Derik Queen appeared to have hit the dreaded “freshman wall” at the resumption of Big Ten play in early January.

The five-star center, after averaging 22 points against Maryland men’s basketball’s first four high-major opponents, looked flustered for the first time of his young career in a recent three-game stretch. Queen said he didn’t think he “really played good” against Washington, Oregon and UCLA.

His struggles quickly passed. Queen broke out for a career-high 27 points in Maryland’s 77-71 win over Minnesota Monday at Xfinity Center. The freshman scored 18 of the Terps’ 45 second-half points. It was his first game with 20-plus points in more than a month.

“We just basically did a simple pick and roll [in the second half] because they trapped … it gave me a lot of room to work,” Queen said. “I just had to go harder, bring a different mentality, insert myself into the game.”

Minnesota (8-9, 0-6 Big Ten) entered the night with the worst conference record and was tied for the worst overall record in the Big Ten. The Gophers are the last remaining team without a conference win and rank No. 105 in KenPom, last in the conference by more than 10 spots.

[Maryland men’s basketball erupts in 2nd half, earns 79-61 bounce-back win over No. 22 UCLA]

But the visitors gave Maryland issues for much of the night. The two teams play polar opposite styles — Minnesota ranks bottom-five nationally in pace while the Terps are in the top 80 — and they looked out of sorts for large spurts as a result.

“I didn’t think we came out with really good defensive intensity,” coach Kevin Willard said. “I thought we did a much better job in the second half of just disrupting their offense, whereas in the first half I thought they dictated the tempo and dictated the pace.”

Maryland (13-4, 3-3 Big Ten) sleepwalked through the early portion of the game. After leading by six through four minutes, the Terps missed eight of their next nine shots and allowed a 15-2 Minnesota run.

The Terps made just six of their first 18 shot attempts and at one point went more than four minutes without a field goal. Shots rimmed in and out and a largely subdued Xfinity Center crowd became antsy.

“That’s really on us,” junior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie said. “We didn’t have a lot of energy coming out, warming up. So we just gotta be better.”

Queen went on a personal seven-point scoring run near the end of the half, helping Maryland cut an eight-point deficit to three. The Terps entered the break down 35-32 and shot just 40 percent in the period.

Maryland’s sluggishness continued early in the second half. Minnesota’s lead grew to seven less than three minutes in, and the lethargic Terps seemed like they may have lacked the energy for a comeback.

[Maryland men’s basketball drops to 1-3 in Big Ten play with 83-79 loss to Oregon]

That quickly changed.

The Terps stormed back with a 14-4 run across the next 4:07 to claim a three-point advantage. It was their first lead in more than 20 minutes of game action.

Sophomore guard Rodney Rice, Gillespie and Queen each scored crucial baskets during that momentum-shifting period. The stretch was capped off with an emphatic Tafara Gapare block that led to a wide-open Gillespie corner 3-pointer on the other end.

The triple gave Maryland a lead it never ceded. The Terps outscored the Gophers, 45-36, in the second half.

Minnesota’s Dawson Garcia leads the Gophers in points (18.4) and rebounds (7.3) per game. The senior forward, who’s scored more than 20 points nine times this season, recorded just 11 points on 2-for-9 shooting when the two teams faced off last season in Minneapolis.

Garcia picked up his third foul early in the second half and his fourth with 9:30 to go. The Gophers were outscored by eight points in the seven minutes he was off the floor.

“[The coaches] were just telling me to attack him,” Queen said. “And I don’t think he fouled me a lot in the second half because he actually couldn’t … I was just going to the rim and hoping to get a foul or score.”

Maryland avoided a disastrous defeat to the Big Ten’s bottom-feeder and improved to 11-1 at home on the season.