Michigan State looks to dunk on Maryland
The Big Ten Conference race is coming to a head on the final day of February, much like many predicted. Well, sort of.
When No. 24 Michigan State visits No. 9 Maryland Saturday night, it’s the mighty Spartans, long the gold-standard in the Big Ten, who are chasing the upstart Terrapins, a team in search of their first Big Ten basketball title since joining the storied loop in 2014. A Maryland win Saturday would clinch at least a share of the conference regular-season crown.
Maryland (23-5, 13-4) has a twogame lead over the nearest challengers, Michigan State and the Spartans’ fellow six-loss compatriots; Penn State, Wisconsin and Illinois. The Spartans (19-9, 11-6) are coming off an impressive 78-70 victory over No. 18 Iowa on Tuesday. It was Michigan State’s third win in the last four contests.
Notably, that lone Spartans loss was Feb. 15 against Maryland, which has won 10 of its last 11 games.
But Michigan State, which dropped out of the national polls before the two teams’ last meeting, still passes the eye test as one of the top squads in the country. Their last five losses have all been by single digits, and the numbers back up Sparty’s claim as a top contender.
Athletic big man Xavier Tillman held Iowa juggernaut Luka Garza to 20 points on 9-of-21 shooting Tuesday. Tillman became the Spartans’ career leader in blocked shots with 147, including a late rejection of Garza to seal the win.
The annual late-season Michigan State momentum could be on, particularly with a win Saturday and an accompanying move up the polls.
“I don’t look at that as our team, I really don’t,” said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo of the low late-season rank. “I think if you look at our losses ... we’ve been probably better than anybody in the league because our wins have been bigger.”