Preview: No. 8 Maryland women’s basketball prepares for weekend matchup against Michigan State

No. 8 Maryland women’s basketball (21-5, 12-3 Big Ten) returns from a brief hiatus to travel to East Lansing, Michigan to take on Michigan State (13-12, 5-9 Big Ten) this weekend. 

Unfortunately, this game came close to not being played due to tragic circumstances that took place this past week.

On Monday, Feb. 13 at around 8 p.m., reports circulated that an active shooter was on the University of Michigan State campus.

Devastatingly, three students were killed. Five more students are in critical condition at the hospital.

As a result of the tragedy, Michigan State paused athletics for three days before deciding to resume play starting Feb. 18. That included Maryland’s trip to take on the Spartans.

“First and foremost our thoughts are with the entire Michigan State community this week,” coach Brenda Frese said. “What happened this week is unimaginable and everyone here is thinking of them and they’re in our thoughts and prayers.”

The Terps enter off a home victory against Illinois Feb. 12, beating the Fighting Illini 82-71. Maryland trailed at halftime in that game, 37-28, before rallying out of the break for an 11-point win.

In the third quarter alone, Maryland outscored Illinois 31-8, including a 14-0 run to end the quarter, giving the Terps a 59-45 lead heading into the final quarter.

Senior guard Diamond Miller led the way for the Terps again, as the star scored 31 points on 12-23 shooting from the field. Miller went 7-7 from the free throw line, helping her win Big Ten Player of the Week.

Additionally, freshman forward Bri McDaniel contributed off the bench against Illinois, as McDaniel chipped in an efficient eight points on 2-4 shooting in 17 minutes. McDaniel’s performance against Illinois and Northwestern this past week helped her earn Freshman of the Week in the Big Ten.

“I love where Bri is trending towards,” Frese said.

All in all, Maryland’s victory was impressive not only for its second half comeback, but also because the Terps managed to win without making a single three pointer. As a team, Maryland shot 0-17 from deep, including an 0-4 performance from three-point specialist senior guard Abby Meyers.

Meyers and Frese both revealed that the time off has been critical for getting players health right.

“You have to really take advantage when you have a bye week to get the legs back underneath you,” Meyers said.

Like with Maryland, the last time Michigan State hit the floor was Feb. 12, when it defeated Penn State in overtime, 81-75.

Michigan State has been proficient on the offensive side of the ball, ranking fourth in the conference in scoring (79.3 points per game). However, Michigan State does struggle to score from deep, ranking tenth in the conference in three-point shooting (33%).

Leading the Spartans is guard Kamaria McDaniel. The graduate student is averaging 14.2 points per game while also taking the most shots on the team (305), but is only shooting 38% from the floor.

While McDaniel is not the most efficient player, her running mate sophomore guard/forward Matilda Ekh is. Hailing from Sweden, Ekh is Michigan State’s best three-point shooter, hitting threes at an over 40% clip, and is a threat to shoot from anywhere beyond the arc.

On the other side of the ball, the Spartans also have an above average defensive unit, ranking seventh in opponent scoring (66.3 points per game). However, Michigan State does check in at ninth in opponent field goal percentage (41.4%), possibly showing some weaknesses on the defensive end.

Interestingly, Michigan State has shown the potential to upset highly ranked teams at the Breslin Center. No. 2 Indiana fell to the Spartans Dec. 29, while No. 17 Iowa barely survived in overtime against Michigan State earlier this year.

When these two teams last met on January 7th, Maryland defeated Michigan State in a high scoring affair 94-85. Ekh went for 20 points in that one, while Miller paced Maryland with 25.

“[Michigan State] crushed us on [offensive rebounding], they had twenty offensive rebounds in that game,” Frese said. “So you know an area for us that we want to see how far we [have] come since the last time we played them.”