EAST LANSING– Occasionally, during an early tip-off game, a heavy favorite can sleepwalk through the first half. That was not the case for No. 10 Michigan State on Saturday afternoon, as they pounced on Maryland with a 24-4 scoring run to start the game and closed strong for the 91-48 win.
Spartans guard Jeremy Fears Jr. dished a career-high 17 assists, which was seven more than the Terrapins’ entire team. Fears is the first player in Big Ten history to score 17 points and have 17 assists in the same game.
“He’s been fun, it’s off to see that scoring point guard, especially in this system, in Cassius and Kalin were probably the two guys to do it, but its not the norm and he’s not really even a scorer but he’s been very, very efficient and that’s what I like most,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.
The Terrapins mixed in press, man-to-man and zone coverages early on, but none of it mattered, as the Spartans had all the answers on the offensive end.
The Spartans had one of their best shooting performances from three-point range, as they knocked down nine on 47 percent efficiency.
The most meaningful three was when Senior center Carson Cooper trailed behind Fears and caught a pass behind the arc in rhythm and knocked down the shot for his first career three-pointer.
“I’m gonna sleep good tonight, that’s for sure,” Cooper said. “It felt good just kinda stepped into it…coach said if I get ten rebounds I can get the green light, so maybe I’ll start trying to go for ten rebounds in the first half and then I’ll just start jacking them up in the second half.”
MSU dominated in transition, outscoring the Terrapins 31-0 on the fast break.
“We were worried about their break and I think our guys, in two days, prepared really well and that’s what’s exciting,” Izzo said.
MSU forward Coen Carr had multiple dunks to add to his illustrious highlight reel. Including an alley-oop finish in the second half that left Izzo stunned with his hands on his head.
“You could throw the ball into the rafters and Coen would dunk it,” Izzo said.
Fears was the one who set up Carr for the exclamation point on his 14-point performance.
“After it left my hands, it felt good. I think I passed it from half, but I just had to put it high enough so the defense can’t get it, I wasn’t worried if Coen was going to get it,” Fears said.
Freshmen Jordan Scott and Cam Ward are both natives of the DMV area and have ties to the University of Maryland.
“We knew we had to just go to them, just being from the DMV and everything,” Scott said.
Scott and Ward finished with identical stat lines of eight points and three rebounds off the bench.
The injury decimated Terrapins, who entered 2-8 in their last ten games and are one of the lowest-ranked teams in the Power Four, rated the same as mid-majors like Oakland.
The 43-point margin of victory is the second-largest in program history against a Big Ten opponent, while moving to No. 4 in KenPom net rating, the highest mark for the program since 2019.
The Spartans will go back on the road to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Tuesday, Jan. 27, in Piscataway, N.J.
