Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from tight win over Maryland

You would think that a 15-point lead before the under-16 timeout in the first half would lead to a blowout win for Michigan State basketball, but that just wasn’t the case.

Maryland showed why it’s been so hot lately, shaking off that big early deficit to climb back into the game and make it just a nine-point Spartan lead at the half. And then the Terrapins even took the lead in the second half before Michigan State responded and put the game away thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers when trailing 48-46.

It wasn’t the easiest win, but it will stick out on the resume as a quality one, improving the Spartans to 15-9 overall and 7-6 in conference play.

What did we learn?

3. Not having a post game is frustrating

Mady Sissoko took one shot. Jaxon Kohler took two shots and only played 10 minutes. The two combined for four points (all were from Mady). Four points from bigs. Not ideal.

We didn’t even see Carson Cooper in this one because Tom Izzo liked what Mady was doing defensively, but two guys combined for four points which just isn’t going to cut it in the Big Ten. That’s something that Izzo has to take into consideration when recruiting or building a roster in the offseason.

It’s frustrating to see opposing bigs scoring at will in every other Big Ten game and yet Michigan State’s bigs can’t buy a bucket in the paint.

Hopefully Xavier Booker changes that with Kohler next season while Mady is in there for defense.