After a huge win on the road in East Lansing over Michigan State over the weekend, the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team (8-2 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) were back in action Monday night for a home game against the Maryland Terrapins (6-3 overall, 1-2 Big Ten).

With a fresh new No. 6 AP ranking next to their names, the Badgers came into the game looking to remain undefeated in Big Ten play. While Maryland was coming off a close loss to Purdue and hadn’t been home since before Christmas, you couldn’t tell from the get go. The Terps played with an energy that the Badgers couldn’t match and ended up beating the No. 6 team in the country, 70-64

The game got off to a slow, ugly start with both teams struggling to find their shooting touch.

At halftime, the Badgers led 28-24 thanks to some late D’Mitrik Trice free throws and the fact that they held the Terps scoreless for the last 3:36 of the first half. Trice was the leading scorer for the game with 10 points in the first half, while Aleem Ford added four points and five boards to help pace UW.

The start of the second half was more of the same as the Terps couldn’t hit anything and the Badgers inched their lead up to seven points before Maryland finally scored, nearly four minutes into the second stanza.

After that, however, the Terps went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 34. The Badgers scored four in a row out of a timeout to take a four point lead and then...well, folks, and then the Maryland Terrapins decided they weren’t going to miss anymore. The Terps ended the game making 11 of their final 12 shots from the field to go along with a whole host of free throws to ice the game.

The Badgers couldn’t get a stop and despite the late efforts of Nate Reuvers, eight points and five rebounds in the second half, and Trice, 15 second half points, there was nothing Wisconsin could do against the Maryland flamethrower offense.

Maryland ended up shooting 64% from the field, 42.9% from three and 91.7% from the free throw line in the second half which, again, is a winning formula if ever I’ve seen one. Despite having a considerably smaller lineup, the Terps also dominated in the paint, outscoring the Badgers 38-20 there.

Notable stat lines:

• —> D’Mitrik Trice, 25 points (8-of-14 shooting), four rebounds, three assists
• —> Aleem Ford, 10 points (4-of-8 shooting), six rebounds
• —> Nate Reuvers, eight points (4-of-10 shooting), six rebounds
• —> Eric Ayala (Maryland), 17 points (5-of-11 shooting), four rebounds, two assists

Up next: The Badgers will remain at home for a tough contest with the No. 21 Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-1 overall, 1-1 B1G) on New Year’s Eve. The game can be seen on Big Ten Network at 3:30 p.m. CST.