The Terps fell to a buzzer-beating half-court shot.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — No. 16 Maryland men’s basketball trailed No. 8 Michigan State by seven points with less than three minutes remaining. But elite foul shooting and strangling defense helped the Terps tie the game at 55 with 42 seconds left.
After Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler missed the go-ahead layup, Ja’Kobi Gillespie collected the defensive rebound, stormed down the court and pulled up for a three — which brushed off the front of the rim — with four seconds remaining.
With all signs pointed toward overtime, Tre Holloman hoisted up a last-ditch effort from beyond half court to avoid a late-game collapse.
He drained it, leaving the sold-out crowd stunned and the Terps with their seventh loss of the season, 58-55, Wednesday night in College Park.
“You got to take the last shot there … that’s just a tough way to lose a game,” Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said. “Holloman hadn’t made a shot all night, so once he released it, I knew that thing was going in.”
Holloman finished the game with nine points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Fans waited outside Xfinity Center for more than five hours, hoping to grab good seats for Maryland’s most important game of the regular season. While the home crowd left disappointed, the national audience saw a treat on Big Ten Network. It took Michigan State all 40 minutes to put away the Terps.
“I felt we deserved to win the game, I don’t think it was a lucky shot at the end,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said.
After a tough first half, Rodney Rice was the only Terp who showed up on the offensive end. He scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from three.
Maryland has been accustomed to a lot of points and fast starts this season. Heading into the game, the Terps averaged the most points per game in the Big Ten (83.7) and the fourth-most first-half points per game in the nation (41.5). Wednesday night could not have strayed further from this, as Maryland scored just 23 points in the first half, its lowest first-half point total this season.
The Terps shot just 8-of-28 (28.6%) from the field and 1-of-10 from three in the opening 20 minutes. Michigan State shot just as poorly, though, making 9-of-31 (29%) field goal attempts and zero 3-pointers on five tries.
The second half did not play out much better for the Terps, finishing the game with a 31.3% field goal percentage and 20% 3-point percentage. The Spartans shot 33.8% from the field and 26.7% from three.
“It was a rock fight,” Izzo said.
While Maryland is one of the best offensive teams in the country, a low-scoring affair was not a complete surprise. The Spartans and Terps boast the second- and third-best scoring defenses in the conference, each holding opponents to less than 68 points per game. Maryland also averages the third-most steals (7.4) and blocks (4.4) per game in the Big Ten, while Michigan State averages the second-most blocks per game (4.7).
Derik Queen started the scoring with a smooth mid-range jumper, and Julian Reese followed that with a block on Michigan State forward Szymon Zapala, sending Xfinity Center into a frenzy.
But Maryland’s offense plummeted after the bucket, missing three shots and committing two turnovers over the next three minutes. It scored 10 points in the first 10 minutes, all coming from either Queen or Gillespie.
Queen and Gillespie did not maintain this pace throughout the rest of the game, though, combining for 25 points on 4-of-21 shooting. Queen posted a game-high 10 rebounds, though.
The Spartans got off to a relatively fast start, jumping out to an 11-4 lead boosted by Jase Richardson’s seven quick points. Richardson finished the game with a team-high 15 point; he averaged 10.8 points per game entering the night.
Selton Miguel has been one of Maryland’s streakiest shooters this season, but he did not receive a chance to get hot or cold in the first half, as he played just eight minutes, four less than reserve DeShawn Harris-Smith. All other starters played at least 17 minutes in the first half.
Miguel made a difficult layup as the first-half clock expired, though, giving Maryland a 23-21 lead at halftime. He finished with six points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field.
The Terps’ second-half comeback efforts were waisted, as Holloman hit the shot of his lifetime.
“It’s going to be good for us in March,” Willard said.
Three things to know
1. The Terps were dominated on the boards. Maryland and Michigan State are two of the best rebounding teams in the Big Ten this season, but the Terps did not look like it Wednesday. The Spartans outrebounded Maryland, 45-33, while snagging 13 offensive rebounds.
2. Julian Reese was drowned out. Reese had one of his worst performances of the season when the Terps needed his post scoring most. He totaled four points on 2-of-7 shooting and seven rebounds.
3. Big Ten standings update. Wednesday night’s game had massive Big Ten standings implications. A win would have put the Terps in position to potentially earn the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Now, Maryland is in jeopardy of dropping out of the top four and losing a second round bye with No. 15 Michigan still on its schedule.