No. 2 Maryland loses at home to Wisconsin, 70-57

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) – Maryland tried just about everything to get the ball in the basket – driving to the hoop, shooting from the outside, working it inside and out.

Wisconsin guard Zak Showalter (3) reacts after hitting a 3-pointer during the second half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against Maryland, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, in College Park, Md. It was the first time a Maryland opponent cracked 70 points since January 23, and the first time it happened at home since the second game of the season.

“We knew that’d be a big part of the game”, Hayes said. “I knew we were taking steps in the right direction”. “They beat us on a last-second shot however many weeks ago, but it just shows how much we’ve improved over the past couple weeks”.

“I think it’s mainly defense and just playing hard”, Brantley said. “At the end of the day, it’s just another game in the Big Ten”.

After Maryland used a 12-0 spurt to take a 14-7 lead, the Badgers reeled off 17 straight points while the Terrapins went 0 for 5 with seven turnovers. “They had a great second half, and every time we felt like we were coming back, they made another big shot”. That’s 16 possessions right there. We lost the game in the last 10 minutes of the half.

3-Point Goals_Wisconsin 12-26 (Hayes 4-5, Brown 3-6, Koenig 3-9, Showalter 2-3, Illikainen 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Hill 0-1), Maryland 5-14 (Sulaimon 4-7, Layman 1-2, Nickens 0-1, Trimble 0-2, Brantley 0-2).

“We’ve been saying we can play with anybody in the country for a while”, said Koenig, who finished with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.

The Badgers started 2-4 under interim coach Greg Gard, who took over when Bo Ryan unexpectedly retired December 15, but almost pulled off a stunning rally against the then-No.

Rasheed Sulaimon scored 17 for Maryland (22-4, 10-3), which went 20 for 50 from the field and 12 for 22 at the foul line.

There’s a very good chance that Stone will receive some sort of penalty from the NCAA when they get a chance to review this and have their say on things. We were going to have to answer it. So I decided before the 16-minute media (timeout): ‘I’m going to see if this group is going to grow up out here on the floor and I’m not going to bring them over here and talk them through it because we had such a long ways to go’.

Penn State ranks last in Big Ten games in scoring (63.1 ppg.), last in shooting (40.1 percent) and last in three-point shooting (27.1 percent).