Maryland men's and women's basketball are bad at losing

Maryland’s men and women’s basketball programs have combined to win the second-most games of any school in the country this season.

The women (21-1, 9-0 Big Ten) are No. 3 in the latest AP Poll, while the men (19-2, 7-1) are No. 17. The Terps are on pace to surpass their combined records from each of the pass two seasons: they went 51-10 in 2014-15 and 53-7 in 2015-16.

Which other schools can compete

Between the two basketball programs, Maryland is an astounding 40-3. With a .930 winning percentage, the only school better is Baylor, with a combined 41-2 record (.953). Behind its undefeated men’s team, Gonzaga is the only other university above the .900 mark at a combined 39-4.

Things trail off after that, as South Carolina (35-5), Florida State (38-6), UCLA (36-7), Notre Dame (37-8) and Mississippi State (34-8) are the closest programs to reaching Maryland’s level of achievement. For what it’s worth, Duke (34-9) has three times as many losses between their two basketball teams as Maryland’s.

Where they stand

Brenda Frese’s squad is demolishing its opponents. In their 21 wins to date, the Terps are beating the opposing team by an average of 29.7 points. Despite the six-point loss to powerhouse Connecticut (20-0), Maryland already has resume building victories over No. 9 Louisville (20-4) and No. 23 Arizona State (14-7) away from the Xfinity Center as well as wins against Michigan (17-5) and Northwestern (16-5) at home.

The men escaped a relatively weak non-conference schedule with six victories by six points or less, but have shown their success is no fluke so far in conference play. Marquee wins include Oklahoma State (13-8) and Indiana (14-8) at home and Michigan (14-8) and Minnesota (15-7) on the road.

Which big games are left?

With 10 more games in the regular season, Mark Turgeon's team will look to maintain its spot atop the Big Ten, which would ensure the Terps a double-bye in the conference tournament. The Terps will host No. 23 Purdue (17-5) on February 4 and unranked, but always dangerous, Michigan State (13-9) on March 5. Moreover, Maryland will be on the road against No. 25 Northwestern (18-4) and No. 10 Wisconsin (18-3) on February 15 and 19, respectively.

Maryland's women's team has competitive matchups on the road with Indiana (15-6) on Feb. 5 and Michigan State (14-7) on Feb. 12, which leads up to the best Big Ten matchup of the year against No. 14 Ohio State (19-5, 9-1) on Feb. 20. The Buckeyes gave the Terps two of their three regular-season losses last year, and this year’s meeting in Columbus will likely determine the conference champion.