Maryland battled with Michigan State nearly all 40 minutes on Tuesday night, but saw their upset bid shattered in the final seconds as the Spartans pulled away with a 65-63 win in College Park.
“Disappointing to come away with a loss, obviously,” Maryland interim head coach Danny Manning said postgame. “Not the column we wanted to check."
Despite battling back from a wrist injury, Fatts Russell was back in Maryland’s starting lineup as he got the game’s scoring started with a fastbreak layup thirty seconds in. The Terps responded to the Spartans’ early punches and were in a tightly-contested game through the first 17 minutes with neither team leading by more than five points, largely attributed to 13 combined first-half points from Eric Ayala and Donta Scott.
After center Qudus Wahab knocked through a pair of free throws with 4:50 remaining in the first half, the Terps would go through yet another one of their untimely scoring as they failed to score a single point the rest of the way.
The Spartans capitalized with a 10-0 run of their own as Maryland looked off-balance in their halfcourt offense, missing their lone field goal attempt and committing three turnovers over the stretch. After turning the Terps’ eight turnovers into 14 points, Michigan State took a 35-25 lead into halftime.
The Spartans stretched the lead to 14 within the first minute of the second-half, but after Wahab settled in with a bucket in the paint, Maryland’s offense seemingly found a spark as they cut the deficit to six thanks to an Ayala and-one jumpstarting a 9-0 run. Maryland would trim the lead further to four points, but yet another scoring drought would allow the Spartans to rebuild a healthy lead midway through the half.
“You're going to have breakdowns. You're not going to play perfect ball but when you do have those breakdowns, if you're able to communicate, you're able to talk through it and make extra effort, you're able to cover up for mistakes. So we have to finish up those first halves by covering up any mistakes that we do make with extra efforts, energy generating behaviors, and you know, we haven't done that the last two halves.”
Marcus Bingham helped extend the Spartans’ lead to seven after knocking down a three with just over eight minutes left, but Maryland would give themselves one more chance after a pair of free throws from Scott preceded a strong take to the rim from Ayala. Donta Scott then took advantage of a Michigan State scoring drought, knocking down a contested hook shoot to cut the deficit to 59-56 with 4:05 left. After Hakim Hart and Julius Marble traded free throws, Russell knocked down a triple to tie the game at 61 with 2:49 remaining, prompting a Spartans’ timeout.
The game remained tied heading into the final minute but the Terps had a golden opportunity to take a lead with 50 seconds remaining, thanks to a charge called against the Spartans. But despite a pair of timeouts called by Danny Manning, the Terps couldn’t capitalize as the Spartans collapsed on Russell’s drive to the rim to force Michigan State ball with 24.4 seconds remaining. The Spartans, who hadn’t made a field goal since the 6:09 mark, would capitalize on the chance as Malik Hall converted at the rim, taking a 65-63 lead with just 1.9 seconds remaining and putting the dagger in Maryland’s upset hopes.
"[Malik] Hall made a good read, he put his head down with his right hand and made a tough shot," Manning added. "He was a tough matchup for us all game long, made some timely buckets.”
Next: Maryland travels to #16 Ohio State on Sunday, Feb. 6 for a 1 PM tip.
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