Maryland men’s basketball nearly played down to its competition — again.

Three days after extending No. 8 Michigan State to the end before falling in heartbreaking fashion, the No. 16 Terps appeared asleep at the wheel for the first 25 minutes before remembering who they are and defeated an underwhelming Penn State squad, 68-64, on Saturday afternoon before an announced 10,298 at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pennsylvania.

Maryland, which lost, 58-55, to the Spartans on senior shooting guard Tre Holloman’s halfcourt 3-point heave at the buzzer, improved to 22-7 overall and 12-6 in the Big Ten. Three of those setbacks in the conference had come at the hands of Washington, which sits in last place in the 18-team league; Northwestern, which is 7-11 in the Big Ten; and Ohio State, which was on the receiving end of an 83-59 throttling by the Terps in December.

“We knew we needed this win, and we knew we needed to bounce back from that heartbreaking loss,” junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie told the Maryland Sports Radio Network. “So I feel like we did that today.”

The Nittany Lions (15-15, 5-14) had entered the game only one spot ahead of Washington in the conference standings. They overcame a seven-point deficit early in the first half and sprinted to an eight-point lead late in the period before Maryland rallied in the second half.

Freshman center Derik Queen compiled a game-high 23 points, six rebounds, four steals and two blocks to set the tone for Maryland. Junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie racked up 19 points, seven assists, two rebounds and two steals, and graduate student small forward Selton Miguel amassed 17 points, three rebounds and two assists.

With 461 points, Queen passed Adrian Branch (442 points in 1981-82) for third on the school’s freshman points list. He joined Melo Trimble as the only freshmen in program history since 2008-09 to accrue that total.

Coach Kevin Willard told the Maryland Sports Radio Network that he was happy to see Queen respond in the second half after a conversation they had.

“I think the biggest thing was, I got on Derik and said, ‘It’s time to be physical,’” he said. “I think sometimes he tries to show his skills, but he was physical tonight, and that was the difference.”

The Terps ended a seven-game losing skid at Penn State. Their last win there occurred Feb. 14, 2015, when that squad left with a 76-63 victory.

Graduate student point guard Ace Baldwin Jr., a Baltimore native and St. Frances graduate, paced the Nittany Lions — who almost pulled their second upset of the season after stunning then-No. 8 Purdue, 81-70, on Dec. 5 — with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists. Senior shooting guard D’Marco Dunn accumulated 14 points and eight rebounds, and senior shooting guard Freddie Dilione V chipped in 12 points and six rebounds, but Penn State fell for their ninth time in its past 11 games.

Here are three observations from Saturday’s outcome.

Maryland feasted on Penn State’s turnovers: One key to the Terps’ comeback in the second half was their ability to capitalize on the Nittany Lions’ miscues.

Penn State turned the ball over seven times in the frame, and Maryland converted those mistakes into 12 points. For the game, the Terps scored 21 points off 16 turnovers.

Thirteen of the Nittany Lions’ turnovers were steals made by Maryland. That’s a Big Ten high this season and the most since the defense made 15 swipes in an 87-60 trouncing of Syracuse on Dec. 21.

Senior power forward Julian Reese notched six steals, which are a career high. Queen’s four swipes are a personal best.

The Terps had entered the game ranked ninth in points off turnovers at 17.4 per game among teams from power conferences. That strength served them well Saturday.

Three members of the ‘Crab Five’ delivered the flavor: Queen, the freshman from Baltimore, was masterful in the second half for Maryland, scoring 13 of his points in the period. Similarly, Gillespie produced 11 points, and Miguel dropped in 10.

That trio combined for 34 of the Terps’ 38 points in the second half and had to be effective because their two fellow starters could barely make a dent on the scoreboard.

Sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice, who had scored at least 14 points in each of his last eight starts, was limited to five points on 2 of 13 shooting, including 1 of 8 from 3-point range. But Rice did contribute five assists and two rebounds, and his baseline jumper with 17 seconds remaining gave Maryland the four-point cushion that proved to be the final margin.

“That just shows what type of guy he is, what type of teammate he is,” Gillespie said of Rice. “He wasn’t in his feelings because he wasn’t making shots. He was ready and he made the most important shot of the game.”

Reese finished with four points for the second game in a row and missed 8 of 10 attempts from the field. He did collect a game-best 15 rebounds to move to third in team history with 961 career boards (Derrick Lewis had 948 from 1984-88), six steals and three blocks.

Willard said the numbers don’t reflect Reese’s impact on the defensive end of the floor.

“Julian Reese won this game, it’s not even close,” he said. “Obviously, he kind of struggled early offensively. They did a good job really sending three guys on his post movies, but he kept his head in it and he acted like a guy that’s been around before. He made every pick-and-roll and two huge what we call [Roy] Hibberts at the rim to save buckets. He was the difference in the game.”

Not everyone can score 20 points every game. But with a zero-point effort from the bench for the third time in the past five games, the Terps are probably going to need more from Rice and Reese to defeat No. 15 and conference leader Michigan (22-6, 14-3) on Wednesday in Ann Arbor.

Sharing was caring: One component that fueled Maryland’s rally in the second half was the offense’s patience.

While the players did hoist 30 shots in the period, they also dished out eight assists on 13 buckets. The Terps finished with 18 assists (tied for the fourth most this season) on 25 field goals — a 72% success rate that ranks third this winter behind 78.1% (25 assists on 32 baskets) in a 96-58 rout of Alcorn State on Dec. 1 and 74.3% (26 assists on 35 buckets) in that victory over Syracuse.

Willard said the players’ assist numbers demonstrate how they refused to dwell in the setback to Michigan State.

“It was a brutal loss on Wednesday,” he said. “With the atmosphere we had, with the crowd, with the opportunity to still stay in for the Big Ten championship, to lose the way we did, it was gut-wrenching. But at halftime, I told these guys, ‘Hey, guys, we’re only down six.’ To me, that was a huge win because I knew we just weren’t going to have a ton of energy, and I knew emotionally, we were a little bit drained. But I thought we came out and passed the ball really good. We got two quick assists, a three and a layup, and I thought that just gave us good mojo.”

Rice’s five assists tied a season- and career-high, sixth-year senior point guard Jayhlon Young’s three helpers were one shy of his season best and Gillespie’s seven assists marked his third start in the past five with that many.

Maryland’s unselfishness was an asset against Penn State and could be another advantage Wednesday against the Wolverines.

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