John Tonje made his first visit to Xfinity Center in College Park on Wednesday night, and Maryland men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard came away impressed.

Tonje, a sixth-year shooting guard who spent his first four seasons at Colorado State and last winter at Missouri, racked up game highs in both points (23) and 3-pointers (five) and grabbed six rebounds for Wisconsin. But the Terps (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) emerged with a 76-68 victory thanks to double-digit production from all five of their starters.

While Tonje enjoyed success against a Maryland defense that ranks second in the league in points allowed per game (65.5), the same could not be said for his teammates. Sophomore point guard John Blackwell, the Badgers’ second-leading scorer, collected 10 points, but did not attempt a shot in the first half and did not register a point in that frame. Senior shooting guard Max Klesmit missed 7 of 8 shots and finished with only five points.

Willard credited his players with containing Wisconsin (16-5, 6-4) even as Tonje erupted.

“Tonje is a heck of a player, but you can’t let two of them go off,” he said. “That’s kind of what’s in their wins. Klesmit plays good or Blackwell plays good, and Tonje is going to play good every night. He’s legit. So really it was kind of like trying to limit as many looks as Tonje gets, but at the same time, make it really difficult for Blackwell and Klesmit.”

Here are three observations from Wednesday’s result.

Maryland thrives behind the 3-point line: Once again, the Terps used their 3-point prowess to their advantage.

The offense amassed 12 3-pointers on 24 attempts with graduate student small forward Selton Miguel (4 of 5), sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice (3 of 6) and junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (3 of 9) accounting for 10 of those triples.Maryland compiled at least 10 3-pointers for the third time in its past four games. The team connected on 10 shots in a 69-66 win against Nebraska on Jan. 19 and then 12 in a 79-78 victory over Indiana on Sunday.

Rice wasn’t the least bit surprised by the offense’s showing on the perimeter.

“We’ve had our rhythm for a couple games now,” said Rice, who tied Gillespie for team honors in points with 16 and scored 11 in the second half. “We’re just trying to keep that momentum going in the next game. We can put the ball in the basket from outside. We’re confident as well. So it’s nice to see the ball go in the basket.”

The Terps’ overall 12 of 24 long-range performance masked a few struggles in the first half when they made 38.5% (5 of 13). Willard cited as pivotal a 3-pointer from Miguel that sliced a six-point deficit in half after a 9-0 run by Wisconsin early in the second half and a 3-pointer by sophomore shooting guard DeShawn Harris-Smith that ignited an 11-0 burst midway through the period.

“We got a lot of good looks in the first half, but I think we were a little either amped up or not amped up enough,” Willard said. “I thought Selton’s 3 and DeShawn’s 3 were huge. We got good looks, but I think Selton hit a couple. I think Selton hit the first one of the half, and he hit one when we were down six to cut it to three. Having the right guys shoot them always helps.”

Harris-Smith’s only bucket put Maryland on the right path: The former starter has seemingly accepted his role as another ball handler and defensive standout off the bench.

While any offense is a bonus, Harris-Smith’s 3-pointer midway through the second half was crucial. First, the field goal ended Wisconsin’s 9-0 spurt, and second, it spurred the Terps to turn a 48-43 deficit into a 54-48 lead that they would not concede.

Miguel said after the game that he had implored Harris-Smith, who drained his first 3-pointer in eight games, to take the shot. Willard acknowledged the significance of Harris-Smith’s basket, which was only his fifth in 23 attempts this season.

“It was a big 3,” he said. “It’s something that I’ve been on him a little bit because he works so hard on his shooting. I think he gave us a big boost because everyone has so much confidence in DeShawn. To see him have that confidence and make that shot, I thought that gave us a big boost.”

In hindsight, Badgers coach Greg Gard might have rued Harris-Smith’s rare success. But he didn’t begrudge the decision to dare Harris-Smith to take the shot rather than some of his more prolific teammates.

“When you have that much space, we’re going to play the odds, and I played the odds with a guy who was 4-for-22,” he said. “It was a big shot at the time, but when you’re trying to get Gillespie under control and you’ve got to worry about Miguel and Rice and then you’ve got the two big guys, it’s a credit to him for knocking it down. More than likely, if there are five guys on the floor, that’s the guy we’re probably going to say, ‘Make him have to shoot it.’”

The win should finally propel Maryland into the AP Top 25: Minutes after the game ended, junior power forward Tafara Gapare took to social media to make a request. “Rank us,” he wrote on X.

Gapare and his teammates should get their wish barring an unforeseen upset that is greater than the Terps’ outcome against a good and deep Wisconsin team. At the same time, Maryland has knocked off two ranked opponents (then-No. 17 Illinois on Thursday and now the Badgers) in its past three games and has won three in a row against ranked competition after beginning the season 0-3 against then-No. 15 Marquette, then-No. 8 Purdue and then-No. 9 Oregon.

Rice backed up his teammate’s petition.

“Everyone wants to get ranked,” he said. “It is about time, but we’ve just got to keep our foot on the pedal and keep going.”

Wednesday’s win helped the Terps break away from a scrum including Wisconsin, UCLA and Illinois and command sole possession of fourth place in the Big Ten. If the season was to end after Wednesday’s results, the Terps would own the No. 4 seed and a coveted bye to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament on March 14.

As important as that might seem, Willard was more eager to dive into an eight-day break before a road game against Ohio State (12-8, 4-5) on Feb. 6 after going 6-3 in January.

“I think the biggest thing was just getting through January,” he said. “I knew January was going to be hard with the two swing trips [to the Pacific Northwest and Midwest]. We’re getting a nice bye week here and just getting these guys refreshed mentally going into — which is what you want it to be — a fun February.”

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