Michigan State basketball: Getting to know Maryland before rematch

Michigan State basketball will face Maryland on Saturday evening. What do we know about these Terps who the Spartans beat two weeks ago?

Fresh off the fourth Michigan State basketball win in five games, the Spartans welcome a familiar foe to East Lansing for their first of five straight rematches. The Spartans played Maryland just three games ago and they once again will take on the Terps on Saturday.

Before the game gets here, let’s remind ourselves about who Maryland is and look at a quick summary of the first game between these two teams.

Maryland season update

Maryland comes into this game with an identical record to MSU’s, 13-8 overall and 5-5 in Big Ten play. Since losing to Michigan State a few games ago, Maryland is on a nice little two-game winning streak, defeating Iowa on the road and Nebraska at home.

Jahmir Young is still their leading scorer, now averaging 20.4 points per game. Donta Scott on the other hand, who played extremely well against the Spartans the first time, has cooled off some in their last two games. He only finished with nine points in their last game and shot 0-for-5 from 3-point range.

Finally, their star forward, Julian Reese, is now officially averaging a double-double this season. He finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds in their last outing, bringing his season average up to 13.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He will undoubtedly be one of the top guys Michigan State will have to focus on the most.

Review of the first matchup

In the first meeting between these teams, Michigan State came away with a narrow 61-59 win. The Spartans dominated the first half, taking a 44-32 lead into the halftime break. However, the second half was one of the worst of MSU’s season.

Michigan State scored just 17 points in the second half, which is a season-low for this team. The Spartans couldn’t get anything going offensively this half and had to rely on their defense to win this game. Thankfully they were able to do just enough, thanks in large to an outstanding game from one Spartan.

Tre Holloman had one of the best games of his career in this game. Tre finished with 12 points in this game and was 3-for-3 from deep in the first half alone. Holloman also had the game-sealing steal as Maryland was looking for a last-second shot to win the game. Without the play from Tre on both sides of the floor, Michigan State would not have won this game.

It is always difficult to beat any team twice, especially when the games are this close to each other. But MSU has the home crowd and a rowdy Izzone on their side. I think this will be enough for the Spartans to cruise to a comfortable, but close, victory in the rematch with the Terps.