Mark Turgeon

It wasn’t too long ago the Terrapins men’s basketball team was one of the sport’s most heartwarming story lines. The rookie-laden group was riding a 13-game win streak, receiving votes in the national polls and playing like an NCAA tournament lock.

After the Terps opened conference play with a Jan. 5 rout of Virginia Tech, many fans shared the same expectation: Coach Mark Turgeon was going to accomplish the previously unimaginable. He was going to bring postseason success back to a win-starved program in just his second year at the helm.

But much has changed in the past five weeks. A 4-6 slide since that run ended has placed Turgeon’s squad in precarious territory. The Terps, who boast a sub-.500 ACC record after Sunday’s home loss to Virginia, have just seven regular-season games remaining. Only one of those contests is against a team — No. 2 Duke — that likely won’t have to sweat come Selection Sunday.

So the Terps understand what’s at stake when they welcome the Blue Devils to Comcast Center tomorrow for perhaps the last time in the storied rivalry’s history.

With a distinct lack of statement wins, the Terps need an upset over Duke to maintain any realistic shot at an NCAA tournament bid. A defeat would push the Terps toward the NIT, leaving an ACC tournament championship as likely their lone opportunity of experiencing March Madness.

“It’s definitely on our mind,” guard Nick Faust said of his team’s dwindling NCAA tournament chances. “We have to get this win streak going.”

The Terps enjoyed a six-day hiatus this week, a much-needed break after a relentless conference stretch that left them weary and fatigued. But before they could begin preparing for the ultimate must-win game, the Terps pored over film from the frustrating 80-69 loss to Virginia.

They watched the Cavaliers connect on 54.2 percent of their shot attempts. They watched ex-Terps commit Justin Anderson attack the basket at will, netting 14 of his career-high 17 points in the first half. And the Terps watched their inside-out offense disappear amid a flurry of Virginia double teams.

All in all, they saw a team that had strayed away from the little things — the well-timed ball screens, the crisp post-entry passes — that had marked wins over Wake Forest and Virginia Tech days earlier. The Terps will need to learn from Sunday’s shortcomings if they hope to have a chance down the stretch tomorrow against one of the country’s hottest teams.

“We got to go,” guard Logan Aronhalt said Sunday. “We’ve got a lot of work to do this week preparing for Duke.”

It’s no understatement. The Blue Devils, who have won their past six meetings with the Terps by an average of more than 15 points, present a host of problems for a youthful group coming off its second home defeat of the season.

Duke boasts the ACC’s top scoring offense, while the Terps (17-7, 5-6 ACC) rank in the middle of the pack defensively. Duke (22-2, 9-2) rarely turns the ball over, while the Terps have easily coughed up the ball more often than any other ACC squad. Duke is the conference’s second-best free-throw shooting team. The Terps? They’ve shot 49.5 percent from the charity stripe over their past two games.

But that hardly means they’re hopeless. After all, the Terps hung close with the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 26 before collapsing in the second half and falling by 20. They have enough talent and depth to challenge college basketball’s fourth winningest program. It’ll just take a complete effort.

“I’m excited,” Aronhalt said. “I’m ready to go already. I’m old, but I can practice right now. Hopefully the rest of the guys are like that.”

If they’re not, the Terps’ NCAA tournament chances could effectively be over more than a month before the bracket is released.

“Hopefully we’re going to respond,” Turgeon said. “Whether it’s good enough to beat Duke, we’ll see. But we’ve got to respond.”

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