It is said that defense wins championships. And if that's the case, Penn State's men's basketball team could be in for a long season.

The Nittany Lions (9-2, 1-1 Big Ten) caused 14 Michigan turnovers and held the Wolverines (7-6, 1-1) to a microscopic 15 points in the first half en route to their 73-63 victory yesterday at Rec Hall.

"We did not do a very good job reacting to adversity and frustration," Michigan Coach Steve Fisher said of his team's struggle with Penn State's defense. "It carried over and rippled to the whole team."

The damage was evident from the get-go. The Wolverines managed to shoot just 21.4 percent from the field on 6-for-28 shooting in the first half, and ended the game shooting a mediocre 33.8 percent. Michigan's 15 first-half points are the lowest total points Penn State has given up to a conference opponent since joining the Big Ten.

But the Nittany Lions were not much better. Coach Bruce Parkhill's squad shot only 29.6 percent in the first half and actually ended the game with a worse percentage from the field. The Lions shot 33.3 percent for the game.

Even Michigan's top guns -- seniors Ray Jackson and Jimmy King -- were stymied by Penn State's tenacious defense.

Despite finishing with 24 and 13 points respectively, Jackson and King were silenced in the first half.

The two combined for a mere nine points on 4-for-10 shooting and turned the ball over seven times in the opening half.

Only Jackson was able to free himself from the Lion defense to keep it close. Most of King's points came at the end of the game.

"I'd put that on the offense," Jackson said of the poor performance. "We didn't swing the ball like we should have and I think we took some poor shots."

One of the major reasons for Michigan's cold shooting performance was Donovan Williams. The senior guard shadowed the Wolverines' guard tandem all day, forced the two to make poor decisions with the ball and forced a turnover in the process.

"I think Donovan has made such a big move this year," Parkhill said, crediting Williams' improvement to his off-season work ethic. "He has been one of our better defenders. He's gotten a lot tougher."

Even the Lions' biggest player has noticed the efforts of his guards. Center John Amaechi said the Lion guards, especially Williams, have done a good job.

But sophomore guard Dan Earl, who managed to score 15 points despite being riddled with a flu-like virus lately, said he thought the team could have played better.

"We have some things to learn from," Earl said. "I'm happy that we won, but we didn't play as well as we could have."