When it takes the court tonight, the Terrapins men’s basketball team will face a Miami team that has carved out a spot as one of the most meticulous in the nation.

The Hurricanes rank last in the ACC in scoring offense with 61 points per game, but they rank fourth in scoring defense, allowing 59.3 points per game. They have a reputation for milking the shot clock down to its final seconds, searching for the perfect shot while also playing suffocating defense on the opposite end.

On the other hand, the Terps have been erratic for most of the season. Promising performances become undone by mistakes just days later, and consistency has been difficult to come by 20 games into the season. Forward Evan Smotrycz succinctly summarized it yesterday.

“We kind of go crazy sometimes,” he said. “We just got to focus on playing smarter. Coach talks about that a lot.”

So tonight, possibly more than ever this season, some of the Terps’ favorite buzzwords from the past few weeks come into play: maturity, patience and poise. In a stretch during which they’ve lost four of five games and uttered those words countless times, the Terps will need to display those traits tonight, and this game will provide a glimpse of whether they are developing through their losses or simply stagnating.

But those concepts, especially maturity, are rather nebulous and difficult to quantify. Forward Jake Layman talked about the Terps’ need to mature after Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh, and Smotrycz mentioned the need to stay poised after the Terps’ collapse at N.C. State on Jan. 20.

There’s no column for maturity in the box score, and its implementation or development is vastly different from mastering an on-court strategy. Coach Mark Turgeon, though, said he can see hints of increased maturity in his team, but it has been inconsistent.

“I think you can by the way they act and the way they play, especially in crisis situations or pressure situations,” Turgeon said about the team’s maturity. “It comes and goes with us. We’re not there yet, obviously, but we’re getting there. Certain guys have matured at a quicker rate than others, and some guys are in and out of it.”

The Terps realize they’ve been wildly unpredictable. They seemed to have turned a corner with a stellar second half in a comeback victory over Notre Dame on Jan. 15, but any improvements appeared to be negated days later against N.C. State. Despite the loss to Pitt, the Terps rallied to cut a 13-point second-half deficit down to four in the waning seconds.

They’re coming off a result with some positives, but there’s no telling which version of the Terps will show up against Miami tonight, even if the Terps know what they should be doing.

“We should be able to play both sides of the ball,” Smotrycz said. “We’re definitely capable. We’ve just been playing really hard on defense, haven’t been playing very smart, haven’t been talking enough, remembering scouting reports and kind of remembering what we learned in film and carrying it over.”

The Terps know the Hurricanes will wait until late in the shot clock to take shots, and the Terps want to do the same. Miami’s been involved in some low-scoring affairs this season, including a 48-46 win against Cal State Fullerton in November and a 49-44 loss at No. 2 Syracuse on Jan. 4.

Miami’s playing style presents a unique challenge to the Terps because of their athleticism and outside shooters. While they want to wait for the right shot, a number of Terps — such as Layman, Smotrycz and the guard trio of Dez Wells, Nick Faust and Seth Allen — can light up opposing defenses from the outside and are confident they can hit any shot. Plus, the Terps offense has been at its best on the fast break this season.

“We want to be patient, but at the same time, we got to take the open shots because we got guys who can make them,” Smotrycz said. “It’s going to be kind of a test to feel out how the game’s going. Maybe if we haven’t gotten to the line in a while or got some layups in a while, pass up a three to drive it and make a play.”

Faust said the Terps need to jump out on Miami early and use their home-court advantage at Comcast Center to dictate the pace of the game. They started fast against Pitt and led 11-4, but the Panthers stiffened and built a five-point halftime lead. The Terps were on the edge of losing control of the game in the second half, but their desperate comeback made the result respectable, and Turgeon said the Terps could take more from a loss than an ugly win.

The ACC season is nearing its halfway point, and the chances of the Terps making the NCAA tournament are slim. But Smotrycz said the Terps have had a string of improved practices, and the results should start showing on the court.

“We’ve definitely played really well and showed maturity at times,” Smotrycz said. “Definitely had some major letdowns that kind of interrupted that and have led to some losses. It’s tough putting together a full 40, but if we can do that, tomorrow especially, I think it’ll be a big test for us in terms of maturity and patience.”

So far this season, the Terps have failed most of their tests. But if they manage to grind out a win against Miami, it could show they’ve at least learned some lessons.