Michigan State basketball gives embarrassing effort vs. Maryland

Earning a rematch with Maryland, Michigan State basketball had a chance to get some revenge but the Spartans gave an embarrassing effort.

Coming off an emotional rivalry win over Michigan and locking up a spot in the NCAA Tournament, Michigan State had a chance to get some revenge after its longest rest break in weeks.

That revenge could have come against a very average Maryland team which ended Michigan State’s three-game winning streak just a couple of weeks earlier, beating the Spartans by 18 in College Park. Unfortunately, Michigan State ended the game flat — and that’s putting it nicely.

Michigan State raced out to a 23-11 lead and the Spartans looked unbeatable on both ends of the floor. Some questionable fouls were called but that’s not why they went cold. The Spartans let Maryland get back into the game while not hitting a shot for the final five minutes of the first half and the first 6-7 minutes of the second half. The Spartans went 12 minutes without a field goal.

That allowed Maryland to build a 12-point lead, completely flipping the momentum and the game. Michigan State looked defeated.

After starting slow in the second half, Michigan State seemed to give up. I know the players and coaches will tell you otherwise, but this team mailed it in when it went down 10.

Embarrassing.

You would have thought the team would have been fired up coming out of the locker room after halftime following Tom Izzo’s fiery interview with Andy Katz, but it was the opposite. They came out flat and let Maryland go on an 8-0 run after they went on a 23-7 run to end the first half. The team folded.

Was it because a tournament bid was likely locked up already? It shouldn’t have been. Michigan State had a chance to make more statements this weekend and potentially jump to the 8/9 seed line (although that’s not exactly an ideal situation) but they lacked heart and effort in the final 25 minutes of the game.

Maryland took the lead and they were defeated.

Joshua Langford was jawing at Izzo and his teammates — Aaron Henry, too. Both guys had awful games and Michigan State goes how they do, for the most part.

Malik Hall had his best game of the season and seemed to be the only player in the second half giving any sort of effort as he finished with 17 points while Maryland scored 27 points off of 18 Michigan State turnovers. Michigan State had two points off turnovers.

Poor defense. Lack of effort. No sense of urgency. These are the things that will send Michigan State home early in the Big Dance.

It’s time to put the embarrassing efforts to bed.