Buzz Williams said the word “processes” 13 times in the lead-up to and aftermath of Maryland men’s basketball’s 101-83 loss to No. 2 Michigan on Saturday.

When asked Friday how he measures progress outside of wins and losses, Williams referenced hall of fame coach Bill Walsh’s “The Score Takes Care of Itself.”

In the 2009 book, Walsh details his “Five Don’ts” in dealing with performance-based setbacks: “Don’t ask, ‘Why me?’ … Don’t expect sympathy … Don’t bellyache … Don’t keep accepting condolences … Don’t blame others.”

In the early stages of leading a revamped Maryland program that’s often been undermanned and out-talented, Williams wants his team to emulate each mantra.

“If we get on the rollercoaster of only outcome-based resulting, it’s going to be a bad ride,” Williams said Friday. “We’re learning those lessons before we even get to Christmas. Does that mean our record is going to be what we want it to be? No.”

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Williams made it clear after blowout losses to Gonzaga and Alabama at the Players Era Festival that he emphasizes process over results. The result against the Wolverines was similar, but for the first time, the process felt different.

Pharrel Payne suffered a scare in Maryland’s Nov. 15 game against Marquette. After the Terps’ 6-foot-9 anchor was stretchered off, Williams delivered a simple message to his team.

“It’s just hard,” senior forward Elijah Saunders recalled Williams saying.

Williams challenged the shorthanded Terps, down five points at the time. They responded, weathering seven lead changes and upping physicality in an eventual seven-point win.

Williams said it was the first time he had seen Payne on the ground. It happened again Saturday.

Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg fell on Payne’s right leg with under five minutes to go in the first half. Maryland’s star big man, who remained on the hardwood for an extended period, was helped off the floor and returned to the bench with crutches.

Maryland’s staff did “good things in real time” to solve Payne’s absence, Williams said. It wasn’t enough. Michigan rattled off a 9-0 run and built up a comfortable lead that it never relinquished.

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Maryland’s inability to find offense outside of Payne and graduate guard Diggy Coit was obvious Saturday, despite a strong first half.

If the result was the same Saturday, where was the progress?

Maryland led Michigan, 50-45, at halftime in a game the Terps had just a five percent chance of winning, according to KenPom.

Michigan won by at least 25 points in six consecutive games before Saturday. Star forward Yaxel Lendeborg didn’t play more than 30 minutes in a game all season, excluding a five-minute overtime period on Nov. 11.

Maryland changed that.

Coit scored 22 of the Terps’ 50 first-half points, part of his game-high 31 points on 8-for-12 3-point shooting .

The 5-foot-11 guard sparked an aggressive pace for a Maryland team that sits near the bottom of the Big Ten in points per 100 possessions. Against a Michigan team that Williams called “historical,” the Terps controlled early tempo.

“I understand the result, and we’re going to continue to work on the result,” Williams said. “But the result is the processes and all of the lessons that we need to continue to learn from an execution standpoint — and I thought that that was much better.”