Maryland men’s basketball’s point differential in December against high-major opponents was -45. The Terps’ two wins in the final month of the calendar year came against “buy-game” opponents in Wagner and Old Dominion.

Still, Buzz Williams was hopeful. He stressed that his team had positive carryover despite lackluster results.

That feeling hasn’t translated to opponents that matter. Friday marked another glaring example.

Despite hanging around for much of the second half, Maryland couldn’t overcome a putrid offensive performance in a 64-54 loss to Oregon at Xfinity Center. The Terps shot 18-for-65 (27.7 percent) from the field, missed 28 3-pointers and logged one make in the game’s final three-and-a-half-minutes.

“I thought we shot a lot of green-light shots — we just didn’t make them,” Williams said. “We didn’t shoot the percentage that you need to shoot to win a Big Ten game.”

The Terps (7-7, 0-3 Big Ten), who entered Friday with the Big Ten’s worst turnover rate, committed double-digit takeaways for the fourth time in five games — seven of their 10 came in the second half.

Senior forward Solomon Washington poured in a season-high 17 points and 12 rebounds, a needed performance amid Maryland’s inefficient offensive play. He joined junior guard Isaiah Watts (11 points) as the only players to reach double figures.

[Maryland men’s basketball’s new-look starting lineup beats Old Dominion, 73-58]

The pair, part of Maryland’s seventh starting lineup this season alongside Darius Adams, Andre Mills and Elijah Saunders, impressed in its first minutes together Sunday against Old Dominion, so much so that Williams kept it intact Friday.

The group sported a plus-minus of 19 in the Terps’ 15-point win over the Monarchs, the best rate by a Maryland lineup without senior forward Pharrel Payne this season. Payne, the Terps’ leading scorer and rebounder, missed his third straight game due to injury Friday — part of five Maryland inactives.

Williams adjusted to his 6-foot-9 forward’s absence Sunday through a revamped “5-out” offense that found perimeter success. Maryland’s guard trio of Watts, Mills and Adams combined for 39 first-half points.

That number withered to nine against a quicker, taller and more athletic Oregon (7-7, 1-2 Big Ten) defense.

Watts and Adams shot a combined 3-for-8 in the first frame, while Mills was held scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting — a number that eventually ballooned to 1-for-10.

Maryland’s starting group claimed an early lead over the Ducks before the first media timeout. The Terps held it for 56 seconds.

They closed the half shooting 27.3 percent from the field, a rate that held steady in the second.

Late 2-3 zone looks from the Ducks forced a flurry of offensive adjustments by Williams — almost none of which were effective for long periods.

[Turnovers doom Maryland women’s basketball in first loss, 73-70 to Illinois]

The Terps searched for scores in “4-out” and “3-out” sets, often with Washington hunting the high and low posts for paint looks. But Oregon filled the gaps, limiting second-chance looks while jetting to a 9-0 road run midway through the first half that Maryland couldn’t recover from.

“If you’re shooting more long shots, it’s hard to get long rebounds,” Williams said. “It’s a little bit of a delicate balance.”

Williams, in an effort to match physicality without Payne, shuffled a carousel of defenders on Bittle. Collin Metcalf, Washington and Saunders rotated against Oregon’s 7-foot center.

Bittle played right around his season averages with 16 points and seven rebounds, but he gobbled up five blocks against a shorthanded Terps frontcourt. Maryland’s man defense struggled without true backline help, allowing 32 paint points despite outrebounding the Ducks on the offensive glass, 16-7.

“We’re trying to change the margins in which we’re competing in, and then trying to have measurements not just on gameday, but in practice where our guys see improvement,” Williams said. “I understand the results and how we’ll be judged, but I thought within the process … our preparation was as good as it has been all year long.”