Maryland men’s basketball dominated by No. 10 Michigan State in 91-48 loss

Photo by Kevin Snyder. Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics

Maryland men’s Basketball’s (8-12, 1-8 Big Ten) disastrous season continues.

The Terps traveled to East Lansing to face off against No. 10 Michigan State for the first time since the heartbreaking 58-55 loss to the Spartans at the Xfinity Center last season. 

The result was a 91-48 loss for the Terps – the 43-point deficit is the program’s worst since joining the Big Ten in 2014 and the fourth-worst in program history.

The game started differently than the previous few, where the Terps got off to a good start, then came out sluggish following the first media timeout. On Saturday afternoon, the Terps started slow, quickly falling behind 24-4.

“They play with so much gravity,” coach Buzz Williams said of the Spartans. “And it’s not just one player, it’s the entire team … the force that they play with is phenomenal.”

The Terps used a scoring run, converting on five straight buckets, to trim the lead to 28-18 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half. That would be the only sign of life for the remainder of the game – they scored just five more points in the first frame.

Several other scoring droughts in the second half resulted in the Terps never trailing by less than 19. The highest plus-minus differential amongst any Terp was George Turkson Jr.’s -9. Turkson played just five minutes. 

Diggy Coit and Elijah Saunders were the only bright spots for the Terps. Coit reached double-digit points for the fourth consecutive game and 13th time overall. All 11 of his points came in the first half, however. Saunders, who led the Terps with 13 points, reached the same double-digit mark for the eighth time this season. 

The final shooting numbers looked similar to most outputs so far this season. The Terps finished shooting 18-for-54 (33.3%) from the floor and six-for-26 (23.1%) from beyond the arc. However, the proverbial nail in the coffin was their free-throw shooting, where they shot 54.5%, their second-worst clip from the line this season. 

Their worst came the game before against Illinois, with 50% from the line; however, the Terps took five fewer free throws.

Meanwhile, the Spartans were red-hot across the court, shooting 61%, 47% and 74% respectively. The Spartans also outrebounded the Terps, 35-24, while parlaying 17 points off 11 Maryland turnovers, 17 second-chance points and 38 points in the paint into a blowout.

“We’ve got to continue to find ways to have improvement, whether that’s in the film room, whether that’s in skill development, whether that’s in the weight room, whether that’s in recruiting,” Williams said. “We’ve got a long way to go.”

The loss drops the Terps to 0-6 against ranked opponents on the season, with three more ranked matchups left. The first of which is the Terps’ next game, when they’ll welcome the No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers to the Xfinity Center on Feb. 1.