STATE COLLEGE — Penn State junior Jan Jagla is listed as a
forward in the team’s media guide.

But the 7-footer plays much more like a guard than a big
man.

And for this reason, Michigan chose to defend the Nittany
Lions’ leading scorer with a guard for most of
Saturday’s 69-59 win over Penn State.

“He’s basically a 7-foot guard,” said Michigan
sophomore Lester Abram, who matched up against Jagla during
stretches of the game. “We just tried to put a lot of
pressure on him. We just came out and played our regular defense
— we didn’t do anything special.”

Jagla — who was named Co-Big Ten Player of the Week on
Jan. 12 — struggled in the first half, connecting on just
1-of-9 from the floor. While he made some buckets in the second
half, he shot just 28 percent for the game (5-for-18) and was
visibly frustrated at times.

On two straight possessions in the second half, Michigan senior
Bernard Robinson blocked Jagla on consecutive possessions. And a
few possessions later, the junior had his pocket picked by Daniel
Horton on a drive to the basket.

“We just wanted to get a hand up on all of his
shots,” Robinson said. “He’s very tall, so you
can’t always stop it or block it, but you just wanna get a
hand up on him and make him shoot a harder shot.”

After being recognized by the Big Ten, opponents have keyed more
on stopping Jagla than they had before.

“The other teams are doing a good job against us,”
Jagla said. “It has been hard for me to play the way I
usually play, because other defenses have had a solid focus on
me.”

Jagla’s struggle may have also been in part because he was
forced to work hard on the defensive end of the floor. After the
7-footer picked up his second foul of the game, Michigan pounded
the ball inside to physical sophomore Graham Brown in an attempt to
get Penn State’s leading scorer into foul trouble.

Although Jagla escaped without picking up his third foul, he had
to work hard on defense to slow down the 255-pound Brown.

“With a guy like that, he doesn’t like to guard the
post very much,” Brown said. “Taking him down low
— he’s probably not used to it. So (he) probably just
gets a little tired from that.”

Home away from home: The Bryce Jordan Center isn’t exactly
the best arena for basketball.

Its structure is huge — almost as big as some NBA arenas
— and fails to create the “homely” atmosphere of
smaller arenas.

And since Penn State’s decline began a few seasons ago, so
did the attendance of the school’s student section has
followed suit.

On Saturday, a combination of the lack of attendance and crowd
apathy paved the way for a small Maize Rage contingent of about a
dozen to be heard loud and clear throughout the building.

“You can’t ask for anything more,” Brown said.
“To go to other states and have Maize Rage there —
that’s unheard of. Those guys did a great job, and we heard
them throughout the whole game.”

Many Michigan players thanked the Maize Rage after by jumping up
and high-fiving the fans — who were seated near the entrance
of the tunnel leading back to the lockerroom.

The Maize Rage devised several chants mocking the Nittany
Lions’ “We are … Penn State” chant. The
Ragers chanted “You are …” at the lifeless
student section, and enjoyed the lack of a response. They also
chanted “We own … Penn State” when the game was
out of reach late in the second half.

In knee-d of recovery: Michigan sophomore Chris Hunter missed
Saturday’s game after re-aggravating a knee injury.

“He kind of twisted his knee (Friday) night in
practice,” Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said.

Hunter missed seven games earlier this season following
arthroscopic surgery on his knee.

The extent of the injury suffered this weekend is still
unknown.

Notes: Michigan has won its last five meetings against Penn
State . . . In an attempt to get fans excited about the game, Penn
State has a DJ and emcee to entertain the crowd during timeouts and
before the game . . . The Wolverines shot 13-for-14 from the
free-throw line (93 percent), their highest single-game percentage
this season . . . Michigan forward Bernard Robinson surpassed the
1,300-point mark for his career, scoring eight points against the
Nittany Lions.