Michigan State no match for No. 11 Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Michigan State's freshman point guard Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn locked onto Maryland's freshman point guard,Melo Trimble, to keep the Terrapins from running away.

Trimble made one of his gangly, jerky moves. Nairn lost his balance and hit the floor. Trimble buried a three-pointer. And the party was on at XFINITY Center with half a game yet to play.

That gave Trimble 21 points and No. 14 Maryland a 40-26 advantage at the break, leading to a 75-59 win and this conclusion – sometimes it's simply about bigger, faster and better. The Terrapins (17-2, 5-1 Big Ten) were all three today.

The Spartans (12-6, 3-2) were subpar, giving up driving lanes, then over-helping and giving up open threes. Tom Izzo promised a "completely different team" after last week's double-overtime escape of Northwestern and extra time to prepare, but the biggest change for the Spartans was a downturn for senior guard Travis Trice.

Trice, fresh off Big Ten Player of the Week and USBWA National Player of the Week honors, struggled for the second time in two matchups with Trimble. He didn't score until 13:22 remained in the game and finished with five points on 2-for-8 shooting.

Trimble looked like a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate, finishing with 24 points and drilling six threes. Power forward Jake Layman had 13 of his 23 points in the first half and the Terps were 11-for-21 from long range – far different from their 4-from-22 showing in a 68-66 double-overtime win at MSU to open their first season of Big Ten play.

Trimble was just 2-for-13 in that game but got to the line at will late and finished with 17 points. Trice scored 26 in that game, but he was 7-for-22 from the field. This time, the Terps were intent on making someone else beat them.

Denzel Valentine (nine points, 1-for-6 from three) also had a rough shooting day, and the Spartans were a miserable 3-for-17 from deep as a team. Worse, they were 4-for-13 from the foul line, continuing a season-long trend.

MSU senior forward Branden Dawson had 14 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out, and junior center Matt Costello had 12 and seven.

Joe Rexrode writes for The Detroit Free Press

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