The main storyline in the Big Ten throughout the regular season focused on what team was the second-best in the conference. Wisconsin dominated league play from start to finish, while a group of other programs seemed to beat each other up week after week. The Badgers are already on to the Big Ten title game after blowing out Purdue, while Michigan State and Maryland were set to answer the question so many have debated in the conference tournament’s other semifinal.
Big Ten Tournament 2015 bracket and results: Michigan State comes back to beat Maryland, faces Wisconsin in title game
Travis Trice scored 20 points to lead the Spartans past Maryland.
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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.
Maryland raced out to a 23-7 lead and held an eight-point advantage at the break, but Michigan State clawed back in the second half. Behind a big game from guard Travis Trice, the Spartans beat Maryland 62-58 to advance to the title game against Wisconsin.
The game changed with just over two minutes remaining. Michigan State was up by three when Gavin Schilling received an outlet pass and was flagrant fouled by Maryland. Schilling split the free throws, and on the ensuing Michigan State possession Branden Dawson slammed home this alley-oop:
Trice canned three three-pointers overall and finished with a game-high 20 points. Dawson added 17 points and eight rebounds in the win for MSU.
Melo Trimble (22 points) was tremendous for Maryland in the first half, scoring 13 points, but the Spartans' defense was able to slow down the dynamic freshman in the second half. Maryland shot only 40 percent in the game.
Big Ten Tournament championship game
Sun., March 15
No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 3 Michigan State, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS
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