Guard Melo Trimble releases a shot during the Terps’ 65-58 win over Rider at Xfinity Center on Nov. 20, 2015.

As the Terrapins men’s basketball team’s season continues, it’ll face plenty of zone defenses. 

The Terps hope to fare better against those teams than they did Friday against Rider’s 2-3 zone. Coach Mark Turgeon’s squad struggled to break down the compact defense for much of the night. 

READ MORE: Terps avoid major upset against Rider

Shooting issues — the Terps were 5-for-22 on 3-pointers — and an inability to find the zone’s weak spot in the middle led to a poor offensive showing. While the Terps were able to overcome a 14-point second-half deficit in the 65-58 win, they were in that hole partly due to a stagnant offense against the mid-major foe.  

The No. 3 Terps practiced offense against the zone Thursday, but that preparation didn’t lead to results early Friday. And the Terps might face more zone going forward, as schools view the defensive scheme as an equalizer. 

During the second-half surge, though, the Terps seemed to figure out how to break down the zone. So as they head to Cancún, Mexico, for a pair of games, they’ll have that experience to lean on. 

“We were shooting too many jump shots,” said center Diamond Stone, whose inside presence Friday helped spark the Terps. “Once we started throwing the ball in, playing inside-out, that’s when we started being successful on the defensive end and offensive end.”

In the Terps’ 75-71 win over Georgetown on Tuesday, the Hoyas played a 2-3 zone at times. While the Terps had four players with 10 points or more, Turgeon said bad communication and nervousness meant the offense never really got in a rhythm. 

But he didn’t pinpoint the Hoyas’ defensive scheme as a cause for concern. It was a different story after the win Friday.

In the fifth-year coach’s opening statement during his postgame press conference, he harped on the Terps’ struggles against the zone.

“Their zone gave us fits,” Turgeon said. 

When Stone came in early in the second half, Turgeon said, he opened up the offense as the freshman phenom “big-boyed” the Broncs with 10 second-half points and three offensive rebounds. Senior forward Jake Layman also had three offensive rebounds in the second half, contributing to a team total of eight.  

Stone and Layman brought an aggressive mindset that was lacking for much of the night. The Terps often settled for jumpers instead of attacking the basket in the first half. The Terps’ first three shots were misses from behind the arc. Guard Rasheed Sulaimon went 3-for-7 on 3-pointers while the rest of the team went 2-for-15. 

“We did a bad job of getting the ball in the middle of the zone,” Layman said. “Once we realized that we weren’t doing a good job of that, we started to attack the zone more and just not settle for jump shots.”

The Terps have the tools to beat the zone. Before the season, Turgeon praised the Terps’ ability to play inside-out. The Terps’ post players are great post passers, Turgeon said, so if a defense collapses on them, they can kick the ball out. 

But the Terps had trouble getting the ball inside Friday, and an inside-out offense never materialized until Stone entered in the second half.  

While Turgeon was disappointed with the Terps’ offense, he believes they will do better.

“I do think we’re a great zone offense team,” Turgeon said. “Give Rider a lot of credit.”