Terps look to bounce back from Purdue loss on the road at Penn State

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- No. 21 Maryland (20-3, 8-2 Big Ten) saw its seven-game winning streak come to end with a one-point loss to No. 16 Purdue in College Park over the weekend, but the Terps are still 6-0 on the road this season and will look to uphold their impressive stretch away from Xfinity Center when they head to Happy Valley to take on Penn State (12-12, 4-7) Feb. 7.

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An early season victory at Verizon Center over Georgetown helped Maryland get off to a good start on the road, but most of the Terps’ success away from home has come in conference play.

Before Saturday’s loss at home to the Boilermakers, Maryland played five out of seven Big Ten games on the road, and as a result, head coach Mark Turgeon believes his team has found a comfort zone outside of College Park.

“We’ve played well [on the road]; we’ve been comfortable out there; we’ve been out there a lot,” Turgeon said Feb. 6. “Five of seven games were on the road, so you get used to it. We had some success early and it has kind of carried over. We still have four left. We know they’re all going to be hard. They’ve all been hard to this point. But hopefully we can stay with the same confidence on the road, and poise, and get it done. We’ve really done it all year, whether it’s been home or away or neutral. It’s a place where we feel comfortable. We feel good about ourselves being on the road.”

A loss at home to Nebraska on New Year’s Day sparked the month-long run of winning for the Terps, who are hoping their latest defeat will yield similar results.

“I got a lot of texts from my guys on Saturday night--I was texting back and forth with them,” Turgeon said. “Kids are resilient. They move onto the next thing. They wanted to win and they were hurting but they moved on and are ready to go. They know we’re 20-3 and they’ve done a pretty nice job. So we’re looking forward to [Tuesday] night.”

Turgeon added that the tape from the Purdue game showed that there are certainly areas where the Terps can improve, but overall, he felt like his team played well and is ready to put the loss in the rearview and move onto the Nittany Lions.

“You move on,” Turgeon said. “We’ve got Penn State at Penn State [Tuesday] night and we’ve just got to get ready, move on and get better. Penn State is very talented. They had a great recruiting class. They’re playing a lot of young guys just like we’re playing a lot of young guys. They have great depth. They’re good players. They play four guards most of the time like we are. So we’ll prepare for them just like we prepare for anyone else.”

Penn State head coach Pat Chambers deploys a young lineup, starting three freshmen just like the Terps.

A trio of first-year Philly products--point guard Tony Carr, forward Lamar Stevens and center Mike Watkins--stuff the stats for the Nittany Lions, while sophomore forward Josh Reaves provides solid defense and junior guard Shep Garner some downhill scoring.

Watkins in particular has been on of the Big Ten’s best rebounders and shot blockers this season, but Turgeon was most impressed with the Terps’ play in the post against the Boilermakers and believes the resurgence of junior center Michal Cekovsky, who had a career-high six blocks on Saturday, is one of the many positives to take away from a tough loss.

“I keep saying there’s more upside to us and I think it showed, especially with [Cekovsky] back,” Turgeon said. “I think you saw a little bit more upside defensively with us. That was exciting. It was good to see. I think [Cekovsky] will add a little low-post game for us as time moves on. So a lot of positives out of a loss and the good thing is we don’t have to wait very long to play another game [Tuesday] night.”

Turgeon said Cekovsky slightly re-injured the same foot on Saturday that held him out for the first six Big Ten games this season. However, he added that the 7-foot Slovakian “should be good to go” for Tuesday night’s game and could see his workload increase after his latest performance.

“This morning [Cekovsky] was doing pretty well, so I’d like to see his minutes continue to go up,” Turgeon said. “It’s hard because we have to limit his practice and he tweaked his foot in the game and I took him out. If he didn’t tweak it, I wouldn’t have taken him out, so he might have played 15 or 16 minutes instead of 13. But it’s exciting to see him coming the way he’s coming. So hopefully if he stays out of foul trouble we can give him a couple of more minutes [Tuesday] night, depending on the game situation.”

Turgeon also gave an update on redshirt sophomore guard Dion Wiley, who has missed seven of Maryland’s last eight games because of a back injury. Wiley practiced the day before the Purdue game and was scheduled to practice Monday. Turgeon said “he’s getting closer” and that his status for the game against Penn State is still up in the air.

“Whether [Wiley] plays [Tuesday] night, I don’t know, but he’s getting closer to being healthy enough to play in the games,” Turgeon said.

Despite being 3-0 against Penn State since joining the Big Ten, Maryland’s victories have come by an average margin of five points. The Nittany Lions are once again having an up-and-down season but have hung tough in most games where they’ve been the underdog.

The Terps are looking to bounce back from their loss over the weekend, but know it won’t come easy on Tuesday night.

“It’s probably going to be a close game [Tuesday] night and we have to figure out how to score one more point than them if it is close,” Turgeon said.

Tipoff in University Park between the Terps and Nittany Lions is set for 6 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.