COLLEGE PARK, MD – The University of Wisconsin is still searching for a win against a team in the top half of the Big Ten conference. Sooner or later, the Badgers will get one of those games at the Kohl Center.

No.17 Wisconsin had chances to arguably pull out its biggest true road win of the season, but the Badgers’ efficient offense didn’t operate at full capacity and a hot shooting second half for the host Terrapins propels Maryland to a 76-68 victory at the Xfinity Center Wednesday night.

Officially hitting their midway point of the conference season, the Badgers (16-5, 6-4 Big Ten) are winless against the six teams directly above them in the standings and flawless against everyone else. Only one of those three losses has come at home.

“Today was another opportunity to compete with the fellas,” said senior John Tonje, who finished with a game-high 23 points.” We came into a tough environment, and we knew what it was going to be going into it, but we just didn’t have enough to get the win.”

While the Badgers have two winning steaks of at least six games this season, they haven’t beaten a team ranked in the top 25 of the NCAA NET rankings since knocking off Arizona in mid-November.

Here are my takeaways from Wisconsin’s second loss in the last three games.

Wisconsin has been a high volume three-point shooting team all season, an identity it forged in the offseason and has adhered too for over 20 games. The Badgers finished 9-for-27 from three, an acceptable number to head coach Greg Gard considering that equaled out to a point per possession.

However, UW went just 3-for-11 from the perimeter in the second half, which was problematic when the Terrapins hit 7 of 11 three pointers in the second half and pulled away over the last ten minutes.

Maryland was led by 16 points from Ja’kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice, who took turns hitting shots from distance. Three other Terps were in double figures; Julian Reese scored 14 points while shooting 6 of 9 from the field, and Selton Miguel and Derek Queen added 12 each.

Three straight three-pointers gave the Terps a 9-0 run of their own (a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the game) while another Rice three-pointer extended the Maryland lead to 57-50.

The Badgers fought back with a John Blackwell free throw, a Steven Crowl three-point play, and a Nolan Winter layup, to cut the lead to 57-56 with 5:53, but Maryland followed with a 12-2 run (with another Gillespie three-pointer thrown in) and the Badgers never could cut the lead below four.

“It is tough to see some of their shots go in, one was banked,” Tonje said of the Maryland three-point barrage. “It is just one of those nights. They’re at home and we let them get some energy and momentum.”

Gard called the Badgers “uncharacteristically mediocre” from the free throw line, finishing with 15-for-21 and their most misses since December 10 at Illinois. The mediocre label can fall on multiple offensive areas.

UW averaged 1.03 points per possession, going 33.3 percent on its threes and 40.6 on its twos. Crowl and Blackwell notched 10 points apiece, but Blackwell’s absence was felt when has sat for the final nine minutes of the first half with two turnovers and two fouls.

“We are a better team when he is out there,” Tonje said of Blackwell. “It is tough to be in foul trouble, but it is just part of the game. Me and whoever else is out there just need to keep competing for Wisconsin.”

Tonje had time to console Blackwell since he had to sit with his two fouls for the final 3:57, the second being an offensive foul, allowing Maryland to close the half with a 9-5 run and take a one-point halftime lead.

“That was part of the whole sequence of the game, you can’t have two of your better players sitting on the bench more than normal in the first half. I thought our bench did a good job and we were able to hold it with Blackwell and Tonje sitting there, we were still down one at the half.”

The Badgers used a 9-0 run early in the second half to build a 42-36 lead and still led 48-43 after a Kamari McGee layup with 11:02 remaining. It was around then when Gard believed the game changed, as UW had a stretch of missing makeable shots and Crowl’s offensive foul wiped an easy two off the board.

“We gave them some confidence and momentum early,” Gard said. “It was a stretch where we had three or four possessions in a row where we missed some pretty easy looks, some of them point blank, some good looks from three, and they were able to answer … You got to be able to make some plays and make shots … We needed to keep pace and had a chance to take the lead. The charge was big on Crowl. It was the right call, but we had a lay-up to go up one and it goes back the other way.”

Instead of going up 46-41, Reese’s hookshot on the next offensive possession cut the lead to 44-43.

The game started slowly, with teams trading empty possessions. After Maryland jumped to a 5-2 lead, the Badgers started to find the range from 3, with Max Klesmit and McGee hitting shots from deep. However, the Badgers also struggled with turnovers, with five in the team’s first 14 possessions. UW finished with 10 turnovers, but the early empty possessions took away momentum chances.

“We just controlled the ball better,” Gard said. “Did a better job of playing off of two feet, better job of not driving first side; I thought we could attack from the top better rather than driving baseline. I thought we made better decisions."

Wisconsin matched last season’s 20-game mark on 16-4 with Sunday’s win over Nebraska. They aren’t interested in looking back any further than that. Gard bristled when asked about preventing the same kind of slide that happened last year, where the Badgers went south quickly following a four-game losing streak that eventually saw them going 3-8 entering the postseason.

UW recovered to advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game but then was pummeled by James Madison in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

UW also went 6-6 the previous season after January 28 and missed the NCAA Tournament altogether.

“I don’t worry about other years,” Gard said. “I’ve been around long enough. On to the next game.”

The Badgers entered having won eight of their last nine games, with the only blemish a close road loss at UCLA. With still no losses outside Quad-1 in the NCAA NET rankings, both Crowl and Tonje said after the game that confidence remains high in the locker room.

“We can’t jump ship or lose what got us here,” Tonje said, “Staying level-headed and not being too up or down with wins and losses. We need to keep grinding, keep doing work, and doing what we’ve been doing is key.”

“There is no reason to lose confidence,” he added. “We know who we are. We are confident in who we are and how we come together and will bounce back from this. We have a mature team that is willing to learn from each win and loss and we’ll be just fine moving forward.”

12 – Second-chance points for Wisconsin off 12 offensive rebounds. The Terrapins ranked 12th among power conference teams in fewest second-chance points allowed with nine.

12.5 – Shooting percentage for Klesmit Wednesday (1-for-8). The senior is shooting a team-worst 33.3 percent this season, including 28.3 percent from three after going 1-for-6.

18.2 – Maryland reserve guard DeShawn Harris-Smith’s three-point shooting percentage entering the game (4-for-22). He hit a three-pointer at the 10:49 mark of the second half for his only bucket that keyed the decisive 9-0 Maryland run.

43.5 – Wisconsin’s unofficial shooting percentage on layups and dunks against the Terrapins (10-for-23).

50.0 – The combined three-point shooting percentage of Maryland’s Gillespie, Miguel, and Rice against the Badgers (10-for-20). The trio was shooting 39.5 percent entering the game.

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