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The Michigan State Spartans will once again face off against the Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans earned the No. 7 seed in this year’s conference tournament. That means MSU will play against Maryland at 6:30 p.m. EST on Thursday in Indianapolis.
No. 7 Michigan State will face No. 10 Maryland at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday evening in the Big Ten Tournament. The Terrapins shot 52% in the second half of today's game and 50% from three.
— The Only Colors (@TheOnlyColors) March 7, 2022
Michigan State faced off against Maryland on Sunday to close out the regular season, defeating the Terps 77-67 for the season sweep. The win marked the third victory in the last four games in East Lansing against Maryland. Michigan State defeated Maryland 65-63 back in February in College Park.
The winner of Maryland-Michigan State game will play on Friday against No. 2 seed Wisconsin.
Last season, Michigan State fell to Maryland in the lone regular season matchup and faced Maryland once again just 12 days later in the Big Ten Tournament. The Terps also defeated Michigan State in that matchup to sweep the Spartans. The last time Michigan State faced a Big Ten opponent for a third time in a season was against Michigan in 2019. The Spartans faced Michigan three times that season and defeated the Wolverines all three times.
Under head coach Tom Izzo — now the winningest coach in Big Ten Conference history with 663 total victories — Michigan State has only ever failed to win its opening game of the Big Ten Tournament in back-to-back seasons once, in the 2001 and 2002 tournaments. In the 2001 tournament, the then No. 2-ranked Spartans were upset as the second-seed by seventh-seeded Penn State 65-63 in the quarterfinals. Penn State fell to sixth-seed Iowa on Saturday in the semifinals, as the Hawkeyes would go on to win the tournament that year. Then in 2002, the fifth-seeded Spartans fell to No. 23 and fourth-seeded Indiana in the quarterfinals 67-56. Indiana would go on to lose to ninth-seed Iowa in the semifinals, but advance in the NCAA Tournament to the national champion game before falling to Maryland.
The full official 2022 Big Ten Tournament bracket is below:
Officially official
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 7, 2022
Who do you have cutting down the nets at the #B1GMBBall tourney? pic.twitter.com/KGVogUDRYP