It almost feels like a team needs a blessing from the basketball gods to beat Maryland. Kevin Willard’s 13th-ranked Terrapins have lost just three games in the last two months. The first came on a buzzer-beating floater from Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli in overtime. The next came thanks to a banked-in triple from Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton with fewer than eight seconds remaining to evaporate a Maryland lead that had reached 17.

Does the third even need a mention? Tre Holloman’s miracle heave for Michigan State will easily go down as one of the most iconic shots of the 2024-25 campaign.

No. 17 Michigan didn’t get that good fortune on Wednesday, and Maryland rattled off its 12th win in its last 15 games with an impressive 71-65 road victory.

In the process, Maryland, now 23-7, helped the same team that ripped its heart out last week. Michigan State earned at least a share of the Big Ten regular season championship thanks to Michigan’s loss. MSU coach Tom Izzo is the well-deserved talk of the town in Big Ten country, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that these Terps might be the Big Ten’s best bet to make that elusive run to play on the first Monday in April. It has a pro. It has the defense. And hoo boy, does it have the guards.

Maryland has lost just seven games this year, and all of them have been by two possessions or fewer.