COLLEGE PARK, Md. — There’s a mantra that Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon has consistently used while leading his Terps teams over the years: “Don’t let your offense affect your defense.”

This is easier said than done for most college programs, especially when offense is the side of the ball that typically gets the most recognition and praise from spectators and commentators. But this year’s Maryland squad has bought into its head coach’s defensive-minded mentality, and it has shown very clearly over the Terps’ last two outings.

In back-to-back Big Ten wins at home over Indiana and No. 11 Ohio State, Maryland held its opponent to 36 and 31 percent shooting, respectively. The Terps also forced 14 turnovers in each matchup and limited the Hoosiers and Buckeyes to a combined nine threes.

KenPom currently ranks Maryland No. 8 in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, and as a balance to an offense that has gotten off to slow starts and been inconsistent for most of the year, the Terps are embracing their identity as a defensive team.

“We always talk about last year’s national championship between Virginia and Texas Tech — two of the best defensive teams in the country,” Terps’ junior guard Darryl Morsell after his team’s 12-point win over Ohio State. “We know if we want to get to that point we have to be one of the best defensive teams in the country. So we’re focused on that.”

This year’s Terps team has shown poise in the face of several slow starts this season. Their latest example came Tuesday night after the Terps failed to score a point for the first five and a half minutes of the game against Ohio State.

But taking to heart Turgeon’s request to not let a lack of scoring contribute to a decline in effort or intensity on the other end of the floor, Maryland’s ability to keep itself in games with its defense helped the Terps flip the script against the Buckeyes and has been a key contributor to a 13-2 start.

“Just us guarding at the beginning of the game kind of gave us confidence (against Ohio State),” Morsell said. “We weren’t scoring the ball, but we were still in the game. We knew we were just a couple of shots away from breaking the game open. So coach Turgeon just told us, ‘Keep guarding, keep guarding,’ and the veteran guys harped on keep guarding and making it tough. Then shots began to fall and we found a way to get it done.”

As Turgeon gets a better feel for the team he has this season, the Terps’ ability to take over games with their defense is becoming more apparent. With their backs up against the wall after back-to-back road losses to Penn State and Seton Hall, Turgeon and his staff decided to play to their team’s strength in order to get back on track.

“We're putting a lot into our scout defensively right now,” Turgeon said. “We've done it for two games and it's worked for us.”

A big part of the reason why defense has been a key to Maryland’s success this season is because the Terps have several players that can guard multiple positions.

The versatility Turgeon has with his lineup is something that gives the Terps the ability to play multiple defenses throughout the course of the game and something Morsell believes has made it hard for opposing teams to overcome.

“Defensively, we have a lot of versatility,” Morsell said. “We can throw a lot of different stuff at opposing teams. [Against Ohio State], we were switching for about eight minutes. Then the next eight minutes we were going under screens, making them shoot over hand. We were leaving Jalen Smith one-on-one at some points, and other points we were doubling. I think changing the defenses and confusing the opposing team is effective when everyone is communicating and playing hard.”

Whether being a defensive-minded team is something the Terps want to do is irrelevant. Half a season’s worth of games has proven that it is what Maryland must do in order to be successful, especially on nights when the shots aren’t falling.

A grind-it-out, defensive win isn’t always pretty, but Turgeon knows he has a team that’s willing to put in the work consistently on defense in order to come out on top.

“Do they like to defend? I don't know, but they like to win,” Turgeon said. “They love to win so they know that's what we have to do right now.”