Shortly after Maryland men’s basketball’s loss to Michigan on Sunday, Wolverines coach John Beilein brought up one of coach Mark Turgeon’s favorite topics: the Terps’ youth.

Throughout a 21-9 season, with the occasional head-scratching dud intermixed with a slew of promising outings, Maryland’s age — the team is the fifth-youngest in the country — has frequently come up in press conferences. The Terps have gotten just 97 minutes out of their two-man senior class.

So, even though seniors Andrew Terrell and Ivan Bender will be honored before Friday’s season finale, the campaign has been defined by its youth.

[Read more: Maryland basketball is still a projected No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament]

With a No. 4 seed and double bye for the Big Ten tournament still up for grabs, it’ll be up to those inexperienced options to buck a two-game losing streak, ensuring the ground gained in the early part of the Big Ten schedule isn’t reneged entering postseason play.

“There’s no guarantees in the league or NCAA — this year’s kind of weird. So we’ve got to take care of business on Friday,” Terrell said. “I never want a season to end on a losing note. But, you know, for every team in the country, that’s how it happens, except for one.”

Maryland is far from the favorite to be that one lucky team, especially considering its 0-4 mark against top-10 squads. But considering three of the Terps’ top five scorers are freshmen — with sophomore Bruno Fernando and junior Anthony Cowan topping that group — they have outperformed expectations for stretches this season.

When he discusses his team, Turgeon lumps in Fernando and fellow sophomore Darryl Morsell with the other upperclassmen.

“Don’t forget, now,” Beilein said Sunday. “Maryland is so young. They have two freshmen out on the court all the time.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a Turgeon-coached team — let alone a team as young as this one — the Terps have struggled with turnovers all year. But generally, the six freshmen have shown a maturity, making things easier for Bender and Terrell, whom Turgeon leans on as leaders.

“[The freshmen] all have old minds,” Terrell said. “These guys understand how to play the game of basketball, and they’re great at what they do. … They’ve made my job easy.”

During Sunday’s loss to the Wolverines, the Terps held leads in both halves, shot 43 percent and limited their giveaways to nine. The nearly six-minute scoring drought they suffered through, however, is crippling against a Final Four contender.

[Read more: Jon Teske frustrated Bruno Fernando again in Maryland basketball’s 69-62 loss to Michigan]

Still, Turgeon felt his team improved from its dismal showing against Penn State just four days earlier.

The eighth-year coach hopes that improvement — coupled with four days of practice — can lift an underclassmen-reliant squad to win a game potentially crucial to Maryland’s Big Ten tournament seeding.

“We just want to play well,” Turgeon said. “Thought we played better Sunday; didn’t win. We want to play well [Friday night] with that great week of practice.”