Terrapins men’s basketball fans were hoping Sunday would mark the end of guard Melo Trimble’s slump. They wanted to see the Trimble of old.

While the point guard’s shooting woes and turnover issues persisted — he finished 3-for-10 with seven giveaways to just two assists — Trimble did seem to resemble himself again. The sophomore attacked the basket. His confidence seemed to follow, too.

And perhaps most importantly, he smiled again. The star known for flashing his grin shared laughs with his teammates during pregame introductions. That happiness never seemed to waver, even when he coughed up the ball or watched his shots bounce off the rim.

“Melo looked more comfortable tonight,” coach Mark Turgeon said after the 86-82 win over Michigan. “Back in the right direction.”

Less than five minutes into the game, Trimble barreled toward the rim and finished a spinning layup while crashing to the hardwood. Classic Trimble.

He wouldn’t hit another shot the rest of the period, but he continued attacking inside. About two minutes after he made the layup, he finished in transition only to have it called off for an offensive foul that drew a chorus of boos from the Xfinity Center crowd.

“He was definitely more confident,” forward Jake Layman said. “It was kind of good to see him be more aggressive, take the shots he normally takes.”

Trimble, the Terps’ leading scorer at 14 points per game, entered Sunday’s contest shooting 18.4 percent over his past four games. For the second-year guard who helped thrust the Terps into the national spotlight as a rookie, it was an unprecedented sight.

The Terps were 50-10 with Trimble before the recent two-game losing streak. And Trimble wasn’t used to struggling individually.

“He hasn’t had much failure,” forward Damonte Dodd said. “He’s not used to it, so he just has to do the little things. And once he continues to do the little things, his shot’s going to start falling more.”

Trimble still hasn’t made more than three field goals in any of the past five games, so the slump isn’t over.

But he was able to get to the free-throw line eight times Sunday.

“That’s why we lost,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “You try to keep him from the foul line. There is some times that he just draws contact — I’m not going to say whether some of them are fouls or not. He’s just great at drawing contact.”

It’s what made Trimble so lethal last season when 36.4 percent of his points came at the charity stripe. That number has dropped more than 7 percentage points this season, as he has settled for jumpers more often.

In fact, he took four 3-pointers against the Wolverines. One went in.

Terps fans are still waiting for Trimble’s silky jumper to return. But his aggressiveness did Sunday. So, too, did his smile.

“I told him, ‘Good things are going to happen to good people,'” Dodd said. “‘You keep doing the right things and the pressure is going to be off you.'”