The Terps crawled back, but lost on a buzzer-beater.
No. 16 Maryland men’s basketball had the chance to defeat its highest-ranked opponent since it vanquished then-No. 3 Purdue at home on Feb. 16, 2023.
The Terps could not capitalize on the opportunity, though. After Ja’Kobi Gillespie missed a go-ahead 3-pointer, Tre Holloman heaved a half-court prayer, sinking it to give the Spartans a 58-55 victory. Maryland had previously won four straight games.
“Would I have liked [Gillespie] to wait one more second? Sure,” head coach Kevin Willard said. “Kid still had to hit a 60-footer.”
Here are three takeaways from the contest.
Not Maryland’s usual shooting performance
The Terps and the Spartans combined for just 44 points at the half. In some Big Ten games this season, Maryland has scored that many points on its own.
The strength of this program — its vast shooting capabilities — were effectively nullified for much of the contest. The Terps shot just 28.6% from the field in the opening 20 minutes, in large part because their guard play was contained. The second half didn’t yield much better results, as Maryland went 7-of-20 from the field despite its comeback effort.
“I think just offensively, I didn’t think we executed here the way we had been prior, especially at home,” Willard said.
Gillespie and Rodney Rice shot just 4-of-15 from the field in the opening half. Michigan State’s switching defense on the perimeter gave little room for open looks. On multiple occasions, Gillespie and Rice both second-guessed their shot selections; Gillespie waved off a mid-range look before backpedaling and unleashing a contested three, while Rice’s pump-fake on a well-defended triple resulted in a traveling violation.
While Maryland’s focus on offense pivoted to its big men, their productivity wasn’t particularly robust, either. Derik Queen turned the ball over twice early, and his shot was stymied at the rim by towering forward Szymon Zapala. Meanwhile, Julian Reese struggled on his catches around the rim, which also resulted in two turnovers.
Reese had one of his worst showings this season, tallying a paltry four points on 2-of-7 shooting.
Defense was the key
Wednesday’s match was perhaps the most defensive-oriented contest the Terps have played all season. Not only did they score a season-low in points, but Michigan State’s 58 points was also a campaign-low.
One potential reason for the low production is because Maryland and the Spartans simply have a near-identical team makeup. Both have speedy, shorter guards that operate well out of the pick-and-roll and long, rangy, paint-dominant bigs. As a result, the teams match up extremely well defensively.
“What makes Michigan State so tough, it’s unlike probably anything we’ll see for the rest of the year…their pick and roll defense is so good because they constantly have fresh big guys,” Willard said.
So what was the difference?
Maryland tried to employ a press in the second half, to little avail. The Spartans were too quick and smart, continuing to find open shots from the perimeter.
With just 7:20 left, the Terps were down 45-43. But over the next two minutes, the Spartans’ lead ballooned to nine, thanks to Jase Richardson’s driving abilities. He made a tough layup, followed by a drawn foul that resulted in two made free throws.
While the Terps countered with some great defense of their own in the final minutes, it was Holloman’s buzzer-beating triple that sealed Maryland’s demise.
Slow game from Miguel
All season, Selton Miguel has been Maryland’s spark plug. He has provided timely shots — mainly 3-pointers — and an energy boost at every junction.
However, as a streaky shooter, sometimes the night doesn’t go the way you want.
Miguel’s six points was the least he’s scored since Jan. 16, when he notched four against Northwestern. He also didn’t tally a single assist or rebound, had one turnover and was a team-low minus-14 in just 23 minutes.
His minutes restriction was likely due to the fact that he racked up four fouls over the course of the game; two came extremely early. This led to DeShawn Harris-Smith seeing ample early minutes — he played 17 minutes.
“I thought DeShawn and Jordan [Geronimo] played great,” Willard said. “I know we don’t have the bench points, but there’s just not a whole lot of shots to go around.”