Maryland basketball has now lost 3 games in a row to good opponents; not necessarily something to worry about long term, but it does spell something out quite well. The Terrapins still have a long way to go.

The Terps started the year 8-0 with wins over Illinois and Miami, but have since fallen to Tennessee, Wisconsin and UCLA. The final was the worst, with UCLA pummeling the Terps 87-60 at home Wednesday night.

Maryland head coach Kevin Willard knows that is unacceptable. He bluntly spoke about the loss postgame.

And that’s a true statement. The Bruins were 35-53 shooting on the night while Maryland finished 21-52 from the field. The 3-pointers were falling, but that was about it as far as an offensive game is concerned. UCLA dominated the paint and forced 16 total turnovers.

But still, Willard thinks this team has what it takes to make some noise in March. Maryland just ran into 3 very good teams back-to-back-to-back.

And because the Terps faced their toughest stretch of the season so far, there’s only room to improve. According to Willard, the team is “figuring it out on the fly” because they have not had to go through much adversity before Wednesday night.