COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- No. 24 Maryland (19-7, 10-5 Big Ten) is gearing up to face its fourth ranked opponent in its last five games as the the Terps head to Iowa City Feb. 19 to take on No. 21 Iowa (20-5, 9-5).

Maryland went 1-1 against two top-15 opponents--Purdue and Michigan--last week but had slow starts and some of the same glaring issues in both games. The Terps are hoping to come out more prepared to play against the Hawkeyes on Tuesday and show they’ve improved upon some of their recent shortcomings as a team.

“It’s sad to say, but [starting slow] has kind of been like our M.O. these last couple of games,” Terps freshman guard Eric Ayala said. “I think against Purdue we went down eight at halftime, and a couple of other games we were down at halftime but we always fight back. I know we have to correct that or one day it’s going to bite us and come back to haunt us. So we just have to come out ready to play.”

The Terps biggest issue in their recent games has been transition defense. In its last outing, Maryland turned the ball over 16 times against Michigan, which helped lead to 14 fast break points for the Wolverines.

Iowa is a team that likes to get out and run as well, so Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon has made getting back on defense a point of emphasis ahead of the matchup with the Hawkeyes.

“It’s just effort,” Turgeon said. “The guys watch the same film I watch, and you guys had to watch it live. [Michigan] just ran right past us. So it’s all effort. We coach it every day and the guys have to want it a little bit more on transition defense because when we get our defense set we’re pretty good. So we worked on it. We’ve watched film on it. We’ll keep working on it. We had it corrected for a few games and then we decided not to run back on Saturday.”

But Maryland’s defense hasn’t been all bad. In fact, the Terps have been one of the better defensive teams in the Big Ten throughout the season. KenPom has Maryland as the 21st most efficient defense nationally and the Terps are not far removed from holding Purdue to 28 percent shooting and 18 second half points Feb 12 or Nebraska to 21 percent shooting and 45 points overall Feb. 6.

“Our defense has been terrific,” Turgeon said. “It’s our transition defense, it’s our turnovers that lead to easy shots for them, or quick, bad shots on our part. And our numbers still look good rebounds wise but we’re not rebounding as well as I think we’re capable of rebounding. So that all hurts your defense a little bit. But when we get our defense set, I’d put ours up against anybody’s in the league, maybe even in the country.”

The Terps’ tough defense will be put to the test Tuesday night as they square off with the 8th-most efficient offense in college basketball according to KenPom. The Hawkeyes are winners of their last four and have score 71 points or more in each contest.

Fran McCaffery’s squad boasts four double-digit scorers, led by junior forward Tyler Cook, who’s averaging 16.3 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field.

“He’s really good,” Turgeon said of Cook. “He’s a great athlete, right shoulder, left shoulder, he can drive it. Just a great player and a great offensive rebounder, just a great athlete. He’s a lot like Bruno [Fernando]. He can score in a lot of different ways. So it’s a tough matchup and then they put shooters all around him, including their backup four man, even their starting four man can shoot it. So it makes it really hard.”

Joining Cook in Iowa’s frontcourt will be 6-foot-11 sophomore and Washington, D.C., native Luka Garza, who averages 13.5 points in just 23 minutes per game. However, Garza has been cold of late, being held to single-digit scoring in each of his last three games.

Several Hawkeyes who have been the opposite of cold lately are junior point guard Jordan Bohannon and freshman wing Joe Wieskamp. Bohannon is averaging 11.4 points and 3.5 assists this year and has scored 15 or more in his last three games, including a 25-point explosion against Indiana and a game-winning buzzer beater against Northwestern. Wieskamp is averaging 11.8 points on the year but he has exceeded those totals lately, posting an average of 14.8 points over his last four games. The Terps will also want to keep an eye on junior guard Isaiah Moss, who scored a game-high 25 points against Maryland in a 91-73 loss in College Park last season.

But despite all of Iowa’s talent, the Terps know winning on Tuesday starts with them correcting their own mistakes first and playing to their potential.

“I know they shoot well,” Ayala said. “Bohannon is a great player and great shooter. They also have a presence inside. Tyler Cook is pretty good. At the end of the day it really comes down to us just playing our game and playing Maryland basketball.”

Iowa deploys a 2-3 zone that will force Maryland to move the ball and shoot well in order to score points. So in order to get its own offense going on Tuesday, Maryland will have to revert back to some of its early season preparation when teams were almost exclusively playing zone against the Terps.

“We kind of practiced some of our zone stuff earlier in the season,” Ayala said. “A lot of teams played us zone. I felt like in all of our non-conference games a lot of teams played us zone. So we were pretty good in it and it’s just getting back to those things we were good at and playing inside out and making shots. I think it will come down to us executing offense and getting good shots.”

A win in Iowa City would hold a lot of weight for Maryland. Not only would it keep the Terps as a top-four seed in the conference and in line for a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament, it would also end a streak of 19 ranked opponents that Turgeon has failed to beat on the road.

Iowa is riding the momentum of a four-game winning streak, but Turgeon is not expecting a let down by the Hawkeyes and knows his team is in for a Big Ten battle Tuesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“I think they’re going to be fired up ready to go,” Turgeon said. “We’re Maryland. We’re a good team. So we don’t get anybody’s bad effort. I think you see that when we play we get everybody’s best effort. So we’ll get Iowa’s best effort. They’re a terrific home team. We just have to get in there and we have to transition back and we have to guard and rebound. And then hopefully we’ll be good enough. We were pretty good against Michigan in the second half and they’re a pretty good defensive team, and hopefully that will carry over into this game. But I’m just more worried about us and we should be focused when we tip-off [Tuesday] night.

Tip-off in Iowa City between No. 21 Iowa and No. 24 Maryland is set for 8pm EST. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.