Long before the sun had peaked over the horizon Saturday morning, Terrapins men’s basketball forward Robert Carter Jr. was walking into Xfinity Center.

After a night of watching film, he wanted to work on his game before the Terps’ noon tip against Ohio State. By 6:30 a.m., he was in the gym.

Ninety minutes later, the Terps began their walk-through. Carter had already broken into a full sweat.

“Anytime you come off a loss you want to come back strong and prove to others and yourself that you good as everybody say you are,” Carter said.

More than seven hours after Carter first stepped into the arena, the No. 3 Terps had done that in the form of a 100-65 pummeling of Ohio State. They had made a statement before a sellout crowd and a nationally televised audience, and Carter was the one leading the way with a career-high 25 points.

The 35-point thrashing was the Terps’ largest since nonconference play and marked a major turnaround after suffering a 70-67 loss at Michigan on Tuesday — their first since Dec. 1.

“We just wanted to show the country that we had a slip up, but we for real,” Carter said. “We want to dominate each and every game.”

Carter wasn’t the only one who felt like he needed to arrive early to prepare for the Buckeyes, though. Guard Rasheed Sulaimon, whose potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds at Michigan bounced off the rim, said the miss had been weighing on him since Tuesday.

“Kind of like Rob, I’ve been getting to the gym earlier, staying after later,” Sulaimon said. “If I’m ever in that position again, I want to come through for my team. That’s kind of what motivated me.”

Sulaimon arrived around 7 a.m. Saturday morning before shooting 9-for-10 against the Buckeyes. His 22 points marked the most he’s scored since transferring from Duke in the offseason.

Saturday was more than a two-man show, though. The Terps (16-2, 5-1 Big Ten) buried 62.7 percent of their shots, notched a season-best 23 assists and reached 100 points for the first time since Dec. 5, 2012 against Maryland-Eastern Shore.

“I’ve been doing this a while, that was one of the best performances I’ve seen,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “They were clicking on all cylinders.”

After missing 18 3-pointers Tuesday, the Terps converted seven of their first nine looks from beyond the arc Saturday. And Carter, who entered the day shooting 28.9 percent from deep, drilled all four of his attempts from three-point range for the first time in his career.

Turgeon said they were having fun Saturday after playing tight in their past two games.

“We were trying to protect a ranking or a winning streak,” Turgeon said. “Today, we were just like, ‘We’re going to compete and do it together. We’re kids and we love basketball.'”

A year ago, the Terps couldn’t hang with Ohio State (12-7, 4-2) on the road in an 80-56 loss. It was their most lopsided defeat of the season. So even after they opened up an 18-point halftime edge Tuesday, Turgeon’s squad showed no signs of slowing down.

They went on a 24-5 run out of the break as Sulaimon continued to pester guard JaQuan Lyle up the court, trying to poke the ball away every step of the way. By the time Carter spun in the lane and banked a shot off the glass with 11:16 left, the Terps wielded a 40-point edge.

The starters were able to reside on the bench for the final minutes of the contest. For a group that had been in the gym since sunrise, it was welcome rest.