Disappointed coach Tom Izzo reacts to No. 25 Michigan State’s 67-60 loss to No. 9 Maryland on Saturday night in East Lansing, Feb. 15, 2020. Detroit Free Press
EAST LANSING — This was the type of performance Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson delivered for Michigan State in 2000.
Smothering defense, punishing rebounding and game-changing scoring runs that would drive the Breslin Center crowd into a cacophonous frenzy. Refusing to lose.
Cassius Winston and his Spartans conjured up that memory for nearly 20 minutes. Another slow start be damned, they would not let No. 9 Maryland’s 15-point lead late in the first half do them in.