The past month has not been kind to Maryland men's basketball.

The season couldn't have gotten off to a better start for Maryland, who began 8-0 and ranked as high as No. 13 in the AP poll. But since defeating Illinois in their Big Ten opener on Dec. 2, the Terps are 0-4 versus Power 5 opponents, including blowout losses to UCLA and most recently to Michigan.

Things seemed to reach a new low at Michigan, as the Terps struggled mightily to put the ball through the basket. Maryland shot a season-low 26.5 percent from the field versus the Wolverines, including going 4 of 30 (13.3%) from the field in the first half.

"When we struggle, they're all trying to stop us from struggling," said Maryland head coach Kevin Willard. "The word selfish is not it, it's just we stop trusting each other as much as we do. And the ball doesn't go in, it doesn't go in and it's like quicksand. They're all trying to help each other out, but they are taking bad shots. And it's a snowball effect and I think they saw that and they realize that."

The leader of the Terps this season has been newcomer Jahmir Young. The senior Charlotte transfer is Maryland's leading scorer and poised to bounce back from the team's poor performance at Michigan after a good day at practice according to Willard.

"Jahmir was phenomenal yesterday," said Willard. "Tha'ts what I wanted to see. I knew this year was going to have some ups and downs. So I'm more realistic and probably understand the process more than anybody. I've been through it now, this is my third time rebuilding a program, so I kinda understand that when you put a roster together in a month and a half that, sometimes they're going to hit adversity and you've got to understand that they don't know how to deal with it yet. It's why I'm so pleased with the way they practiced. If they hadn't practiced good and had come back with a bad attitude or it came with a woe is me attitude, then I'd be worried, but the fact that they understand, Jahmir Young was phenomenal yesterday. He came into practice, he was the best of any player I've ever had coming off of an embarrassing loss like that was. And I think he took it on himself to make sure we had a great practice."

In three of their losses, Maryland trailed by double digits less than halfway through the first half. At Michigan, the Terps faced a 17-point deficit less than five minutes into the game, not scoring their first point until a Noah Batchelor free throw made it 17-1 at the 14:15 mark of the first half.

Scoring won't come easy Thursday night at Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are coming off of a road win over No. 1 Purdue and currently rank No. 3 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 4 in scoring defense, allowing just 55.2 points per game.

"They're just a really well connected defensive team," said Willard. "As good a defensive team and connected as I've probably haven't seen since [Rick] Pitino's Kentucky days. They know each other and cover for each other."

Like Michigan, the Scarlet Knights are led by their big man, Cliff Omoruyi, who comes into Thursday night's game averaging a team-high 14.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

Still, Willard sees Omoruyi as a different kind of challenge for his team Thursday night in New Jersey.

"Cliff is different because I think Cliff, unlike Hunter [Dickinson], is a little bit the complete opposite in that he has a wingspan that goes on forever but he has such great athleticism," said Willard. "He didn't know how to use it as a freshman and Steve [Pikiell] and his staff has done such a good job developing Cliff. He uses his athleticism as good as any big guy I've seen. He dunks it on one side and then the next time he goes under the rim and dunks it on the other side. He runs the floor extremely well. He's really developed his mid-range shot. I know he shoots threes, he's not shooting a great percentage but he's developed his mid-range, his low post game has gotten much better. But I think he's learned to use his athleticism. I watched him for three years in high school and obviously played against him a bunch. But to see him develop I think it's great, because he's a terrific young man. He's a great kid and has worked hard and it's good to kind of see him figure it out."

While the Terps have won two straight at Jersey Mike's Arena, the venue formerly known as The RAC has become one of the toughest venues in the Big Ten under Pikiell. In fact, Willard believes it is one of the toughest venues in all of college basketball.

"It is a very difficult place to play," said Willard. "There's a reason they haven't changed it and still have the same seats from 1940. I hate to say this, I could never say this before, but it's a great fanbase, they're very passionate about their sports. I couldn't say that before, I can say that now. And it's as loud a building as I've ever been in, besides Wichita State. Wichita State when I played there 15 years ago was one of the loudest places I've ever been. But Jersey Mike's can get really loud."

The Terps and Scarlet Knights are set to tipoff at 6:30 p.m. ET with the game being broadcast on BTN.