Spartans football coach Mel Tucker addresses the Breslin Center crowd during the first half of MSU's basketball game against Maryland, Feb. 15, 2020. Detroit Free Press
EAST LANSING — They aren’t the team they thought they’d be. That’s been obvious for a while.
For reasons well-documented — injuries, personal tragedy — and for reasons getting easier to see, a pattern has emerged for these Michigan State Spartans: When it comes time to win, it’s the other team that too often makes the play.
Or plays.
As Maryland did Saturday evening at Breslin Center, when the first-place Terrapins made four consecutive three-pointers in the last three minutes of the game to win, 67-60, stealing the game and ending MSU’s Big Ten title hopes.