Wednesday night delivered two electric road wins, with Michigan State escaping Maryland at the buzzer and Vanderbilt handing Texas A&M its third straight loss.
No. 8 Michigan State beats the buzzer against No. 16 Maryland
No. 8 Michigan State escaped No. 16 Maryland in thrilling fashion, 58-55, behind a half-court buzzer-beater from Tre Holloman.
The Spartans (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten) have now won seven straight against the Terrapins, and Tom Izzo's squad sits alone atop the Big Ten standings.
The conference foes were tied 55-55 with under a minute to play in College Park when Maryland got a stop with 12 seconds to play. The Terps hurried up the court, pulling up a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining. The ball clanked off the front iron into Jaxon Kohler's hands. The 6-foot-9 forward quickly passed it off to Holloman who beat the buzzer from beyond half-court — a perfect swish.
TRE HOLLOMAN FOR THE WIN ‼️ on BTN 📺
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall)
The Spartans completely controlled the game, leading 55-48 with three minutes to go. But Maryland (21-7, 11-6 Big Ten) went on a late 7-0 run entirely from the charity stripe to tie the game. The Terps did not record a field goal in the final 5:07, but they went 8-of-9 from the line as Michigan State went cold down the stretch.
Jase Richardson led MSU offensively with 15 points — the only Spartan in double-digits. It was a defensive matchup as Maryland, the Big Ten's highest-scoring team, was held to its lowest point total of the season — 14 points below its previous season-low of 69.
Vanderbilt takes down No. 12 Texas A&M
Vanderbilt hands Texas A&M its third straight loss 86-84 as the Commodores secure a huge resume-building win just three days before March.
Vandy (19-9, 7-8 SEC) earned its third top-15 win tonight — its most since 2006 — all in conference play.
Texas A&M (20-8, 9-6 SEC) trailed by as much as 12 in the first half, but the Aggies cut the deficit to just two points heading into the break.
It was a battle to open the second half with three lead changes, but the Commodores went ahead 49-46 midway through the second half and they kept TAMU at arm's length the remainder of the game.
Vanderbilt led by as much as 10 in the final 20 minutes, but it was a marathon in the final minute with 25 total points scored in the final 53 seconds of game time as the Aggies managed to claw back within two by the buzzer.
Tyler Nickel powered the Commodores with 21 points on an impressive 7-10 shooting from downtown. Texas A&M had two guys with 20-plus — Pharrel Payne with 23 and Wade Taylor IV with 21 in the loss. Taylor had 13 from the charity stripe as the two teams combined for 75 free throw attempts.
The Aggies have a tall task as they look to end their three-game skid with a trip to No. 3 Florida on Saturday before taking on No. 1 Auburn next Tuesday.
