Holloman’s half-court heave lifts Michigan State over Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Tre Holloman made a buzzer-beater from beyond midcourt to give No. 8 Michigan State a 58-55 win over No. 16 Maryland in a sensational finish Wednesday night.
Holloman’s turnover in the backcourt helped the Terrapins (21-7, 11-6 Big Ten) tie the score with 42.1 seconds remaining, and after a miss by Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler, Maryland had a chance to win it with the shot clock off. But Ja’Kobi Gillespie missed a 3-pointer, the Spartans (23-5, 14-3) rebounded and Holloman had enough time to put up a shot from a few feet behind midcourt.
The horn sounded as the ball was airborne, and Michigan State players leaped off the bench to mob Holloman after his shot swished through the net.
Michigan State took a half-game lead over No. 15 Michigan atop the Big Ten.
Holloman finished with nine points on 3-of-12 shooting. Jase Richardson led Michigan State with 15 points on a night both teams shot below 35%. Rodney Rice scored 20 for Maryland.
The Terrapins trailed 55-48 before rallying. With Michigan State up by two, Holloman had a pass intercepted, then fouled Gillespie with 42.1 seconds remaining. Gillespie’s free throws made it 55-all.
Takeaways
Michigan State: Holloman’s shot might be the key to another Big Ten title for coach Tom Izzo, and the Spartans clamped down on a Maryland starting five — known as the “Crab Five” — that has been outstanding of late.
Maryland: Big men Derik Queen and Julian Reese had a rough night offensively, shooting a combined 4-for-18 from the field.
Key moment
Gillespie had a good look at the basket on his final 3, but he shot it early enough to give the Spartans time for one final heave.
Key stats
Michigan State finished with a 23-0 advantage in bench points and 10-0 in second-chance points.
Up next
Maryland plays at Penn State on Saturday. Michigan State hosts No. 11 Wisconsin on Sunday.
Tyrese Proctor is ruled out of the second half of the Duke-Miami game with a left knee injury. (0:20)
Tyrese Proctor is expected back for No. 2 Duke this season, coach Jon Scheyer said, after the guard hobbled off the court with a left knee injury Tuesday night.
Scheyer said Wednesday night on his radio show that imaging showed Proctor sustained a bone bruise but no structural damage.
“Basically, it’s about his pain tolerance, and it’s about his movement and strengthening,” Scheyer said. “We’ll be very cautious with that and smart. I don’t want to give an exact timetable because it depends on how we can get him moving over the next days or weeks or however long it takes. But we’re going to get him back, which is the most important thing.”
Proctor was going backward in an effort to defend against a Miami fast break when his left leg appeared to buckle when he planted his foot. His knee came up, and Proctor, in obvious discomfort, hobbled off the court and into a nearby tunnel with 36.3 seconds left in the first half.
He did not return to the game, finishing with seven points in 14 minutes to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for his Duke career as the Blue Devils beat Miami 97-60.
Isaiah Evans started the second half in Proctor’s place.
Proctor has started 87 games for Duke over three seasons, all under Scheyer. He’s averaging 11.8 points this season, third best on the team behind Cooper Flagg (19.4) and Kon Knueppel (13.5), and he leads the Blue Devils with 64 3-pointers.
“He’s the guy that’s been through it all,” Scheyer said. “And vice versa. I’ve been right there with him. … Look, he’s had way more ups than downs. As a player, he’s 79-21. He’s been a key guy for us since the get-go.”
The Blue Devils already were without key reserve Maliq Brown, who dislocated his shoulder Feb. 17 in a win against Virginia but also is expected back this season.
Duke (25-3, 16-1 ACC and in first place in the conference) has three league games left to play (Saturday at home against Florida State, Monday at home against Wake Forest, March 8 at North Carolina), then would open ACC tournament play with a quarterfinal game March 13, with the potential of tourney games the next two days.
The Blue Devils — a likely No. 1 seed and national title contender — would then open NCAA tournament play on either March 20 or March 21.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State basketball’s 58-55 win at Maryland on Tre Holloman’s half-court shot
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – That’s how you make amends for a bad turnover, Tre Holloman. Holy Smokes.
Holloman’s buzzer-beating half-court shot to beat Maryland on Wednesday night will go down in Michigan State basketball lore as one of the great moments and consequential shots this program has seen. And it’s seen a few.
When you’re tied atop the Big Ten standings in late February, playing on the road against a Maryland team that looks the part, style points don’t mean much. Winning is everything. And to that end, MSU’s 58-55 win over the Terrapins on Wednesday night was a work of art.
Right down to Holloman’s beyond-half-court heave.
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The rest of the final minute (or the two minutes before, for that matter) was not something MSU should repeat. Holloman’s lofted pass in the direction of Jaden Akins, which was picked off and led to two Maryland free throws, tying the game 55-55, looked like the headline of a collapse in a game the Spartans led 55-48 with 3 minutes to play and 52-43 a couple minutes earlier.
