No. 10 Michigan State is carrying a five-game winning streak into Saturday afternoon’s Big Ten game against Maryland in East Lansing, Mich.
But that doesn’t mean Spartans coach Tom Izzo is totally pleased with his team. Not after watching his charges struggle to gain control against shorthanded Oregon on Tuesday.
Michigan State (17-2, 7-1) led by just two at halftime and didn’t take the lead for good until the 12:30 mark of the second half.
“I didn’t think we looked tired; I thought we looked out of sync,” Izzo said following Tuesday’s 68-52 victory over the Ducks.
Still, even though the coach also joked about guard Kur Teng being unable to guard Izzo’s 99-year-old mother, Michigan State held Oregon to 39.2% shooting from the field and controlled the boards 31-24.
That wasn’t good enough for Izzo, either.
“A couple of guys got to grit their teeth and guard somebody,” Izzo said, “because that’s what we do here. When we guard better, we rebound better, and when we rebound better, we run better. When we run better, we’re a better team.”
Four players average in double figures in scoring for the Spartans, led by Jaxon Kohler at 13.3 points per game. Jeremy Fears contributes 13.2 points and 8.4 assists, second in Division I to Purdue’s Braden Smith (9.1).
Coen Carr adds 11.2 ppg and Carson Cooper 10.5 for the Spartans, plus 7.2 rebounds. Michigan State ranks 17th in Division I at an average of 38.6 rebounds per game and 13th in assists at 18.6.
Meanwhile, Maryland (8-11, 1-7) is struggling in its first year under coach Buzz Williams. Most of its weaknesses were exposed Wednesday night by No. 11 Illinois during Maryland’s 89-70 defeat in Champaign, Ill.
The Terrapins trailed 47-30 at the half and couldn’t mount a serious comeback, trailing by as many as 27 points down the stretch. They made just 27 of 62 shots from the field and were pummeled 47-31 on the boards, allowing 15 offensive rebounds.
An inability to make shots has cost Maryland, particularly in conference games. It has made just 40.6% of its field goals, 346th out of 365 Division I programs. It also has more turnovers than assists.
Williams knows the performance must be better for the Terrapins to contend against the league’s top teams.
“I thought we did a lot of good things … spurts where we were good,” he said. “But in order to win these games, as you know, 40 minutes is required at a high execution level.”
Guard David Coit is the team’s current leading scorer at 15.4 points per game and is connecting on a career-high 39.3% of his 3-pointers. Darius Adams adds 12.3 ppg but is sinking only 34% of his shots from the field.
The Terrapins are missing 6-foot-9 forward Pharrel Payne, who was averaging a career-high 17.5 ppg and hitting 62.4% from the field when he sustained a leg injury last month in a loss to Michigan.
This will be the only regular-season meeting between Maryland and Michigan State.
–Field Level Media
