By SportsDirect Inc.

The Big Ten season may only be two games old for No. 3 Maryland, but the conference's preseason favorite has already shown the rest of the league that it might have the balance to maintain that distinction. The Terrapins target their 22nd consecutive home victory Wednesday when they face shorthanded Rutgers.Center Diamond Stone set a Maryland freshman record with 39 points against Penn State last Wednesday to help the Terrapins overcome a late 13-point deficit as well as an off-game from their backcourt. However, in Saturday's convincing 72-59 win at Northwestern, guards Melo Trimble and Rasheed Sulaimon combined for 40 points, 14 rebounds, 14 assists and one turnover . "Their defense really stood out to me. You know what they have offensively with their firepower – they can score from all five positions," Wildcats coach Chris Collins said Monday during the Big Ten coaches' teleconference. The Scarlet Knights continued to struggle mightily away from home Saturday, falling at Wisconsin 79-57. Rutgers has dropped 15 straight neutral-site or road games since winning at Monmouth on Dec. 28, 2014 - losing those contests by an average of 15.3 points - and its last 29 such contests against ranked opponents.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten NetworkABOUT RUTGERS (6-9, 0-2 Big Ten): The Scarlet Knights had eight scholarship players available Saturday - due to three injuries to their frontcourt - and may see that number dwindle even more against Maryland after freshman forward Jonathan Laurent (6.1 points, 4.8 rebounds) suffered a head injury in the loss to Wisconsin. Despite the shortage of players, coach Eddie Jordan chose not to start Corey Sanders, who leads all conference freshmen with a team-high 13.4 points, for what he told reporters was "a bump in the road on the path to maturity". Fellow guard Mike Williams took advantage of Sanders' absence to bounce back from a scoreless performance in the team's conference opener versus Indiana, finishing with 20 points.
ABOUT MARYLAND (13-1, 2-0): The Terrapins destroyed the offensive efficiency that had become the Wildcats' trademark - limiting Northwestern to 2-for-20 on 3-pointers and holding it to a sub-par assist-to-turnover ratio (11:12) after the Wildcats entered the contest shooting nearly 40 percent beyond the arc and leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. "We knew we were lucky to win against Penn State. … I thought defensively we were really, really good. (The Wildcats) run 100 sets and we were dialed in on them, especially in the first half," coach Mark Turgeon told the Baltimore Sun. Maryland has drained 51 3-pointers over its last five games, but it has connected on only 30.8 percent of its 56 attempts through two Big Ten contests.

TIP-INS
1. The victory at Northwestern was Turgeon's 100th win as the coach at Maryland and the 350th of his career.
2. Rutgers is shooting 94.1 percent from the foul line and 41.8 percent beyond the arc through two Big Ten games.
3. The Terrapins' eight-game regular-season conference winning streak is the school's longest since the 2001-02 team won 13 in a row en route to a national championship.

PREDICTION: Maryland 83, Rutgers 61