COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Maryland junior point guard Melo Trimble has still not missed a game in his three seasons with the Terrapins. But he came close.

Trimble, who was sick and missed practice Monday, had 17 points, six rebounds and four assists in 34 minutes as No. 22 Maryland held off Rutgers 67-55 on Tuesday in Big Ten play.

I felt terrible yesterday, Trimble said. I felt a little better today."

Trimble, who was 5 of 8 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free throw line, leads the team in scoring at around 17 points per game. He said hitting his first shot helped his confidence against Rutgers.

"I was worried about him," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. "He said he felt fine. He is shooting the ball better, which is great to see."

Freshman guard Kevin Huerter had 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Forward L.G. Gill had seven points off the bench for Maryland (18-2, 6-1 Big Ten) and reserve Ivan Bender added six.

"I don't think any of us expected this," Turgeon said of the one of the best starts in school history and the best in nearly 20 years. "We can get so much better."

The Scarlet Knights (12-9, 1-7) were paced by sophomore guard Corey Sanders, who had 15 points and three assists. Redshirt junior guard Nigel Johnson added 14 points and forward Deshawn Freeman had 10 points as he came off the bench for just the second time this season.

"Teams do hone in on Corey. He does a great job of both ends of the floor," Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. "He is definitely getting better."

Rutgers missed 14 of 24 free throws and shot 34 percent from the field.

"Obviously, we are not making them. It has been a problem for us," Pikiell said of the free throws. "Scoring has been a problem for us. Not a great shooting team and that is part of the problem. We have to make more free throws to make these games a little more interesting."

Sanders said Rutgers has worked in practice on shooting free throws.

"We are having bad free throw games. We need every single one of them," he said. "It is kind of frustrating."

Rutgers called a timeout just 47 seconds into the second half as Maryland, which led by five at halftime, took a 38-29 advantage.

Huerter and junior reserve guard Jaylen Brantley made back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to give the Terps a 54-38 bulge. Maryland led 60-46 with 6:56 left before Rutgers trimmed the lead to 60-51 as the hosts made five turnovers in a span of 5:11.

The Maryland bench outscored Rutgers 22-16. Rutgers won the battle of the boards 40-39.

The first half was a sloppy one as each team shot less than 40 percent from the field.

The Terrapins led 16-10 on a basket by reserve forward sophomore Bender with 9:45 left in the first half.

The Scarlet Knights, who missed seven of 12 free throws in the first half, took the lead at 20-19 with 6:32 left in the first half on a layup by Johnson.

Bender put the Terps back in the lead at 22-21 on another layup with 4:40 left.

Sanders made a 3-pointer from the top of the key as Rutgers assumed an edge of 25-22 with 4:02 remaining in the first half. But Bender made two free throws with 2:17 left as Maryland took a 26-25 advantage.

Trimble hit a 3-pointer as Maryland made it 31-27 with less than a minute left in the first half. Gill made a 3-pointer with less than three seconds left as his team led 34-29 at the break.

Maryland forward Michal Cekovsky, a 7-foot-1 junior from Slovakia, entered the game with 8:07 left in the first half. Because of a leg injury, he had not played since Dec. 20 against Charlotte in a home game in Baltimore. He had one rebound in four minutes.

"We always want to win the first four minutes of the half," Huerter said. "Guys are still getting used to playing with each other. I think we are getting better and not taking plays off. We are getting better at putting together full 40-minute games."

NOTES: Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell, in his first season with the New Jersey school, is a former assistant at nearby George Washington. ... Rutgers G Nigel Johnson played at nearby Riverdale Baptist in Upper Marlboro, Md. ... Rutgers freshman F Aaren Smith played at Mt. Hebron High in Ellicott City, Md., about 15 miles north of the Maryland campus. ... The Terrapins play Saturday at Minnesota. Rutgers hosts Wisconsin the same day.