COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The numbers don’t lie. No. 3 Maryland (9-0) is legit.

At least through the first nine games of the season, the Terps have proven to be one of the nation’s best teams at both ends of the floor. After back-to-back 21-point wins over solid Marquette and Notre Dame squads, Maryland is just one of five teams in the country ranked in the top 20 in both adjusted offensive efficiency (8th) and adjusted defensive efficiency (14th) according to KenPom. The Terps are in good company, with No. 1 Louisville, No. 2 Kansas, No. 6 Ohio State, and No. 10 Duke joining them as college basketball’s most well-rounded teams.

But after dismantling the Fighting Irish in College Park Dec. 4 as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, it was specifically Maryland’s “smothering” defense that had Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey perplexed, impressed and raving about the Terps in his postgame press conference.

“I knew it coming in — how they defend. That was varsity versus the JV tonight. We were the JV and the varsity toyed with us tonight,” Brey said. “I’m really impressed with them and the sky’s the limit for them. They’re men, they’re physical, they guard you, they get second shots, they know who they are. Just a really good team.

“They kind of smothered us. I don’t think it was us missing shots. We didn’t get many clean looks. I mean, how many shots did they block tonight? They’re long, they switch stuff, and they just take up space. They remind me a little bit of Virginia Tech last year where they’re all big, about the same size, and they’re really gifted defensively. They smothered us. It almost demoralizes you when you’re playing against that because it’s hard to get a clean look.”

To answer Brey’s question, the Terps blocked a season-high 10 shots against the Fighting Irish on Wednesday night, led by a career-high five swats from sophomore forward Jalen ‘Stix’ Smith, who also posted his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 16 rebounds.

Maryland currently ranks 10th in the country in block percentage (16.8) and has been relentless in the paint on defense, rotating numerous bigs like Smith in throughout the game and holding opponents to just 39.2 percent shooting on two-point field goals — eighth-best mark in the country.

The Terps’ size, length, and depth down low left Brey thankful after the game that Maryland made the jump from the ACC to the Big Ten six years ago.

“They’re long and they’re hard to deal with,” Brey said. “The jump shots we made I don’t even think were great looks. We haven’t played against anybody like that in a while, even in the ACC, who is just out and switching and on you with another big body. So again, really impressive and I’m glad they’re not in our league.”

While Maryland has also been an elite offensive team so far this year, averaging 80 points per game, it has been the Terps’ defense that has set the tone in most of their games and has helped Mark Turgeon’s team overcome several slow starts in terms of scoring.

“Our defense gets our offense going,” Terps’ junior guard Darryl Morsell said. “It’s great when we can get stops because we can get out and run and it makes us much harder to guard.”

As has been their M.O. for most of their games this season, the Terps got off to another slow start offensively against Notre Dame on Wednesday night. But while Maryland struggled to score early and trailed by two halfway through the first half, Turgeon saw his squad’s stout defense remain constant for 40 minutes, which helped lead to an overall dominant performance by the Terps.

“We have length, we have quickness, we have a lot of really good defenders, we have rim protectors,” Turgeon said. “We have certain things that we talk about that will help us be successful as the year goes on and tonight we showed it. It gives us a chance to be a great team if we guard like that. But we have to do it every night and we have to do it against great teams too.”

The shots always seem to eventually start falling for this year’s Terps team, but it’s the defense that has been the biggest constant throughout Maryland’s 9-0 start.

It’s something that Turgeon is pleased to see considering the hard work and added emphasis that went into preparing his team defensively this offseason.

“We really worked hard on guarding the ball over the summer, and you see it,” Turgeon said. “Eric Ayala is twice the defender he was last year. Aaron Wiggins is phenomenal. He has become a phenomenal defender, guarding the ball, communicating, and rebounding. We’re comfortable enough to switch Stix onto a guard on some ball screens. So we work hard on it.

“I think it’s the communication. I think we’re much tougher than we were last year. We could get pushed around pretty good last year, now we’re a much more physical team. Not just our starters, but our guys coming off the bench. So that all gives you confidence. Our guys believe in each other. It’s early, we’re just getting started, but we get a little bit better every game, which is great.”

If the Terps can keep up their efficiency on both ends of the floor, it will bode very well for their postseason prospects in March. The last team to win a national championship that wasn’t in the top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency was UConn’s miracle title run team in 2014 that was led by Shabazz Napier’s heroics.

Maryland hopes to keep its well-rounded play up, and if the Terps are able to, it could make for a special season in College Park, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the school’s last title run.

The last Terps team to finish in the top 20 in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency was the 2002 national championship team. Every national champion since 2002, minus UConn in 2014, has done so.

It will take a mix of strong offense and defense to win another national title in College Park, but the Terps are realizing quickly this season that this year’s team is one that will likely be defined by its defensive effort, with the offense falling in line accordingly.

“I feel like it’s starting to become our identity,” Terps’ sophomore guard Eric Ayala said. “When we lock in defensively, our offense feeds off of that. We get out in transition and make plays and it’s fun when we can just turn it on like that and everybody is just so into it on the defensive end.”