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Michigan State was dead and buried, or so it seemed, when Maryland jumped out to a 16-point lead Saturday at the United Center.

But after forward Branden Dawson cleaned up a Matt Costello miss in the first half, he grabbed Costello and screamed: “Let’s go!”

The Spartans went.

Michigan State played a terrific final 20 minutes in dispatching Maryland 62-58 to set up a Big Ten tournament title game with Wisconsin that features the league’s longest-tenured coaches.

“It’s fitting,” Michigan State’s Tom Izzo said. “Bo (Ryan) and I have been in some epic wars.”

Perhaps the Spartans’ comeback against Maryland was shy of epic, but it did mark their largest since 2004.

They got a halftime tongue-lashing from Izzo, who demanded more energy from Dawson.

Travis Trice, who scored a team-high 20 points, said Izzo warned Dawson: “Get the job done or I’m not going to play you.”

Said Izzo: “He takes the brunt of it because he has so much to offer. You have to love him because he responded. He didn’t get down. Some of us got down on him, but he didn’t get down.”

Dawson finished with 17 points and eight rebounds — and got the pro-Michigan State crowd rocking with an alley-oop slam for a 56-50 lead.

“I’m a senior and I had to step up,” said Dawson, who played before a dozen friends and family members from Gary, Ind.

Denzel Valentine shot just 1-for-8 from the field, but the one was a corner 3-pointer that gave Michigan State its first lead with 12 minutes, 32 seconds to play.

“I came off the screen and just let it go,” Valentine said. “I always want to be the one to make that big shot.”

Michigan State, pegged as a No. 6 or 7 seed in the NCAA tournament, improved to 23-10. Wisconsin throttled Michigan State two weeks ago in Madison — the 68-61 final score was deceivingly close — with Izzo taking some blame for not making the proper adjustments.

“People would debate that we (actually) played them,” Izzo cracked. “We were there, but I’m not sure we played them.”

Maryland (27-6) will hope to land a No. 3 seed.

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon was upbeat after the loss, saying tournament games against guard-dominated Indiana and the physical Spartans “will prepare us for what lies ahead.”