In Reply to: You could be right. We may never really know. posted by ej on January 07, 2026 at 11:08:14
night and based on what I saw of Mara, had he been with the Bruins and played like he did last night (pretty much a non factor for Michigan as Penn State's big 7', 250 lb guy dominated in the paint with 20 points plus hit a couple of threes), the Bruins still would have lost.
Fouling Mara by the other team is basically a turnover for Michigan with his 40% free throw percentage. Teams know that and at key points in the game, it's starting to be "hack-a-Mara" time. With 15 seconds left in the game last night, Penn State fouled him intentionally and Mara only made one of the two leaving the opening for Penn state to tie the game with a 2 or win it with a three. Fortunately for Michigan, they missed on the three attempt. Amazingly, they hung with Michigan without their leading scorer (6'3 guard Kayden Mingo, 15PPG) who was out with an injury.
By the way, many here are giving the Bruins an automatic win at Penn State but I don't see it that way. Even though P/S is 0-5 in the Big 10 thus far, their last 3 conference losses have been by 4 points to Mich State, by 8 points to Illinois and by 2 points to Michigan. So they can be tough at times and I suspect the Bruins will have a dog fight on their hands in that game in in about a week.