Ahead of MSU’s matchup with Maryland, here are five things to watch for on Saturday.

1. Maryland’s size - Maryland has three talented big men in senior Jake Layman, junior Robert Cater and freshman Diamond Stone. However, in the first matchup, MSU won the battle of the big men as MSU out-rebounded Maryland 46-36 including 17 offensive rebounds for MSU. Maryland will likely attempt to go inside earlier and more often in the rematch as Maryland looks to knock-off MSU.

2. Terps are talented and dangerous - Coming into this season, Maryland appeared to be one of the most talented teams in the country. After all, the Terrapins were ranked No. 3 in the nation to start the season. And while Maryland struggled with being inconsistent for a majority of the season, they’re still a team that can present some problems for MSU.

“I think we have our work cut out,” MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo said. “As we know, when I started the year, I thought Maryland was the best team in the country talent-wise. I really did. And it's been a little up and down, but they're going to be good.

3. Maryland’s inconsistency - Despite all the talent Maryland has on its roster, the team has not been able to sustain success this season, losing 4-of-6 games to close out the regular season. Part of the problem has been the inconsistent play of sophomore guard Melo Trimble who shot the ball just 31 percent over Maryland’s final six games and while averaging four turnovers per game. When Trimble is rolling along as normal, Maryland is tough to beat, but if MSU can make him uncomfortable and force him to make bad decisions, it could spell disaster for Maryland.

4. Spartans locked in - You’d be hard pressed to find a team on as hot of a run as Izzo’s No. 2 Spartans are. MSU has won 11 of its last 12 games and a lot of those games haven’t even been close.

Despite this, and despite a bit of a sloppy start in their victory against Ohio State on Friday, the Spartans are staying as focused as possible through post season play.

"I think we're pretty dialed in," MSU senior forward Matt Costello said. "We hadn't played in a week so we needed to knock a little rust off to get back into the swing of things. But once we did that we were rolling so we've got to be ready for tomorrow."

5. MSU with something to prove - After getting dominated by Iowa twice early on in Big Ten play, and slipping up in a pair of one-point losses to Wisconsin, Nebraska and Purdue, the Spartans allowed the Big Ten regular season championship to slip away.

And while they know they can’t go back and change anything about that, a 2016 Big Ten Tournament title would still mean a lot.

"You’d like to redeem yourself, get kind of a second chance," Izzo said earlier this week. "This is an exciting chance for us, because I like a chance on a year when the league is really good to win the Big Ten Tournament. I’m sure Maryland wants to redeem itself. Iowa, who started out better than anybody, wants to do theirs, Indiana wants to finish the job, Purdue has its own battle cries. We’ve all got them, but I think there’s a little more motivation when you haven’t won the regular season."