Maryland’s Big Ten tournament opener against Michigan State didn’t start the same way as the teams’ first meeting at Xfinity Center, a 73-58, win for the home team on Feb. 28.
Eighth-seeded Maryland rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit to beat ninth-seeded Michigan State, 68-57, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Thursday afternoon. It’s the first conference tournament win since 2016 for the Terps, who seemingly cemented their spot in the NCAA tournament with the convincing victory.
Maryland (16-12, 10-11) will face top-seeded Michigan, who swept the regular-season series, at 11:30 a.m. Friday.
Eric Ayala recorded a game-high 21 points on 10-for-11 shooting from the free-throw line and fellow junior guard Aaron Wiggins added 19 on 7-for-9 shooting from the line.