Dozens of former Maryland men’s basketball players who learned under the tutelage of Lefty Driesell joined the 15,103 inside Xfinity Center in College Park to celebrate the Hall of Fame coach at halftime of Sunday afternoon’s game against Michigan State.
Someone else not connected to the program also took in the festivities: Spartans coach Tom Izzo.
Izzo was an assistant coach at Northern Michigan and Michigan State before becoming coach of the Spartans before the 1995 season — which was nine years after Driesell’s final season with the Terps. But that didn’t stop Izzo from honoring Driesell, who guided the school to eight NCAA Tournaments, the 1984 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and two ACC regular-season titles.
“It is an honor and privilege to be here on this day for Lefty and seeing Albert King and Len Elmore, guys that came up to me to say hello,” he said. “Believe it or not, that was not only classy, but seeing my old pal Gary Williams, the tradition here is off the charts.”
Here are three observations from Michigan State’s 61-59 victory over Maryland.
It almost seemed fitting that the game ended on a Maryland turnover
That’s because the Terps (11-8, 3-5 Big Ten) committed a season-worst 18 turnovers, including 10 in the second half.
The final giveaway occurred when Michigan State sophomore shooting guard Tre Hollomon poked the ball away from fifth-year senior point guard Jahmir Young before he could unleash a game-tying or -winning shot in the final seconds.
The Spartans (12-7, 4-4) turned Maryland’s gaffes into 19 points, and the starting backcourt of Young and freshman shooting guard DeShawn Harris-Smith accounted for 11 of those turnovers with the former losing the ball a season-high seven times. Fifth-year senior small forward Donta Scott acknowledged that the coaches had prepared the players for Michigan State’s speed to get into passing lanes and take swipes at dribblers.
“It’s a lot on us,” he said. “We already discussed they were going to be in the gaps, and at times, we didn’t really think about it too much and thought we were just going to drive down there, and it didn’t really work in our favor. So next time, we’ve just got to be more prepared and stick to the game plan.”
Turnovers have become a significant thorn in the Terps’ side. They are 7-3 when keeping those miscues to 12 and fewer and 4-5 when those mistakes build up to 13 or more.
Coach Kevin Willard appreciated the players’ resilience in battling back from a 15-point first-half deficit but agreed that turnovers were a factor in sending the team to its fourth loss in its past six games.
“We’ve just had really bad turnovers and untimely turnovers,” he said. “And it’s not just one person. It’s been everybody. We have some guys that at times are trying to make a play, and they’re trying to make something happen, which I like, and it’s a learning process even for the older guys. You’re always kind of evolving, and you’re always kind of learning. Even with Jahmir tonight, we’ll go back and watch the film, and he’s such a good player and smart player that he’ll look at what his turnovers are and get better.”
Michigan State’s fastbreaks broke Maryland
Through 18 games, the worst the Terps had been outscored on fastbreaks was 17-9 by UAB in the Blazers’ 66-63 win on Nov. 12.
That changed Sunday when the Spartans raced to a 14-3 advantage in fastbreak points, scoring all 14 points in the first half. Eight of those points resulted from Maryland turnovers.
The Terps did a much better job in the second half after studying game film and reinforcing their transition defense.
“We just counted how many times we gave them points in transition,” Willard said. “We just talked about, ‘Let’s get back in transition.’ We got some open looks. I thought we got some really good looks in the first half, missed a couple ones.”
But by then, the damage had already been done. Sunday marked the 11th time in 19 games Michigan State had outscored its opponent on fastbreaks by a double-digit margin. The latest development should remain a point of emphasis for Izzo.
“We did some good things, too,” he said. “When we got our running game going, we looked like our teams of old. We didn’t turn the ball over. That was big. We created some turnovers, and that was big.”
Jahmir Young is human after all
Several minutes after Sunday’s game, two Maryland players took to the court to practice their shooting: junior power forward Julian Reese and Young.
Young, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound catalyst who entered the weekend ranked second in the Big Ten in scoring at 20.8 points per game and had averaged 26.5 points in his previous six starts, registered a game-best 19 points against Michigan State. But he also took a game-high 15 shots, missed nine of them, and turned the ball over seven times.
Michigan State sophomore shooting guard Tre Hollomon not only came off the bench to score 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting (3 of 4 from 3-point range), but he also guarded Young for a majority of the game. And even then, he was aided by his teammates under what Izzo called the team’s “Six Eyes” rule.
“I know you didn’t notice it, but I guarded him, too,” Izzo quipped. “We put everybody except the kitchen sink on him. [The late Detroit Pistons coach] Chuck Daly had the [Michael] Jordan rules. When we play a guy like that, we have our rules, and we call them the ‘Six Eyes’ rule because he should look up and see six eyes every time he’s got the ball. We weren’t perfect on that, but he’s a hell of a player and a fun guy to watch.”
Young’s tough day was encapsulated by his turnover in the final seconds of the second half. At first, Willard seemed to defend his decision to avoid calling a timeout when Young grabbed a defensive rebound with 6.9 seconds remaining. Then while speaking, he changed his mind.
“You can call a timeout, but you don’t want to call a timeout. You have a senior guard who you really depend on and who I have a lot of confidence in,” he said before pausing for a beat or two. “That’s more on me. That’s not all on Jahmir. I should have called a timeout.”
Maryland at Iowa
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network
Radio: 105.7 FM
