Michigan State was in prime position to begin Big Ten play with a huge victory against No. 12 Maryland with less than a minute to go in regulation on Tuesday night. This game was not pretty at all, but the 9-4 Spartans probably didn’t care about style points. The Spartans had not beaten a ranked team this season.
Tom Izzo cost Michigan State a win with 3 poor coaching decisions against Maryland
Maryland beat Michigan State in double OT thanks to some strange coaching decisions by Tom Izzo.
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Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
MSU led by two with 35 seconds left when Maryland got the ball. After an offensive rebound by Jake Layman, Terrapins freshman guard Melo Trimble hoisted and bricked a step-back three-pointer from NBA range. Michigan State got the rebound.
Sounds like a winning formula, right? That’s where things got weird.
1. After MSU rebounded the Trimble miss, the Spartans started a fastbreak for an easy layup that seemingly iced the game. Only problem: Tom Izzo called a timeout. Starting center Matt Costello (a 75 percent free throw shooter) would get fouled and missed the first free throw.
2. When Costello made his second free throw, Michigan State was up three with 11 seconds left. That’s when Izzo called a timeout to set up his defense. This allowed Maryland to set up its offense. It wouldn’t have been able to otherwise, because Mark Turgeon didn’t have any timeouts.
3. Still up three, Izzo decided not to foul. It was a decision that allowed Dez Wells to do this:
That sent the game into overtime, which still wasn’t enough to decide things. Maryland would eventually take control in double OT to get a 68-66 win in East Lansing. Yes, Michigan State still had plenty of chances to win, but a few strange coaching decisions by one of the best coaches in America cost the Spartans what looked like a sure victory.
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