Maryland men’s basketball is one step closer to a top-four seed and a double-bye to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

The No. 13 Terps remained in fourth place in the conference after turning back an upset bid by No. 17 Michigan and holding on for a 71-65 victory Wednesday night before an announced 11,477 at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The top four finishers in the league standings do not have to play until the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament on Friday, March 14. That position is highly coveted because those teams need only to win three games in three consecutive days to capture the conference title.

Maryland (23-7, 13-6 Big Ten) is tied with No. 18 Purdue (21-9, 13-6) for third in the league, but the Boilermakers own the head-to-head tiebreaker via an 83-78 win Dec. 8. The Terps are a half game ahead of No. 12 Wisconsin (22-7, 12-6), which visited Minnesota (15-14, 7-11) also on Wednesday night.

After opening the season with a 0-4 record on the road, the team closed the regular season with a 5-1 mark in its last six away games.

“The way we started on the road, there was so much noise,” coach Kevin Willard told the Big Ten Network. “We were 0-4, and we had three in a row to start the season, and I’m really proud of these guys because starting off 0-4 and then finishing off 5-5 is pretty damn good.”

Maryland collected its second victory in a row and sixth in the past seven games behind 19 points and two rebounds by sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice, 17 points, four steals and two rebounds by graduate student small forward Selton Miguel and 17 points, 12 rebounds and two steals by freshman center Derik Queen for the 11th double-double of his fledgling career.

Graduate student center Vladislav Goldin racked up 20 points, 15 rebounds and three assists for his fifth double-double of the season, and junior power forward Danny Wolf accumulated 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Wolverines (22-8, 14-5). But Michigan dropped its second game in a row and is only one game ahead of both the Terps and Purdue for the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

Here are three observations from Wednesday night’s result.

Have defense, will travel: Maryland entered the game ranked third in the Big Ten in fewest points allowed per game at 66.9. That reputation was solidified even further Wednesday.

The Terps put on a defensive clinic, holding Michigan more than 14 points below its season average of 79.6. In the first half, the Wolverines scored a season-low 22 points on 31.3% shooting (10 of 32), which included a 22.2% rate (2 of 9) from 3-point range.

Entering the game, Michigan had labored from distance, connecting on just 21.8% (19-for-87) in its past four games, and the offense limped to a 35% accuracy rate (7 of 20). That inefficiency played right into Maryland’s 2-3 zone that tried to concentrate on Goldin in the lane and dared the Wolverines to score from the perimeter.

After a 3-pointer by Wolf drew Michigan within 59-57 with 6:51 remaining in the game, the Terps prevented the Wolverines from scoring in eight consecutive possessions.

The Terps also pounced on Michigan’s season-long inability to protect the ball. They turned 16 turnovers — including 12 steals — by the Wolverines (who entered the game leading the conference in turnovers per game at 14.3) into 21 points. On the flipside, Maryland committed eight giveaways that resulted in nine points for Michigan.

If the Terps can repeat that type of defensive effort in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, they might be able to make some significant noise in the postseason.

Rice finished what Miguel and Queen started: Miguel and Queen set the table, and Rice cleaned it up.

Miguel and Queen scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, in the first half. Queen, the Baltimore native, scored four straight points to give the Terps an early 7-4 lead. After Queen’s layup trimmed a Michigan lead to 14-12 midway through the opening frame, Miguel scored 10 consecutive points, capping his personal run with back-to-back 3-pointers.

“I just feel like whenever I make my first three and wherever I’m at, I’m just going to shoot,” Miguel told the Big Ten Network. “That’s it.”

In the second half, Rice took over with 13 points on 4 of 6 shooting, including 2 of 4 from 3-point range. It was a welcomed departure from Saturday’s 68-64 win at Penn State when he had just five points on 2 of 13 shooting.

The trio helped overcome surprisingly ineffective showings by junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and senior power forward Julian Reese. Gillespie, who ranked second on the team in scoring at 15.1 points per game, finished with eight points (all in the second half) on 2 of 11 shooting, including a 2 of 8 performance from 3-point range. He went 0 of 6 from the field before draining a 3-pointer with 12:54 left in the second half.

And Reese scored only six points on 2 of 7 shooting while being saddled with four fouls. He sat on the bench for the last 6:30 of the first half with two fouls.

Gillespie and Reese, however, did contribute in other areas. Gillespie grabbed seven rebounds and dished out a team-high five assists, while Reese had four rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Jordan Geronimo provided a boost on both ends of the court: At halftime, Willard told the Big Ten Network that Geronimo gave Maryland a shot of adrenaline. The fifth-year senior small forward’s final stat line of four points, three rebounds, one block and one steal belied the timeliness of his contributions.

Geronimo was particularly crucial when Reese was relegated to the bench because of his foul trouble. Between the 6:30 and 1:23 marks of the first half, he scored four points on a thunderous one-handed dunk and a short jumper, blocked a shot, and pulled in a defensive rebound.

When Geronimo threw down his dunk with 4:35 left in the period, that marked the first points from the bench since junior power forward Tafara Gapare sank one of two free throws with 10:36 to go in the first half of an 88-71 romp over Southern California on Feb. 20.

Geronimo’s production also ended a two-game rut during which the bench had not scored a single point. So Geronimo’s outing was a boon for the Terps.

Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.