It felt like there was no way Maryland men’s basketball should’ve had a chance as the final buzzer neared Wednesday night.
After corralling a Michigan State miss in a tie game with 12 seconds left, the Terps could’ve taken their first lead in 15 minutes — instead, junior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie shot a deep 3-pointer with four seconds remaining that took a long bounce off the front rim.
Michigan State forward Jaxon Kohler grabbed the ball and flipped it to Tre Holloman. The junior guard took one dribble and launched a heave from beyond half-court that sank through the net and spoiled No. 16 Maryland’s comeback attempt. The buzzer-beater gave No. 8 Michigan State a 58-55 win at Xfinity Center on Wednesday.
“You gotta take the last shot there,” coach Kevin Willard said. “But it’s not like [Gillespie] took it at six seconds, and Holloman was able to dribble up and get a layup. So, would I have liked him to wait one more second? Sure. Kid still had to hit a 60-footer to beat us.”
The Terps (21-7, 11-6 Big Ten) shot a season-low 31.3 percent in their first home loss since November. They didn’t make a field goal in the last five minutes, but went on a 7-0 run off of free throws to tie the game with under a minute left.
[Live updates: Tracking Maryland men’s basketball’s March Madness seeding, Big Ten race]
“I hate to say it because I thought [Willard] did a phenomenal job … but I thought we deserved to win the game,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “I don’t think it was a lucky shot at the end.”
The sold-out crowd grew increasingly uneasy as shots kept clanking off the rim. All the Terps needed was a few consecutive shots to reignite the stadium and go on one of the signature scoring spurts that’s been crucial to their success this year.
But Maryland only made consecutive field goals twice all night. Willard attributed his team’s inability to go on runs to their rebounding woes — despite missing 33 shots, they only grabbed four offensive rebounds.
The somber ending was nothing like Maryland’s start.
Xfinity Center erupted after a Derik Queen jumper and a Michigan State shot-clock violation inside the first minute. The Spartans (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten) took the lead less than a minute later. The team’s were sloppy from there — each had more turnovers than field goals at the second media timeout.
[How a burner account popularized Maryland men’s basketball’s ‘Crab Five’]
Selton Miguel put the Terps ahead, 23-21, at the half on a buzzer-beating layup. They led for just over a minute in their lowest-scoring half this season. Both teams shot under 30 percent from the field and a combined 1-for-15 from three.
The Terps were responsible for that lone make and nine of the misses. Much of that was because of the Spartans’ defense, who are sixth in the country in defensive 3-point percentage, but Maryland also missed multiple open looks.
Willard’s team finished 4-for-20 from deep, recording their second-worst 3-point percentage this season.
“You have to give them a lot of credit for really chasing us off the [3-point] line,” Willard said. “Offensively, I didn’t think we executed nearly the way we have been prior to this.”
The Terps’ second triple came about five minutes into the second at a timely point.
Sophomore guard Rodney Rice — who was responsible for all four Terp 3-pointers — came running across the baseline and curled around a screen before nailing his shot from the corner. It snapped a 6-0 Spartans run and tied the game at 30 apiece right after WIllard called a timeout.
Michigan State scored the next five points before Rice hit another game-tying triple six minutes later — but once again, what seemed like a potential momentum-shifter didn’t spark a Terps run.
The Spartans led by a game-high nine points with just more than five minutes to go. And fittingly — just as it did throughout most of the second half — Maryland had a chance afterwards, but couldn’t get over the hump.
