Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon met with reporters Tuesday to preview the Terps' final road game of the season versus Penn State Wednesday night in State College.

Read what Turgeon had to say about his team ahead of their game with the Nittany Lions below.

On Eric Ayala's health:

Eric's doing great. He's healthy, he's had two god practices. He's ready to go.

On Penn State having his attention:

I think Penn State has our full attention. They've won four of six and two in a row. It could’ve been three in a row, but there was a [bad call] late in the game against Purdue. They’re a good team, good players, they play tough and Lamar Stevens, no one seems to be able to guard them. It’s another tough road game in the Big Ten. We’ve got to play better there than we have been the last couple years to have a chance to win. I think this is one of the better teams.

Transition defense is huge tomorrow for us. They really run at home. We’ve got to get back. We’re going to be tested.

On Jalen Smith's recent struggles:

Jalen Smith is important to us every game. The last two games probably haven’t gone how he would have liked, but I’m not concerned about it. He’s really practiced well and we have to keep him involved. I just want him to concentrate on defense and rebounding. That’s really where he’s improved the most and done a great job for us. He’s probably going to start tomorrow night. Its’ a big-time matchup for him. He’s important and he’s got to figure out ways to score. And it [can’t be just] jump shots. It’s getting to the foul line, offensive rebounds, and we’ll be posting him up a little more. But it’s been a good two days for Stix.

I mean, every game is different. You try different things every game to get guys going. But there’s four other guys on the floor too. He knows what he can do. Jalen knows what his strengths are and how he can help us. He’s had a terrific year, guys. It’s hard on big guys. He’s having a heck of a year. Let’s not forget that.

I think when Stix plays well we’re good. As a coach, you don’t know who’s going to show up and who’s not. I want all our guys to play well. We’ll continue to work hard, continue to get better. But let’s not make too much of the Stix deal. He’s been pretty good, pretty consistent for us. He’s going to help us a lot down the stretch.

On where the Terps are right now as a team:

We’re very confident and we’re getting better in our half-court offense. Our transition defense has gotten better. We decided to rebound again. A lot of phases are coming together, we just have to be more consistent with it. It’s been an amazing year to this point, we continue to do great things, but we have three games left. We’re going to lock in on Penn State and try to do better in those things defensively we’ve talked about. The one thing bothering us with our offense [turnovers], if we can correct that, we’ll be really good.

On just how good this Terps team can be:

Sometimes a whole season will go by and you can’t fix it exactly how you want. But this team has a big upside. We have to continue to figure out how to coach them better. I just think every day we get a little better. We don’t always play great for 40 minutes on game day, but there’s a lot of things individually guys are getting better at. There’s three, four weeks we can get a lot better.

On looking ahead to the postseason:

Yeah, we don’t talk about it. My guys are smart. We talk about Penn State, we talk about finishing the season strong, we talk about getting better. My guys have been dialed in all along. Now, I know in the back of their minds they probably think they’re in the NCAA tournament now. But that’s not our ultimate goal right now. Our goal is to keep getting better and try to win as many games as possible. I haven’t seen any “we’ve arrived” attitudes. I’ve seen kids who want to get better and play at a high level.

On why he recruited Aaron Wiggins:

I thought he was a really complete player. He’s got ability, he can defend, he can rebound, he can shoot it, he can score off the dribble, he can handle the ball, and he’s becoming a better passer. I just thought there was a huge upside. And he comes from a great family and I thought he’d be great for our program.

On the Terps continuing to turn the ball over:

They know. We talk about it. They’re as frustrated as I am with it. But we’re still figuring out ways to win and win comfortably. But we can’t continue to do that. And the guys understand that.