After watching the game slip away in the final seconds in the first matchup against Michigan State, Maryland couldn’t pull off the revenge game and fell 77-67 against the Spartans on Sunday to close the 2021-22 regular-season with a losing record.
Maryland missed their first 13 shots from the field and shot just 28% from the field, including 1-of-15 from three, as the Spartans opened the game on an 18-1 run. The Spartans were in complete control through the first twenty minutes, all started after Marcus Bingham opened senior day with an alley-oop and foreshadowing the Terps’ first-half fate.
Michigan State took a healthy double-digit lead into halftime, up 46-26 on senior day, before the Terps opened the second half on an 8-0 run. Maryland was able to cut the lead to as little as ten on two occasions, but after Malik Hall knocked down a three to push the Spartans' lead back to twenty with under 13 minutes left, Maryland assembled a 17-2 run to cut the lead to five and prompting Spartans head coach Tom Izzo to call a timeout.
Hakim Hart responded with a steal coming out of the break, setting Fatts Russell up for a pair of free-throws to make it a one-possession game, but the Terps couldn’t get any further over the hump as the Spartans pushed the lead back to double-digits heading into the final media timeout.
Eric Ayala was one of two players to finish in double figures, finishing with a game-high 19 points while Fatts Russell added 16 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Michigan State outrebounded Maryland 39-30 in the loss.
With the loss, Maryland ends the regular season 15-16 (7-13), the first time that Maryland men’s basketball has finished the regular season below .500 since Gary William’s fourth season with the Terps back in 1992-93.
Despite the loss, Maryland stays at tenth in the Big Ten standings and will face Michigan State on Thursday at 6:30 PM in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.
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