COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Michigan State basketball appeared to have everything together and prepared to put things on coast mode with a dominant first half.
One problem: Coasting doesn’t win road games in the Big Ten.
One solution: Tom Izzo’s team dialing in when focus was most needed.
After taking a 15-point first-half lead behind sizzling shooting and smothering defense, the Spartans once again found themselves in another dogfight. And when they needed their stars and defense most, both came through.
Michigan State guard Tre Holloman dunks the ball in the first half against the Maryland Terrapins at Xfinity Center on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024 in College Park, Maryland.
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A.J. Hoggard scored half of his 12 points in the final 7:14 after Maryland stormed back to take a brief lead. Tyson Walker had five of his 15 in the last five-plus minutes, including a critical 3-pointer with 44.5 seconds left. And Tre Holloman’s poke-away steal from the Terps’ Jahmir Young in the closing seconds allowed the Spartans to hang on for their first true road win of the season, 61-59, Sunday at Xfinity Center.
“We were desperate for before for an away win,” said Holloman, who hit three 3-pointers and scored all 12 of his points in the first half. “I just had to come up big, and it just feels great.”
Malik Hall added 12 points and six rebounds as MSU (12-7, 4-4 Big Ten) found a way to win its third straight gritty, grinder of a game. It matched the deepest the Spartans have gone into a season without a true road win in Izzo’s tenure — since 20 years ago, when the 2003-04 team did not get one until Jan. 21, 2004, at Northwestern.
“We know in the Big Ten, it’s tough to win on the road,” Hoggard said. “Just coming out here and being able to turn it around after they came out hot in the beginning the second half … it’s just rallying and figuring it out, using our experience and our veteranship, and just fighting it out and finding a way to win”
Maryland (11-8, 3-5), which entered Sunday as the worst 3-point shooting team (25.4%) in conference games, hit eight 3-pointers and overcame early scoring woes to storm back and take a brief lead after halftime. Young had a deep shot ruled a 2-pointer with 36.3 seconds to play — his toe was on the 3-point line — and his turnover in the final seconds was the Terrapins’ eighth of the game. MSU scored 19 points off those giveaways to counter giving up 10 second-chance points on nine Maryland offensive rebounds.
Young had 19 points, but he did so on just 6-for-15 shooting with seven turnovers. Donta Scott added 16, and Julian Reese had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Terps. Maryland outrebounded MSU overall, 37-22 in a tough game for the Spartans’ big men.
“I wouldn’t be normally satisfied, except right now, we needed a road win. Being in it 39 years, you kind of realize that an ugly win is much better than a pretty loss,” Izzo said. “”It was an ugly win, and they deserve some credit for making it ugly. We deserve some blame for lending that (15-point) lead disappear like it did. And I’m just happy we got a win, and we’ll move on.”
The Terps had won 25 of their last 27 games at home entering Sunday. The Spartans improved to 4-3 at Maryland under Izzo and won their second straight at Xfinity Center.
“They don’t lose at home, so it’s good,” Walker said. “And plus, to get our first road win here is really big.”
The Spartans travel to No. 8 Wisconsin Friday for an 8 p.m. tipoff at Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin (FS1). The Badgers won Dec. 5 at MSU, 70-57, to open Big Ten play for both teams.
Dominant first half for the Spartans
Michigan State forward Malik Hall shoots the ball in the first half against Julian Reese of the Maryland Terrapins at Xfinity Center on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024 in College Park, Maryland.
With Maryland entering the game shooting just 27.9% from 3-point range, Izzo opted to challenge the Terps to try and beat his team from deep.
“I think everyone is kind of doing that, to be honest with you,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said.
Scott and Young each connected early as Maryland opened 2-for-3 from deep in the first 2:16. But the law of averages and MSU’s Big Ten-leading 3-point defense — 30.5% for its opponents entering Saturday — caught up to the Terrapins, who missed eight of their next nine from deep.
Meantime, the Spartans got another strong start from Hall, who had 10 points at halftime after scoring five of MSU’s first seven points and hitting its first 3-pointer.
It wasn’t the Spartans’ last, as Holloman and Walker hit on back-to-back possessions to spark a 15-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers and a breakaway dunk. Walker opened the spurt that spanned 4:24 with another 3-pointer, and Hall hit a pair of baseline jumpers as MSU’s lead swelled to 29-16 with 9:08 to play before half. It grew to a 15-point cushion on an Akins layup after a Walker steal and assist on the break.
The Spartans scored all 14 of their fast-break points in the first half, sparked by four of Walker’s five steals.
“We got running,” Walker said. “That’s what got us the lead.”
The Spartans’ defense stifled Maryland for 8:31 between made field goals, with the Terrapins missing 11 straight shots. But they pulled back within seven on a Jahari Long 3-pointer with 1:48 to go before the half.
But Holloman’s third 3-pointer of the half sparked a 7-2 close to the half to send the Spartans into the break with a 44-32 lead.
MSU was 6-for-10 from deep and shot 58.3% overall in the first half, while Maryland was 5-for-15 from 3 and hit 37% of its shots.
“We played probably one of our best halves of basketball, both offensively and defensively,” Izzo said.
Hanging on for the win
Michigan State’s Mady Sissoko dunks the ball in the first half against the Maryland Terrapins at Xfinity Center on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024 in College Park, Maryland.
Maryland turned it up after halftime, though, and did so with more uncharacteristic outside shooting.
Young opened the half with a 3-pointer and Scott hit another as part of the Terrapins’ 16-4 to start the second half. Scott’s three-point play and layup tied things, 48-48, with 12:15 to play. Then Young’s 3-pointer over Holloman with 8:23 to go gave Maryland its first lead of the second half, 53-50.
It also was the Spartans’ turn to struggle offensively, missing 11 straight shots and going 8:09 between made field goals.
“The second half, I think they turned up their defense, and they they really gave us some fits,” Izzo said. “And we did not handle it very well.”
But Hoggard attacked off the dribble for a pair of layups to break that drought and reclaim the lead. Then after an Izzo timeout with 5:23 to play, Walker knifed into the paint and finished through traffic to put MSU up, 56-63.
“It changed the game tremendously,” Hoggard said of him and Walker getting penetration in the paint. “We started putting pressure on our their defense.”
And the Spartans’ defense, including Holloman’s key play in the waning seconds, made sure Maryland couldn’t come back, even though Young tried to will it.
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball survives road test vs. Maryland, wins 61-59
