STATE COLLEGE — Down 15 at halftime, Michigan coach John Beilein took a toned-down approach in the locker room instead of a fiery speech to rally his team.

It was just the kind of motivation that Laval Lucas-Perry and the rest of the Wolverines needed to complete a swift and stunning comeback Thursday night in Happy Valley.

Lucas-Perry keyed a decisive second-half spurt with four 3-pointers and DeShawn Sims had a game-high 25 points as Michigan came back to defeat Penn State, 64-55.

"Coach Beilein came in and said, 'I have nothing to say to you guys,' and basically it was up to us to make it happen," Lucas-Perry said.

The message still took a little while to sink in after halftime, with Michigan (8-6, 2-1 Big Ten) trailing 42-26 with 12:24 left after a 3 by Chris Babb. He finished with team-high 14 points.

The Wolverines were nearly unstoppable from there, closing with a 38-13 run. After holding Michigan to 35 percent shooting in the first half the Wolverines hit 67 percent in the second against porous defense by Penn State (8-7, 0-3).

"They made every big shot tonight," frustrated Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "At some point you got to stick your pole in the ground and defend and make a stand, and we never made a stand."

It was a disappointing ending for the Nittany Lions after playing perhaps their most inspiring 20 minutes of the season in knocking away numerous passes and hitting 54 percent from the field.

The second half was the exact opposite — Michigan was 18-of-27 shooting, including 7 of 12 from 3-point range — while Penn State collapsed offensively down the stretch.

"We turned the ball over entirely too much. We were stagnant offensively," said Penn State's Tailor Battle.