Jeremy Fears Jr. dominated with 17 points and 17 assists as No. 10 Michigan State led nearly throughout in a 91-48 rout over Maryland at East Lansing, Mich.
Carson Cooper added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Spartans (18-2, 8-1 Big Ten), who converted 60.7 % of their field goal attempts, including 9 of 19 on 3-pointers. Coen Carr also scored 14 points and Jaxon Kohler chipped in 11.
Michigan State executed its fast break almost flawlessly, earning a 31-0 advantage in transition points. The Spartans also outrebounded the Terrapins 35-24 and outscored them 17-4 off turnovers.
Fears ended his day in fitting fashion, lofting an alley-oop pass from just inside midcourt that Carr caught and dunked with 4:19 remaining before finishing off a three-point play. Fears finished with the most assists for the Spartans since Gary Ganakas had 17 in December of 1972.
Elijah Saunders scored 13 points for Maryland (8-12, 1-8) and David Coit added 11. The Terrapins again experienced trouble offensively, shooting 33.3% from the floor while going 6 of 26 from the 3-point line. They were outscored 38-16 in the paint.
The victory came after Michigan struggled for most of Tuesday’s 68-52 victory at Oregon.
It took the Spartans only 29 seconds to grab the lead on Kohler’s putback. Their first double-figure lead at 14-4 came just over five minutes into the game via Fears’ three-point play. That was part of an 18-0 run that saw Maryland go scoreless for 6:03.
Saunders made a 3-pointer with 7:14 left in the half, capping an 11-2 burst that lifted the Terrapins within 28-18. But the rest of the first half was all Michigan State as Fears assisted on three straight buckets during a stretch of 11 unanswered points.
Fears added one final assist when he passed to Divine Ugochukwu for a 3-pointer that enabled the Spartans to take a 46-23 cushion to halftime.
–Field Level Media
