Michigan State Basketball: Report card for comfortable win over Maryland

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EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 21: Bruno Fernando #23 of the Maryland Terrapins grabs a rebound during a game against the Michigan State Spartans in the first half at Breslin Center on January 21, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Defense: A

I’m starting to run out of positive adjectives to describe Michigan State’s defense over the past four games. Since beating Ohio State on the road and allowing 77 points in the win, Tom Izzo must have gotten into his guys’ ears as the Spartans have held the past four opponents to less than 65 points.

Dating back to the Northern Illinois game which closed non-conference action, Michigan State has allowed just one team to break 65 and that was Ohio State. That means 6-of-7 opponents have failed to reach that mark. During that span, four teams have been held under 60 points.

These are incredible feats for a team known more for its offense, but the defense has stepped up its game and a turning points seemed to be against Purdue when Matt McQuaid shut down Carsen Edwards. He gained major confidence points from that effort and used it against James Palmer Jr. and Nebraska just last week.

It was much more of the same on Monday, but Michigan State forced more turnovers than it’s used to. The Spartans not only held the Terps to just 55 points and 35 percent shooting, but they had 12 turnovers and it was the result of nine Michigan State steals.

Oh yeah, and the Spartans blocked nine shots.

The offense wasn’t having its best game and the rebounding was slightly better than pedestrian, so it was the defense’s turn to step up.

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