task got harder for the Nittany Lions at the beginning of the game when 7-foot freshman center Ivan Juric was ruled out with an illness.
Michigan dominated the first half, taking a 56-24 lead into the locker room. The Wolverines shot 21 of 32 from the field overall and made 7 of 13 shots from 3-point range in the half. Meanwhile, Penn State was 0 of 10 from the 3-point line in the first half.
The second half wasn’t much different, as Michigan built a 42-point lead on Burnett’s triple that made it 76-34 with 14:40 remaining.
The Wolverines reached the 100-point mark with 3:23 left when a 3-pointer by Will Tschetter gave Michigan a 100-59 lead.
It was the eighth time this year that Michigan has scored at least 100 points in a game.
Michigan left little doubt from the start, opening the game on a 15-2 run and going up 26-10 with 8:50 remaining in the first half.
The Wolverines later went on a 9-2 run to grab a 44-18 lead with 3:38 until halftime.
