Fears leads Michigan State to blowout victory over Maryland

EAST LANSING, Mich. — An amped-up crowd braved subzero temperatures Saturday to pack Breslin Center for Michigan State’s first home game in 11 days. In blowout fashion, the Spartans gave fans all they could ask for.

After jumping out to a 23-point lead at halftime, No. 10 Michigan State cruised comfortably to a 91-48 victory over Maryland. A career-best day from point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. led 63 combined points from the Spartans starters and three double-digit runs, all in front of various program alumni in the reunion game crowd.

“I said ‘You owe it to them — your teammates — to at least play hard, because that's what they did,’” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “And I thought that was maybe as hard and sharp as we could play.”

A brief reprieve from the road ends with the Spartans heading to New Jersey to face Rutgers on Tuesday.

Fears led the Spartans with 17 points and a career-high 17 assists in the win, which ties Gary Ganakas in 1972 for second most in a game in Michigan State’s 127 seasons. Those 17 assists are the most since Mateen Cleaves had 20 against Michigan on March 4, 2000. That game, a 51-point win, is the only Big Ten game the Spartans have won by a wider margin than Saturday's 43-point margin.

“They all led to a win,” Fears said. “So that's really the best part.”

Carson Cooper (14), Jaxon Kohler (14) and Coen Carr (11) also hit double-digits as Michigan State (18-2, 8-1 Big Ten) drew 31 points on the fast break and 17 points off 11 Maryland turnovers.

Such a big day from his starters gave Izzo plenty to be happy about, but what they also showed was growth as leaders, an area he has harped on in a few postgame debriefs this season.

“I liked the huddles. I liked the approach,” Izzo said. “I liked the halftime. I liked the players taking over. I liked the players talking about, ‘We gotta make our defensive goals. We gotta do this. We can't turn the ball over. We gotta be under 10.'"

“You know, players start coaching the team — it's a better team.”

Maryland (8-12, 1-8), still coping with the loss of big man Pharell Payne to injury, found 11 points from Diggy Coit (who didn’t score in the second half) in yet another lopsided Big Ten loss for Buzz Williams’ first year as the Terrapins’ coach.

Doubled up at halftime, 46-23, Maryland scored twice to open the half. But yet again things got out of hand. Two double-digit runs in the first half preceded a 15-0 run in the second half that put this game even further beyond doubt than it had been at the start.

The game had plenty of highlights. A Carr dunk with six minutes to play. Made 3-pointers from eight players. One of those came from an unlikely source in Cooper, who hit his first career 3-pointer with 5:51 to go in the first half.

“With time, it was going to come eventually,” said Cooper, who practiced his shot all summer and was even hitting trail 3-pointers in early practices. “So, today just happened to be the day and I think being in the position we were in, we can take a little more comfortable (approach).”

Michigan State put together three runs to take control of the game: An 18-0 run over six minutes in the first half; an 11-0 run that same half after a burst from Maryland; and a 15-0 run over nearly six minutes in the second half to more than clinch the victory.

Stops on defense fueled that 31-0 edge on the break as Michigan State — rated the nation’s best per 100 possessions by stat service KenPom — gave up 33% shooting and a season-low 48 points. On the glass, a 35-24 advantage kept the game under control as Kohler and Cooper hauled in eight each.

Up 46-23 at the half, Michigan State stretched that to 62-34 as Kohler sank his first 3-pointer since the last home game at Indiana less than five minutes into the second half. Fears’ assist on the shot was his 13th of the game, tying a career high set against Kentucky and Duke. He broke it on a feed for a Cam Ward dunk two possessions later.

Fears wasn’t just dishing, either. He called his own number plenty. Like a fadeaway between Kohler and Ward’s makes. He finished the game with on 6-of-8 shooting.

“He's not really a scorer coming out, but he has been very, very efficient, and that's what I like most,” Izzo said. “And I think, honestly, his defense is now starting to rise up. He did a much better job defensively.”

After scoring a single basket Tuesday at Oregon, Kohler scored four points early as the Spartans led 9-4 at the first timeout. Fears hit as clean a 3-pointer as he has shot all season — and took a foul on a drive by Maryland guard David Coit that was bizarrely called a shooting foul.

No trouble for Fears, though, as he drew a foul on both ends of the court, one selling a push-off by Coit and another to draw an and-one he converted for a 10-point lead a little over five minutes into the game.

The difference between a Michigan State team that has only lost a single Big Ten game and a Maryland team that has only won a single Big Ten game was palpable as the Spartans rattled off that 18-0 run. Five players contributed over the six-minute stretch until Maryland’s Soloman Washington broke it up with a 3-pointer with 11:14 remaining, the score favoring Michigan State 24-7.

Six of those points came at the foul line, where Michigan State shot 8 for 12 in the first half. One of those makes came after a lane violation wiped away a miss. The next time Maryland stepped into the paint too early, the Breslin Center crowd cheered as Fears made the shot anyway.

Fears notched eight assists in the first half including many in that big run.

“I remember, like, maybe five minutes into the game, he had six or seven,” Kohler said. “And ever since then, I'd been keeping my eye on it. And it was just unbelievable, because I think by eight minutes left in the first half, he was at almost double digits.”

Carr’s second-half dunk almost had a precursor in the first half, had Maryland forward Elijah Saunders not pushed Carr mid-air away from a lob that sent him sprawling to the floor with 6:32 remaining.

Carr was all right, and Izzo gave him a two-handed high five heading into an impassioned huddle. When play resumed, Carr shot free throws for the intentional foul. He missed both of them before hopping into a layup off the inbound for a 32-18 lead.

Carr and Cooper’s contributions kickstarted another 11-0 run, and the good times rolled as the Spartans threw down dunks and drained 3-pointers to end the half up 46-23.

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