Through the preseason, Buzz Williams said he preferred to keep injuries a closed discussion — aside from mandatory Big Ten status updates on gamedays.

A flurry of scratches made the list in each of Maryland men’s basketball’s first nine games. But on Saturday, the Terps’ injury report was blank. They entered Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena with a full rotation for the first time.

But the healthy rotation, which Williams said he was thankful for, gave up a 12-2 Hawkeye run in the first five minutes — part of abysmal defense that translated to uninspiring offense. Williams watched Maryland trail for 37 minutes and shoot 17-for-47 en route to a 83-64 loss to Iowa.

The Terps (6-4, 0-1 Big Ten), now winless in Big Ten road openers since 2017, have fallen into double-digit holes within the first eight minutes in all of their losses this season. Saturday’s 19-point margin marked their worst loss in a Big Ten opener.

“We did not play as hard or as together as we have to,” Williams said. “We’ve made considerable progress and lessons learned this week, and we’ve got to stack those lessons relative to the process.”

Williams altered Maryland’s practice plan last week. He said he gathered his players in the morning to discuss defensive adjustments, then walk through potential changes ahead of Saturday. They watched film of previous practices to “constantly change teams” and “analytically figure out who could get a stop,” Williams said.

The change proved futile.

Iowa (8-1, 1-1 Big Ten) guard Bennett Stirtz immediately picked apart Maryland’s weak man defense. He scored 11 points and went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the game’s first seven minutes, part of Iowa’s season-high eight first-half 3-pointers.

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Lackluster perimeter defense, a constant issue for the Terps this year, showed early shades of Maryland’s 39-point loss to Gonzaga on Nov. 25, when it allowed a season-high 14 Bulldog triples.

Senior forward Solomon Washington missed Maryland’s first seven games due to injury. He made his second straight start Saturday alongside Myles Rice, Pharrel Payne, Darius Adams and Elijah Saunders.

Despite Stirtz’s strong start, improved on-ball coverage from Washington limited the Hawkeye guard to just two points in the first half’s final 10 minutes.

The defense didn’t translate past halftime. Stirtz finished with a game-high 25 points in 38 minutes, 12 of which came in the second half against a rotating carousel of defenders.

“I thought [Iowa] started the second half just as well as the first half,” Williams said.

The defensive struggles weren’t aided by an offense that continues to give the ball away. Maryland combined for 38 turnovers in its first two games of the Players Era tournament nearly two weeks ago. Williams called it a “turnover-rate problem” that contributed to the Terps’ other issues.

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The self-inflicted errors resurfaced Saturday. Maryland committed 18 turnovers against a staunch Iowa defense, a majority of which came against high-pressure backcourt and wing traps. Pharrel Payne, despite logging a team-high 17 points and career-high 14 rebounds in 38 minutes, accounted for a third of the Terps’ total turnovers.

Entering Saturday, more than 28 percent of Maryland’s points came from free throws — the most by a Power Four team. It attempted 38 Saturday, 28 of which came from Adams and Payne, but made a season-low 63.2 percent.

Without free throw conversions, the Terps struggled.

Diggy Coit and Andre Mills scored 13 and 11 points off the bench, respectively. They joined Payne as the only players to knock down three or more field goals. The remainder of Maryland’s bench, outside of the pair, combined for two points on 1-for-4 shooting.

“We don’t know what the rotation is or [what] the rotation should be,” Williams said. “Collectively, we’re trying to find groups that will play hard and play together for longer stretches of time.”