But there are no apologies in Big Ten basketball in February. Not when the team you’re competing against at the top of the standings — Michigan — keeps winning close games and won one just this ugly a couple nights earlier.
MSU (14-3 Big Ten) controlled its path to a Big Ten title before this. Now the Spartans are truly in the driver’s seat. This was a massive hurdle to overcome, a game that would have been an understandable stumble.
MSU has another difficult one just ahead when Wisconsin visits on Sunday. Then Iowa on the road, before the rematch with the Wolverines at Breslin on March 9.
But the Spartans can taste it now. Every season needs some luck. MSU got some Wednesday, but also put themselves in a position for Holloman’s shot to deliver another road win.
“I thought we deserved to win the game,” Izzo said. “I thought we played inspired basketball.”
Even Holloman’s shot was something they practice before the game on game days — and a shot he had made in practice before the Michigan game and again here at Maryland.
This took a ton of grit defensively and on the glass, where MSU controlled the game, winning 45-33 overall and 13-4 on the offensive end, led by Jase Richardson and Jaxon Kohler with eight rebounds apiece. The Spartans outscored Maryland in the paint, 28-16, against a team whose two big guys average close to 30 points per game. Maryland’s Derik Queen and Julien Reese totaled 17 points and made 4 of 18 shots. Maryland’s shooters didn’t fare any better, going 4-for-20 from beyond the arc.
MSU was only 4-for-15 from deep, but that fourth 3, well, no one will forget it.
Among the tells that a player is a star is whether they stand out even when the shots aren’t falling, whether they’re a noticeable problem for the opponent every time they have the ball. Jase Richardson was that Wednesday night.
Long before Richardson got to 15 points and made a number of important buckets (and rebounds), he again looked like a headliner out there. He created separation off the dribble, aggressively looked for his shot and attacked like a guy who knows his team needs him to be a bucket-getter. That’s a change from the player a month ago who played efficiently and smoothly, but just fit in.
Richardson’s understanding of his role is what’s changed as much as anything. That and his teammates’ understanding of his role.
He finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, hitting 6 of 14 shots. It was an average night for an emerging star. But he is that.
If you want to see why this MSU team is winning the way it is on the road — at Illinois, Michigan and now Maryland — and why they can survive shooting less than 20% on 3-point tries, watch them interact with each other these days after one of them makes a mistake. There is instant accountability.
For example, in the second half, when Frankie Fidler appeared to miss a coverage that allowed for a Maryland 3-pointer and then, on the other end, quickly drew a foul while shooting, I don’t think Fidler had landed when his teammates surrounded him and Jaden Akins began pointing out the mishap on the other end. By the time Izzo had time to berate Fidler, it had been handled.
These guys don’t need Izzo’s bite, they’ve got each other. You can see how much this matters to them, Akins on down. It’s little things — the looks and demonstrative points made in on-court huddles, it’s Carson Cooper telling Jase Richardson not to make a pass too early after Fidler’s foot was on the line when he caught it when he was supposed to be on the move. These conversations are constant. It doesn’t matter who you are — if you mess up, especially on the defensive end, that’s going to be corrected immediately.
Izzo talks about leadership being player-coached teams. This has become one. That’s why they are where they are, closing in on an unexpected Big Ten championship.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and on BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
1. The shot that might have won the Big Ten for MSU and a game that was a thing of beauty
2. More promising signs for Richardson
3. Take note, MSU’s players are holding each other accountable
Tre Holloman hits buzzer beater from beyond halfcourt to lift Michigan State over Maryland
The madness of March showed up a little early in College Park on Wednesday.
In a 55-55 game with under 10 seconds left between Michigan State and Maryland, the Terrapins rushed up the floor with a chance to win. After a miss from Ja’Kobi Gillespie was rebounded by Jaxson Kohler, Kohler found Tre Holloman on the outlet going up the floor.
REQUIRED READING:Michigan State basketball cracks No. 15 Maryland in second half of 58-55 road win
As the clocked ticked down to zero, Holloman heaved a shot from beyond halfcourt that tickled the twine on the way down, sending Michigan State home with a 58-55 win after a defensive struggle.
“I seen the rim and then the shot clock going down,” Holloman said on the floor after the game. “So I had to throw it up man. We had practiced those man so I just got up and it went in.”
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Holloman also recounted his last game-winner, not that he’s counting.
“Game-winner in high school, my senior year to go to state,” he said.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was brusque as ever talking about the shot, and said the team deserved its flowers for its defensive performance.
“Lookit. That was a lucky shot,” Izzo said in the post-game interview. “But nobody can say we didn’t deserve to win this game … to come into this place, I’m so proud of my guys, and Tre made the big turnover, and he made the lucky shot. But we deserved to win, I’m not taking that as a lucky shot … We played our tail off the whole game. Our defense was unbelievable.”
Michigan State moved to 23-5 (14-3 Big Ten) on the season as it gets ready to host Wisconsin in another key Big Ten matchup on Sunday, March 2.
