It became customary.

By Kent Auslander’s junior year of high school, every workout between him and his older brother, then-Terrapins men’s basketball forward John Auslander, ended in a one-on-one game.

The two brothers, separated by four and a half years, morphed into fiery competitors. Minutes earlier, John was leading his brother through shooting and ball-handling drills. But when the two faced off on the court, arguments broke out. John intentionally tried to provoke Kent. He wanted his younger brother to become mentally tougher.

“I could get under his skin at the snap of a finger if he wasn’t playing well, and I’d make sure to do it every time,” John said. “It was all calculated.”

That first year, John won every single time, but as Kent matured, he’d win his fair share, too. More than two years later, John guesses Kent would dominate those contests. But the two don’t compete on the court anymore, even though they are part of the same team, the No. 6 Terps.

John is a Terps graduate assistant, not a reserve forward anymore. Instead of the private workouts, John imparts advice to Kent during practices at Xfinity Center. Kent isn’t preparing for Herndon High School basketball games anymore. He’s a Terps reserve guard and part of the scout team.

But those workouts and one-on-one games helped each brother, in their own way, arrive at their current situation. Leading workouts with Kent prepared John for coaching and allowed Kent to develop into a player who walked on to one of the top teams in the nation. And despite the brothers’ hotly contested scrimmages, they have each other’s backs. They want the best for the Terps, their favorite college growing up, and each other.

“To be honest with you, I would do anything for him,” John said. “I’d go to war for him.”

MARYLAND FAMILY

The Auslander brothers grew up in a Terps basketball household. Both their parents went to this university, and their hometown of Herndon, Virginia, is about 30 miles from College Park.

“They are Maryland Terrapin through and through,” Herndon varsity basketball coach Gary Hall said.

Their dad, Bill, coaches summer and fall league teams in the area, and John towered above the other kids in his kindergarten physical education class despite being a year younger, said Hall, then an elementary school PE teacher. At age 9, John started playing AAU, and Kent tagged along to every away tournament.

That trend continued when John joined the Terps. Kent went to any home game he could and even made the trek to a few road venues. When the ACC tournament rolled around, Kent made sure he was there.

While Kent didn’t sit in the student section -— he usually opted for the front row behind the Terps bench — he rushed the court a few times after a Terps upset. He particularly cherishes a 51-50 win over N.C. State in 2013 and John’s senior day in 2014 when the Terps upset then-No. 5 Virginia, 75-69.

“Growing up a Maryland fan, this is my No. 1 place I’d want to go,” Kent said.

But it wasn’t a foregone conclusion Kent would play for the Terps. Despite his connection to the program, he’d have to earn his spot.

EARNING A SPOT

The text would come every night like clockwork.

Hall had an agreement with his players. If they wanted to work out in the gym before school at 6:30 a.m., they had to text him the night before.

From the end of Kent’s junior season to the beginning of his senior year, he texted Hall every weeknight. There were times when Hall prayed the text wouldn’t come, but Kent never relented.

“There were some nights I got home a little bit late and I was like, ‘Oh God, please don’t text me,'” Hall said. “But sure enough, every single day.”

Those early morning workouts helped transform Kent from a junior who had “more games where he scored zero than double figures,” Hall said, to a senior who averaged 16.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.

That work ethic came from Kent’s family. Bill always pushed his sons, and John wanted his younger brother to learn from his missteps and used his experience to help his brother become a better player.

During their private workouts, John taught Kent footwork, how to read screens and other basketball intricacies.

At the time, John said he didn’t realize that teaching and mentoring Kent was preparing him for a career in coaching. But it did.

“To be at the University of Maryland, we had to earn it,” John said. “We had to earn everything.”

While Kent transformed his body and his game in the offseason before his senior season, he had one more hurdle to overcome.

‘KENT, YOU’VE FINALLY ARRIVED’

When John and then-Terps center Alex Len walked into the high school gym during Kent’s junior season, everyone would stare at Len. The Terps star at the time, and a future No. 5 NBA draft pick, towered over everyone else at 7-foot-1.

His entrance created a palpable electricity in the gym. But Kent struggled to feed off that energy.

While Hall admits he’s superstitious, he saw a correlation between John’s and Len’s presence and Kent’s performance. Hall believes Kent struggled in those games junior year because he wanted to please his older brother so badly.

So while the fans loved Len, Hall came to dread the arrival of the two Terps.

“Everyone’s excited,” Hall said. “And I’m sitting there like, ‘Aw man, this is a big game. Why did they have to come tonight? That means Kent’s not going to play well.'”

But before his senior year, Kent buried those superstitious beliefs. For a tournament at Virginia Commonwealth University, John came down for the weekend to watch his brother play. Kent excelled, drawing praise from Hall.

“I’m like, ‘You know what, Kent? You’ve finally arrived,'” Hall said.

While Kent thrived as a senior, John never stopped imparting advice to his younger brother, even during games. John had played at Herndon when Hall was the coach — he briefly retired after John’s junior season — so before some second halves began while Kent idled in the layup line, John would reinforce Hall’s ideas.

“Kent, I don’t think you’re engaged as you need to be defensively,” John might say.

By that point, John had coaching aspirations.

BROTHERS’ REUNION

John admits he’s too tough on Kent.

The rookie, who’s a sophomore academically, will sometimes make a mistake. John will correct him with technical advice, but John’s tone and a look of disgust can change the meaning.

“Then it can become me becoming too hard on him kind of thing,” John said. “I don’t really say things that don’t serve a purpose, though.”

In the pickup games during John’s playing career, he talked trash to make his brother tougher. In practice, John admonishes Kent because he doesn’t want the guard to get left behind. It’s always for Kent’s benefit.

The player-coach role hasn’t affected their relationship. After all, John was always one of Kent’s basketball mentors. Now, they watch film together, and sometimes arguments break out. John is usually right, though, Kent admits.

Even when the brothers are with their parents, basketball is never far from their minds.

“If we go out to family dinners it’ll be me, him and my dad talking basketball,” Kent said. “That’s what we do.”

While John doesn’t suit up for the Terps anymore, his college number, 23, is still in use. Kent wears it.

“Everyone’s like, ‘You sure you want to wear the same number as your brother?” John recalled people asking Kent.

But they had it wrong. John wore 23 in college to honor Kent. All his life, John wore 34, but that number is off-limits with the Terps. Former Terps star Len Bias wore that jersey before he died of a cocaine overdose in 1986.

So John took the opportunity to pay respect to his younger brother when he joined the Terps. Years later, Kent got the chance to don that jersey for the Terps as well.

A lot has occurred in between from the one-on-one pickup games to John offering coaching advice.

Now they are united again with the Terps, working toward a common goal. That’s how it’s always been, really.

“I was trying to help him be the best he can be,” John said. “I wanted him to be as great as he could.”