COLUMBUS, Ohio – After a loss at home, the Buckeyes will look to bounce back in a tough test on the road against Maryland.

As well as Ohio State (11-3, 1-2) has played against the top-tier opponents in nonconference play, the Big Ten has not been kind to the Buckeyes. With the threat of dropping three-straight games, Ohio State will need to revive its good habits against a Maryland (12-2, 2-1) team that will be looking to earn its first top-25 win of the season.

“The Big Ten is hard and everybody’s going to make shots and everybody’s ready to play,” C.J. Walker said. “Big Ten is one of those conferences and you can’t really sleep on any team. We got to stay focused. We know what our potential is, and we’ve seen it before. So we know what we’re capable of doing."

The Buckeyes received their rude awakening to Big Ten life when Wisconsin was able to steal a game from Ohio State at the Schottenstein Center. Now turning to a tough road test within the conference, the Buckeyes will need to put the pieces back together to beat the Terrapins.

“They have a really good starting five and bench players that can score the ball,” Walker said. “Offensive rebounding, they get out in transition and they have people that can shoot the ball, so we really have to be focused and have great help defense, guard the ball and keep people in front of us.”

Maryland has struggled to shoot the ball effectively this year, hitting on only 41.7 percent of its shots. While the shooting has been lackluster, the Terrapins do not lack players that can get it going and put up points.

Leading the way is Anthony Cowan, who has averaged at least 10.3 points in each of his previous three seasons. Now in his senior year, Cowan is posting a career-high 16.4 points per game on only 39.6-percent shooting.

Cowan does have the potential to explode, however, posting 30 points on 57.9-percent shooting against Temple back in late November.

“Great at getting to the free throw line, great at getting in the seams of your defense,” Chris Holtmann said on Cowan. “[He] jumps into you and creates free throw opportunities, can spray it really well.”

Jalen Smith and Aaron Wiggins round out Maryland’s double-digit scorers. In his second year, Smith has supplied 13.5 points and 9.9 rebounds for the Terrapins. The big man has also made his presence felt on the defensive end, where he averages 2.3 blocks per game.

Wiggins is also in his second year, and the 6-foot-6-inch guard has made an impact. Hauling in 6.4 rebounds from the guard position, the Buckeyes will be tasked with limiting his opportunities on the glass.

While the game will not be easy, the high-level competition may be what the Buckeyes need to get them out of their miniature slump. This team has proven it can play with and beat the elite teams, but it must start tallying wins in conference play to truly be a threat once the tournament rolls around.

“We’ve played a lot of great games as a team, so we most definitely know what we’re capable of doing as long as we’re focused and staying engaged in the game for the full 40 minutes,” Walker said.

Ohio State and Maryland will do battle beginning at 7 p.m. on ESPN.