MSU Women’s Basketball: Maryland Terrapins Preview

The Michigan State Spartans Women’s basketball team reshuffled the schedule this week and will take on the Maryland Terrapins in College Park this afternoon at 4 p.m. EST. with the game airing on the Big Ten Network.

Coming off its own two-week pause, Michigan State had its schedule reshuffled initially for this week to take on in-state rival Michigan on Tuesday and again on Thursday in a home-and-home series, but the Wolverines’ entire athletic department is on a minimum 14-day shutdown of its own that started Sunday. As a result, MSU, who was originally scheduled to play the Terps at XFINITY Center on Feb. 10, made the flight out to the Washington, D.C. metro region yesterday to get a shot at avenging the 93-87 home loss to No. 12 Maryland on Jan. 7.

Last time out the Terps came away with the win despite a then-ranked MSU squad keeping it close in the final minutes. Junior Spartan point guard and Maryland native Nia Clouden led all scorers in the game with 32 points, while also becoming the 29th member of MSU’s 1,000-point club. Clouden also finished the game with five assists, three rebounds, and two steals. Clouden enters the rematch currently ranking sixth in assists (5.0 apg), fourth in scoring (19.0 ppg), and second in steals (3.1 spg) in the Big Ten.

Besides the 1-0 edge this season over the Spartans, the Terps lead Michigan State overall 14-2 all-time, with MSU winning just one game in East Lansing and one in College Park.

Maryland enters the game having suffered its first conference loss of the season. The Terps snapped a 10-game winning streak after an 88-86 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Monday in Columbus. Maryland now sits at 11-2 overall and 7-1 in Big Ten action. The Terps are currently tied for first at 7-1 with Indiana, while Michigan and Ohio State are both 5-1 in conference action.

Maryland is the top-ranked scoring team in the country, averaging 92 points per game and ranks eighth in assists at 19.1 per game. Additionally, the Terps are second in the Big Ten in rebounds per game with 43.3. The Spartans average 81.5 points per game (good for 18th nationally), 38.4 rebounds per game, and 20.8 assists per game.

Five players average double-digits in scoring for Maryland. The Terps are led by Ashley Owusu’s 18.9 points per game, which ranks fifth in the conference. Diamond Miller is next in scoring with 17.4 points per game which ranks 11th in Big Ten scoring, and Kate Benzan is the next highest scorer for the Terps with her 15.8 points per game which is good for 16th in the Big Ten. Chloe Bibby (14.3 ppg) and Angel Reese (13.3 ppg) round out the final two double-figure scorers.