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Maryland Basketball vs. Michigan State: Terps Face Biggest Test Yet

By Anthony Brown

EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 23: General view of the Breslin Center during the Michigan State Spartans and Maryland Terrapins game on January 23, 2016 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 23: General view of the Breslin Center during the Michigan State Spartans and Maryland Terrapins game on January 23, 2016 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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After a close victory over Penn State, Maryland basketball heads on the road to play No.1 Michigan State.

Maryland basketball (13-3, 2-1 Big Ten) now has their biggest test of the college basketball season ahead of them. They have to play in the Breslin Center against No.1 ranked Michigan State (14-1, 2-0 Big Ten). Surely, the Spartans are going to have a loud crowd behind them.

Against Penn State, Maryland basketball proved they could still get the job done in the post and on the rebounding front. Terps forward Bruno Fernando racked up 17 and 11 rebounds and Michal Cekovsky added 10 points and six rebounds.

The Terps lean heavily on Fernando and Cekovsky after Terps suffer two season-ending injuries to promising forwards Justin Jackson and Ivan Bender.

Anthony Cowan has been playing lights out for the Terps as their leader at the point guard spot but he will be facing another equally talented and skilled point guard in Michigan State’s Cassius Winston (13.1 PPG, 7.1 APG, 3.4RPG).

Winston enters the Spartans-Terps battle with straight three double-digit assist games. Terps are going to work to block passing lanes when he has the ball in his hands.

Maryland also must deal with a Michigan State basketball team which ranks third in rebounds (44.4 per game), first in assists (21.7 per game) and top 20 in both points and points allowed.

You could assume a few things from these stats. For example, Michigan State spreads the offense, rebounds well with sturdy defense.

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The Terps offensively could present a challenge for them given Kevin Huerter has been playing well this season and in addition the other Terps. The biggest thing for the Terps, however, will be how do they stop or contain Miles Bridges?

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Bridges is the Spartans’ leader in minutes played (28.8) and averages 17 points, 7.8 rebounds, and owns a 90 percent field throw percentage.

Maryland basketball has to contain one or both of these guys. If they don’t, Michigan State will beat Maryland by 10 points or more and for the Terps sake, a close loss would be much better than that.

This game will be televised on Fox Sports One (FS1) at 8 p.m. EST.

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