Maryland men’s basketball was handed yet another test it couldn’t pass Saturday. The Terps traveled to East Lansing only to be dealt an embarrassing 91-48 defeat by No. 10 Michigan State.
Here are three
takeaways from the game.
The Spartans’ defense was stifling, as expected
According to KenPom, Michigan State is the No. 1-ranked defensive unit in the nation — and to no surprise. The Spartans boast plenty of length and rebounding ability at forward, and they have athleticism and savvy at guard and on the wings. That’s not to mention the group is coached by one of the game’s most tenured minds in Tom Izzo, who emphasizes staunch defense.
And while all that can be true, Maryland still did relatively nothing to challenge the Spartans on their own end of the court Saturday.
It’s been evident that Diggy Coit has emerged not only as Maryland’s primary scoring option but really its only reliable scoring option. Izzo’s squad combated this early and often, sending double-teams to the 5-foot-11 point guard as he crossed halfcourt and switching seamlessly on picks.
Jeremy Fears Jr. did the work all by himself at times, fronting Coit well beyond the arc to hinder him from getting the ball at all.
This defensive development from the Spartans not only threw the Terps out of rhythm, but it completely confused them. Offensive possessions saw plenty of pounding the ball into the hardwood, with little to no movement on the wings, on cuts or screens. Seldom would the ball even be rotated around the perimeter one full swing.
Stagnant doesn’t even do Maryland’s dismal offense justice. And the Terps can’t afford to play in isolation against pretty much every Big Ten opponent, much less the nation’s premier defense.
The lack of answers on that end of the court led to an over-six minute scoring drought, with the score reading 24-4 with 11:54 still remaining in the opening half.
Sloppy play all around
On both ends of the court, it almost seemed like Maryland was unprepared for the contest. Let’s start with the simpler, more obvious mistakes: turnovers. The Terps only had 11, but the manner in which most of the giveaways occurred were messy. A notably horrendous pass from Aleks Alston in the first half was nabbed by Carson Cooper and ended with two points the other way — most came in this fashion. The Spartans racked up 17 points off Maryland turnovers.
In the same vein, that’s part of the reason why Michigan State ended the match with a staggering 31-0 fast break points advantage. But the other reason also had much to do with Maryland’s sloppy, undisciplined nature on the defensive end.
On numerous occasions, the Terps found themselves scrambling to recover after a make or miss on the offensive end. Fears, one of the country’s best distributors of the ball, calmly carved Maryland apart to the tune of a career-high 17 assists. On fast breaks, he dished the ball to wide open corner shooters — the Spartans went 9-of-19 from 3-point range Saturday.
His wizardry driving in the lane created slight openings for highlight jams by Coen Carr and wide open jumpers on the wing. And there was nothing Maryland could do to adjust.
Offensive philosophy not working
Maryland has taken over 30 3-point attempts in four of its last seven games. Over its first 13 games, the team did that just one time. On Saturday, the Terps took 26 shots from downtown, but they hit on only six of them.
Head coach Buzz Williams made it clear at the outset of the season that Maryland was going to be a team that shoots an abundance of free throws. Among the Terps’ first 10 games, they had outings with 37, 47, 45 and 38 attempts from the charity stripe. Since then, right around the start of Big Ten play, what’s the most free throws Maryland has attempted in a game? Just 27. Then 17 after that.
It tied its season-low of 11 attempts Saturday. Clearly, Williams and his squad have been unable to live up to their identity and goal in conference play, and a disconcerted barrage of threes has replaced it.
There’s no clear answer right now to Maryland’s struggles. It’s playing seriously tough competition in arguably the best conference of college basketball, and that’s without its top star in Pharrel Payne. But that means other role players can’t go completely cold — Andre Mills shot 1-of-8 Saturday.
Williams will need to revisit the drawing board to find his team some easier looks as the season dwindles.
