No moment better encapsulated or exacerbated Maryland men’s basketball’s late-game struggles last season than the now-infamous inbound blunder against Michigan, robbing Mark Turgeon’s squad of a marquee win.

The Terps went 3-8 in games decided by five or fewer points last year, including the heartbreaking 68-67 loss at then-No. 23 Michigan in mid-January. Then, they opened this campaign 0-3 in such contests, the lowlight coming in a 62-60 loss at Purdue that showcased abysmal offense in the clutch.

That history meant when Ricky Lindo secured a 74-72 win Friday by tipping away No. 24 Nebraska’s last-second lob attempt off an inbound, it felt like a watershed moment for the program, which had been without a ranked win since 2016, and for a young team that needs to win close games in order to avoid another ugly finish in a viciously deep Big Ten conference.

“We need that for a confidence builder,” Turgeon said. “We weren’t terrific down the stretch but we were good enough to win.”

[Read more: Jalen Smith delivers for Maryland men’s basketball in 74-72 win over No. 24 Nebraska]

The win moved Maryland to 20-21 in games decided by three or fewer points during the Mark Turgeon era, but pulling out close games had proved to be a significant struggle recently. At media day, Anthony Cowan assessed last year’s results simply: The team was one or two plays short, over and over again.

Tight losses to mediocre teams like Nebraska and Penn State were frustrating in their own right, but the missed chance on the road against the Wolverines in mid-January stuck out among a season of disappointments.

[Read more: Maryland basketball overcomes slow start, fends off Radford in 78-64 win]

Maryland had a one-point lead with 3.5 seconds left in that game, but a 55-foot inbound pass doomed what turned out to be the Terps’ best chance at a big win all year.

The Terps were nursing a two-point lead with 3.8 seconds on the clock against Nebraska, and the Huskers ran a creative two-pass sequence that resulted in a lob toward the basket, but Lindo was there to swat it away as time expired.

“They ran a hell of a play with 3.8, but my guys did everything right,” Turgeon said. “Last year at Michigan, we did everything wrong. So that’s a good sign for me as a coach.”

One difference between the two games was the timeout Turgeon had in his pocket entering the final seconds Friday. After Nebraska prepared for the inbound, the eighth-year head coach used that timeout to talk to his players about what they had just seen from the Huskers.

“We had to draw up something else on the defensive end because we didn’t know what they were really going to do,” Jalen Smith said. “The awareness of Ricky at that time, deflecting the lob, it’s just a great play.”

Prior to Lindo sealing the win, it was Smith who provided the heroics, scoring the team’s final seven points. Smith’s floater with 3.8 seconds left turned into a game-winner when Lindo intercepted the Huskers’ last-ditch effort.

Turgeon, however, was quick to point out that despite winning Friday, the Terps still showed serious deficiencies down the stretch. Maryland had three turnovers in the final four minutes — including a giveaway that led to a James Palmer dunk — and managed just one bucket between the five- and one-minute mark.

“I’m just glad we won,” Turgeon said. “We still made the same mistakes.”

Nine of the Big Ten’s 14 teams have been ranked in at least one AP poll, with a rotating group of squads, including the Terps, populating the lower-half of the top 25 on any given week. The race for a top-five conference finish is wide open, and the road ahead is filled with tight games like Friday’s.

“Sometimes those games really slipped away from us previously,” Cowan said. “So it was good to have one back today.”