Maryland men’s basketball leapt seven places to No. 17 in the latest AP Poll released Monday, putting the Terps in a good position with three games remaining before postseason play.

Coach Mark Turgeon’s team bucked an 11-year drought against ranked teams on the road when they beat then-No. 21 Iowa on Tuesday, with a late tip-in from forward Bruno Fernando and 17 points from guard Anthony Cowan to secure the 66-65 victory.

On Saturday against Ohio State, Maryland saw a 16-point second-half lead shrink to two points with 5:27 to go. But the Terps pulled away again, capturing a 72-62 win at Xfinity Center, with Cowan providing 19 points and Fernando scoring all 14 of his points in the second half.

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The Terps are two games back of No. 6 Michigan State in the Big Ten lead, and only a half game in front of No. 19 Wisconsin. The Badgers beat Maryland, 69-61, on Feb. 1 in Madison after the Terps edged them, 64-60, at Xfinity Center on Jan. 14.

Wisconsin has four games remaining — Indiana, Penn State, the No. 22 Hawkeyes and Ohio State — while Maryland faces the Nittany Lions, No. 9 Michigan and Minnesota to close the campaign.

Should the season end today, Maryland (21-7, 12-5 Big Ten) would be the fourth seed for the Big Ten tournament, leaving Wisconsin (19-8, 11-5) at No. 5. A place in the top four would offer a two-round bye to begin the conference tournament in Chicago.

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But there’s likely plenty of shuffling left in the standings. The Wolverines are just a game ahead of the Terps, adding intrigue to a top-20 matchup Sunday in College Park.

If Wisconsin and Maryland finish deadlocked in the conference standings, the tiebreaker would be both teams’ records against the Big Ten regular-season champion. The Spartans, who currently occupy that spot, are undefeated against the Terps and Badgers.

The comparison would continue down the standings until Wisconsin or Maryland found an advantage in record. As of now, that would be the second-place team, No. 14 Purdue. The Terps fell to the Boilermakers in December but won the rematch earlier this month, whereas the Badgers lost their only meeting with Matt Painter’s team.

In January, Maryland jumped to No. 13 in the country — its highest ranking since the 2015-16 season — on the strength of a seven-game winning streak. But after losses to Michigan State and Illinois, the Terps plummeted eight spots to No. 21 before stabilizing for three straight weeks at No. 24.

Now, with two weeks remaining ahead of postseason play, Maryland re-enters the top-20 and is primed for its best conference tournament seeding since 2017 after featuring as No. 8 last year.