The Terrapins men’s basketball team couldn’t muster an upset Saturday night, falling to No. 20 Pittsburgh, 83-79, for its first home loss in ACC play. The Terps had an early lead and were within five at halftime, but the Panthers proved to be too much down the stretch.

The Terps are 3-4 in ACC play and 11-9 overall, and they return to action Wednesday night against Miami at Comcast Center.

Some takeaways from Saturday’s loss:

Lamar Patterson is really, really good.

The Panthers’ national player of the year candidate had one of his best games of the season against the Terps. Patterson finished with 28 points — two off of his career high — seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals. The redshirt senior shot 8-of-14 from the field and 12-of-14 from the free-throw line in Pitt’s 18th win of the year.

“He was unbelievable tonight,” forward Jake Layman said. “He’s unbelievable. That’s all I can say.”

The Terps didn’t have an answer for the 6-foot-5, 225-pound forward, and he made them pay with slashes to the basket. He posted his seventh 20-point game of the season, and he harassed the Terps on the defensive end.

When it came down to it, the Terps just didn’t have an answer.

The Panthers are really, really good.

Pitt’s lone losses of the season came in a 44-43 loss to Cincinnati on Dec. 17 and a 59-54 defeat at No. 2 Syracuse one week ago. The Panthers are now 18-2 and 6-1 in their first season in the ACC. Yet entering Saturday’s matchup, they were ranked No. 20.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” coach Mark Turgeon said. “I’ve been an assistant coach and a head coach for about 26 years, and that’s one of the best teams I’ve ever coached against. How they’re ranked 20th at 18-2 is an absolute joke.”

The Panthers attacked the Terps defense relentlessly and made it to the free-throw line 47 times. Four players scored in double figures, led by Patterson, and Pitt outrebounded the Terps, 37-28. It was a dominant effort, and the Panthers seemed poised for a repeat of the teams’ matchup earlier this month before a late Terps run closed the gap.

In watching the Panthers, the Terps saw what they lacked.

“They’re a great team,” Layman said. “I think their ranking isn’t where it should be. I think they’re one of the best teams in the country. They’re very well coached. They’re very disciplined. They don’t make mistakes like we do sometimes. It just comes with maturity.”

Jake Layman returned to form.

During the Terps’ recent struggles, one of the most glaring deficiencies was in Layman’s game. The 6-foot-8 sharpshooter had all but disappeared. There was no sign of the dangerous perimeter player that stretched defenses and opened things up for the Terps’ slashers.

Though the Terps lost to the Panthers, Layman flashes the brilliance that defined his early season scoring with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting. While he took only three 3-pointers, making one, he drove to the hoop more and had a dunk in transition. He was active on the boards with five rebounds and also had three steals, one of which led to a transition dunk.

“I think just being more patient and waiting for the right moment to take my shot,” Layman said. “I was hitting tonight and getting some good rebounds and making some good cuts. It was good for me to finally score some buckets.”

Saturday night was just the second time in the Terps’ past seven games that Layman has scored in double figures. In the previous six games, he was averaging 6.8 points per game. While the Terps do have a wealth of options, it’s clear that they’re at their best with Layman in the lineup and taking shots.

The Terps didn’t fold.

It’s hard to classify losses as “moral victories,” especially for a team that watches its postseason hopes dwindle game after game, but the Terps strayed from the script of their recent performances in the second half against Pitt.

Sure, they couldn’t come all the way back, but with the Panthers leading by 13 near the midway point of the second half, it seemed like a safe bet to circle the wagons and start looking ahead to Miami. And based on how the Terps played Monday at N.C. State, in the first half against Notre Dame, at Florida State and in the second half at Pitt, there really wouldn’t have been anything wrong with that.

Instead, the Terps tightened on defense and cut the deficit to four.

“I think it’s just us tired of letting those eight-point deficits slip away to 20,” Layman said. “Tonight, we just kept fighting, just didn’t come out in our favor.”

Early in the season, when the Terps fell behind early — like in the season opener against Connecticut — the comebacks were expected and defined the team to an extent. But more recently, the Terps seemed to just disappear when other teams came out more intense than they did.

But something was different Saturday night, as they steadily clawed their way back into the game.

“With losing, you never accept losing, but I mean there’s always good things and bad things when you lose,” Layman said. “We’re going to focus on things that we can build off of from tonight.”