STATE COLLEGE — Two things were scribbled on the chalkboard of the Michigan men's basketball team’s locker room after yesterday’s game.

Road win and 2-1.

One, of course, was the goal of yesterday’s game: to come to State College and beat the Nittany Lions. The other was Michigan’s Big Ten record after coming back from a deficit that reached as many as 16 points to knock off Penn State on the road.

In one of the most schizophrenic efforts of the season, Michigan (2-1 Big Ten, 8-6 overall) came back from a 15-point halftime deficit and ended the game on a 38-13 run in the last 12 minutes to beat Penn State 64-55.

“Winning on the road in the Big Ten is so hard but the way we did it really showed that we had an awful lot of heart and are in great shape,” Beilein said. “Because it takes a lot out of you when you have the start like we had.”

The performance in the first half was perhaps Michigan’s worst of the season as it went down 31-16 at halftime in what promised to be a blowout.

Just three players registered points in the half. Senior forward DeShawn Sims led the Wolverines with 10.

But as poor as the Wolverines first half effort was, they put on a show in the second.

Michigan started the game shooting 0-for-14 from behind the arc. But when sophomore Zack Novak hit the team’s first three with 11:56 remaining in the second half, the team went on a tear.

Harris and Novak came back a few possessions later to make back-to-back threes and Lucas-Perry hit four key shots from behind the arc, including a dagger into the heart of the Penn State fanbase to put Michigan eight points ahead of the Nittany Lions (0-3, 8-7) with two minutes to play.

“We’re all great shooters, we all can shoot the three, we call can put it on the floor and we all can make plays for this team,” Lucas-Perry said. “And that’s something we did tonight, it just happened to be at the end, which we needed the most.”

After the Novak and Harris made their threes to spark the run, the team continued to storm back into the game, led by Sims who impressed with a 25-point effort that kept the Wolverines in the contest during in most dire moments.

“Credit the Sims kid because he kept them in the game to begin with,” Penn State guard Talor Battle said. “Every time we would try to get out he would make a big play then Novak got hot and (Lucas) Perry. A team that lives and dies by the three like that is never out of the basketball game, and four shots they’re right back in the game.”

The Wolverines had nine turnovers in the first half — their season average is 10 per game — but got it together and had just three in the second half.

Sims started the game hot, making his first two shots, and was a force to be reckoned with down low.

“We started the first half, we went inside and scored,” Beilein said. “Sims was fouled and missed them both and all of a sudden we got the ‘my turns’ type of thinking, where ‘OK, I’ve got my own gameplan.’ ”

While the win was Michigan's first true road win this season, more importantly, it proved that the Wolverines could dig themselves out of a hole.