• What: MSU at Maryland
• When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
• Where: Xfinity Center, College Park, Maryland.
• TV/Radio: ESPN2/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; Sirius/XM Ch. 195 (MSU broadcast)
• Records/Rankings: MSU is 16-4 overall and 7-2 in the Big Ten, ranked No. 13 in both the Associated Press poll and the USA Today Coaches poll. Maryland is 11-10 overall, 3-7 in the Big Ten and unranked.
• Coaches: MSU — Tom Izzo is 659-258 in his 27th season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Maryland — Danny Manning is 122-147 in his seventh season as a head coach. This is his first season as the interim head coach of the Terrapins, taking over in December when Mark Turgeon stepped down/was forced out. Maryland is 6-7 since Manning took over. He was previously the head coach at Wake Forest for six seasons.
• Series: MSU leads 10-7 all-time, though lost both meetings to the Terrapins last season by double digits, including in the Big Ten tournament.
• Projected betting line: MSU -6.5 (via oddsmaker Trevor Darnell)
Lineups
MSU
C (30) Marcus Bingham Jr. (7-0) 9.5
PF (10) Joey Hauser (6-9) 7.2
SF (44) Gabe Brown (6-8) 13.2
SG (5) Max Christie (6-6) 10.4
PG (2) Tyson Walker (6-0) 7.2
Maryland
C (33) Qudus Wahab (6-11) 8.6
PF (24) Donta Scott (6-8) 12.2
SF (13) Hakim Hart (6-8) 9.7
SG (5) Eric Ayala (6-5) 15.8
PG (4) Fatts Russell (5-11) 13.0
• MSU update: The Spartans are coming off an emphatic home win over Michigan, four days after a dud of a loss at Illinois, which followed an impressive win at Wisconsin, after an uninspiring home loss to Northwestern. You get the picture — consistency hasn’t been MSU’s thing. This week’s games at Maryland on Tuesday and at Rutgers on Saturday will tell us a lot about where the Spartans are in their quest to be an every-night force in the Big Ten. MSU leads the Big Ten in 3-point shooting (39.8%) and 3-point shooting defense (28.9%) in conference games. The Spartans also lead the league in free-throw percentage (78.4), despite a couple memorable misses at the end of two recent losses.
• Maryland update: The Terrapins are on their second coach of the season, after Mark Turgeon stepped down in early December. Danny Manning, who played for Kansas against MSU in the famous “clock game” in the 1986 NCAA tournament, has taken over for the rest of the season. This isn’t a bad Maryland roster. Eric Ayala was preseason All-Big Ten and gave the Spartans fits last season, scoring a combined 43 points in the Terrapins’ two wins over MSU. Power forward Donta Scott is another proven veteran and solid post player. Point guard Fatts Russell was an all-conference player at Rhode Island before joining Maryland as a grad transfer. Before a 13-point home loss to Indiana on Saturday, the Terrapins had won two straight, winning at Rutgers by eight and beating up on Illinois by 16, the same Illini roster (minus Kofi Cockburn and Andre Curbelo) that beat the Spartans last week.
• Inside the matchup: Maryland was a horrible matchup for MSU last season. But despite some of the same players on each roster, these are two very different teams. I don’t think last year is all that relevant to this game. However, Maryland, pound for pound, has the goods to play with MSU. Ayala is a terrific all-around player and will be a chore of an assignment for Max Christie. Scott is a strong 4-man, not a lengthy athlete, but a load for Malik Hall and Joey Hauser. Russell is small in stature but capable of a big night, as he had in wins over Rutgers and Northwestern — and has one of the great names in sports, Fatts Russell. Maryland is shooting it with range a bit better in league play but was miserable from beyond the arc in the non-conference season and is still below 32% for the year from deep. The Terrapins’ offensive efficiency numbers aren’t good. But they’ve got talent enough to beat the MSU team we saw against Illinois and Northwestern. And they haven’t quit on this season.
• Prediction: I think MSU is determined to get out of the pattern of alternating great and poor performances and wants badly to build on the Michigan game. I wouldn’t bet on the Spartans to get two wins on the road this week. But I’ll take them against this Maryland team.
Make it: MSU 70, Maryland 65
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU basketball at Maryland: Prediction, preview, betting line, TV info