Before the game, Caris LeVert was announced out with a lower left leg injury. The injury occurred when he tweaked his ankle against the Illinois Fighting Illini on Wednesday. 

The Michigan Wolverines, without their star player, did not worry as the team stepped up to rout the Penn State Nittany Lions, 79-56. 

"That's our second senior, our second captain to go down," said Zak Irvin, referring also to Spike Albrecht, who is lost for the season following offseason hip surgeries. "We just had that next-man-up mentality. ... We've just gotta stay together as a team."

Irvin, a 21-year-old, stepped up in a big way with a team-high 16 points, including shooting 4-of-6 from downtown. The junior added three rebounds and seven assists in the winning efforts. Mark Donnal, who made his first start since the third game of the season, put up 16 points and eight rebounds. The forward has played in two Big Ten Conference games, which he averaged 21 points, 8.5 rebounds and two assists. 

"We're not throwing the ball to Mark Donnal and saying, `Go to work, big fella.' He's playing off leverage," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "We're trying to put them in schemes that they're comfortable at seeing him."

The Wolverines (12-3) shot 14-for-25 (56.0 percent) from deep and 59.2 percent from the field. Michigan got help from Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Derrick Walton Jr. and Duncan Robinson, who combined for 29 points and nine rebounds. Off the bench, Aubrey Dawkins, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, scored 13 points without missing a single shot. 

"Michigan was a buzzsaw today," Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said. "It was almost like LeVert was out and they wanted to show that they could do it."

Early in the game, the Nittany Lions (9-6) jumped out to an 11-6 lead, but Michigan went on a crazy 24-4 run to help put the team up 49-28 at halftime. 

Brandon Taylor led the way for Penn State, even though the team lost by 23 points. The senior scored 16 points while adding three rebounds, seven assists and one steal. The second leading scorer, Isaiah Washington, played just 10 minutes. The freshman guard scored nine points, while Payton Banks managed to shoot 0-for-5 from the field across 21 minutes of action. 

Michigan will play on the road against the No. 14 Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday, while Penn State will host the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Tuesday. 

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Going forward, LeVert is considered day-to-day. He has averaged 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in his senior season for the Maize and Blue. 

"We don't know all the specifics," Beilein said. "I don't want to speculate on what we don't know yet. In time, we'll know more."