EVANSTON, Illinois — Maryland men’s basketball entered Thursday well aware of what Northwestern forward Nick Martinelli could do.

The junior scored 27 points and led the Wildcats to a win in the teams’ second meeting a year ago. But this time around, he wasn’t the Terps’ primary concern when Northwestern inbounded under its own basket with 0.7 seconds left in overtime. Maryland got caught in the screen-induced traffic, which freed Martinelli up near the baseline around 15 feet from the basket.

His jumper beat the buzzer and fell through the net to hand the Terps a 76-74 overtime loss.

It was an all-too-familiar feeling for Maryland. The Terps (13-5, 3-4 Big Ten) have lost all four of their road games this season, and none have been by more than two possessions. Willard moved to 6-21 on the road as Maryland’s coach and 9-21 in games decided by six or less points.

“Really just wanted to take away any of the slips and [stop Northwestern from] trying to get something backdoor, mostly [to Brooks] Barnhizer,” coach Kevin Willard said. “They run a little curl play with a slip and I thought we did a good job on Barnhizer … gotta give Martinelli credit. We got hammered on a screen, and he hit a tough shot.”

Willard said he didn’t see any common denominators between the Terps’ road losses aside from his team hurting itself. He cited a missed fastbreak layup and Northwestern (11-6, 2-4) coming up with late loose balls as examples.

There was arguably nothing more costly than the Terps’ turnovers. Four of the team’s 16 giveaways came in overtime.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie only tallied two despite playing 40 minutes and handling the ball for much of the contest.

The junior guard, who shot just 5-for-15 from the field, saved the game twice for Maryland. He lofted the ball off the glass and into the net with six seconds left in regulation to send the game into the extra period. He did nearly the exact same in overtime — tying the game at 74 with 6.9 seconds left.

[Derik Queen’s career-high 27 points push Maryland men’s basketball past Minnesota, 77-71]

Gillespie’s basket was only Maryland’s second field goal in overtime. The sluggish end was awfully similar to the Terps’ start.

Maryland took nearly four minutes to make its first field goal and committed four turnovers in the first five minutes, with most being unforced.

Northwestern didn’t capitalize off that and the game was tight throughout the half. Neither team led by more than six points and the lead changed seven times in the final 5:06 before Maryland entered the break trailing, 38-37.

The Terps tallied nine turnovers in the opening period. Freshman center Derik Queen committed three and only scored two points. Fellow big man Julian Reese helped make up for Queen’s struggles, which came one game after he scored his career-high.

“When you come off and you have 27 points in the game the night before, [Northwestern coach] Chris Collins isn’t gonna let him get 27 points the next night,” Willard said. “They did a really good job of switching the pick and rolls with him, being physical, staying under him, loading up the box… he’ll learn from it and get better from it.”

Queen finished with nine points, 14 rebounds and five turnovers, battling foul trouble during much of the second half.

Reese had a game-high 23 points and went 13-for-14 from the free-throw line. The senior said the Wildcats’ physicality threw his team off.

“In a way,” Reese said when asked if he was more aggressive because of Queen’s struggles. “I always try to be aggressive … Derik probably could have did a little bit better, but he was fine.”

[Shyanne Sellers’ brilliance lifts No. 8 Maryland women’s basketball over No. 24 Minnesota, 99-92]

Maryland scored the first five points of the second half to quickly retake the lead, but it didn’t last. The Terps went five and a half minutes without a basket and the Wildcats took advantage.

Graduate student Ty Berry hit a 3-pointer as part of a 10-0 Northwestern run and senior guard Brooks Barnhizer made it 13 unanswered with another. The pair of triples put Northwestern ahead, 56-46, with just under 11 minutes remaining. Berry’s make was his third triple.

Maryland prevented its deficit from spiraling, going on a 10-2 run right after, but the Terps hit another rut — they didn’t make a field goal for more than three minutes and the Wildcat lead ballooned to nine with four minutes to go.

Then sophomore guard Rodney Rice scored five straight and hit two from the free-throw line. After Northwestern keyed in on him, he found Reese to cut Maryland’s deficit to two with 1:51 remaining.

The Virginia Tech transfer had an open look from three that could’ve put Maryland ahead, but missed and spent overtime on the bench after fouling out.

“These guys are battling,” Willard said. “We’re in every game, you know, we’ll figure it out.”