The Maryland men’s basketball team has struggled to defend the paint all season. The Terps frontcourt has dealt with an array of injuries throughout the year. When they’re on the court, they usually deal with foul trouble.

Maryland prides itself on defense and emphasizes being the tougher team every time they take the court, an approach that’s helped them go 9-0 away from Xfinity Center entering Tuesday’s road contest against Penn State.

But three days after forwards Damonte Dodd and Michal Cekovsky played solid defense in the Terps’ 73-72 home loss to Purdue, the Nittany Lions exploited the Terps in the paint down the stretch of their 70-64 victory. Maryland (20-4, 8-3 Big Ten) hopes to improve defensively Saturday against Ohio State (15-10, 5-7) as it tries to snap a two-game losing streak.

“It starts on the defensive end,” guard Kevin Huerter said. “That’s what we want our identity to be. If we get it going on the defensive end, that will bring out our offense.”

The Terps shot a season-low 33.9 percent, so they had to rely on their defense in hopes of mounting a double-digit comeback after the break.

But Maryland also struggled on that end of the floor, especially in the second half. The Terps usually played just one big man at a time, and Penn State took advantage by pulling Maryland’s forwards out of the paint via pick and rolls and finishing easy layups and dunks.

Penn State began its domination down low with about 11 minutes remaining. The Nittany Lions had little trouble with Maryland’s full-court press, and Nittany Lions guard Lamar Stevens, who scored a game-high 25 points, overpowered the Terps’ smaller guards with his 6-foot-7, 218-pound frame.

On this instance, he drove to the basket with 6-foot guard Anthony Cowan guarding him. Forward L.G. Gill noticed the mismatch and shifted over to double-team Stevens,but left Penn State forward Mike Watkins open for a dunk.

Gill ran into another issue about a minute later, when Watkins set a screen for Penn State guard Tony Carr on the perimeter. Gill switched onto Carr, and Penn State cleared out the paint. Guard Jaylen Brantley, who was guarding Carr before the screen, posed a small threat to Watkins after switching with Gill.

Penn State scored in other ways. In some instances, after breaking Maryland’s press, Nittany Lions players faced one-on-one situations with Dodd, who stayed back on the press to defend the paint. Other times, Penn State made tough jump shots. At one point, Stevens drained a mid-range shot in forward Justin Jackson’s face, prompting him to hold his follow-through in the air while running back on defense.

But it was Maryland’s inability to defend the paint in the final five minutes that prevented the Terps from cutting the deficit to fewer than four.

With about four-and-a-half minutes remaining, Dodd fell for the same trick as Gill. The senior switched onto Penn State guard Shep Garner off a screen. Cowan didn’t switch onto Penn State forward Julian Moore, who Dodd had been guarding, and Brantley didn’t rotate to offer help defense. Penn State cleared out the lane to leave Moore open for a dunk.

Perhaps Maryland’s most crucial miscue came with about three minutes remaining. The Terps, who have struggled to rebound all season, gained momentum with a 6-0 run to move within four. But Huerter didn’t box out Penn State guard Nazeer Bostick, and the freshman capitalized by jumping over Huerter for an offensive rebound and finishing a layup. Jackson rested his arms on his knees for a few moments before jogging back on defense, looking exhausted.

For Maryland to compete for a Big Ten championship and make a run in the NCAA tournament, it may need to use its post defense to hang with bigger teams. First, the Terps will focus on displaying improvement Saturday.

“Their big guys were dominant,” Coach Mark Turgeon said. “The biggest surprise was we just weren’t ready to play.”