By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

IOWA CITY, Iowa — It was a point Ben McCollum made after Iowa’s season-opening loss at Michigan State earlier this week, and he made it again after Saturday’s 83-64 win over Maryland.

One loss, or one win, doesn’t define a season, certainly not in early December and certainly not when the Hawkeyes are just two games into the Big Ten 20-game grind.

“I’ve said, ad nauseam, this whole thing isn’t going to be easy, and it’s going to take time,” said McCollum, in his first season as the Hawkeyes’ coach. “You don’t just get anointed, just come in and say, ‘Oh, here, we’re just going to go win the Big Ten, here you go.’ It’s hard, and there’s going to be hard games, and there’s going to be things we don’t do well, and there’s going to be things that I don’t do well, but that’s the fun in it, and that’s why we want everybody so involved.”

The Hawkeyes, 8-1 overall, got through with a split in this Big Ten opening week that always comes this time of year in a bloated league with a crucible of a conference schedule. Sitting 1-1 in the middle of the standings gives you a little room to breathe, much better than an 0-2 hole that can feel like a smothering chasm.

The 71-52 loss at Michigan State on Tuesday left a wound with the Hawkeyes that had some sting to it.

“I think it was a big bounce-back after going down to Michigan State and getting beat like that,” said forward Cam Manyawu, who had 12 points, 11 in the second half. “I think it was a good game for us to come back and win the way we did, executing everything at a high level. So it was good for us.”

“We didn’t overreact to what it was, but we did correct,” McCollum said. “Because, again, we told the guys it’s still not OK to lose.”

McCollum said something similar during Friday’s press conference, using his hands to show how he wants the Hawkeyes to continue to progress, but it will be a little bumpy along the way.

The point came through again after this win, without the accompanying hand gestures.

“The interesting part about this level is you win and you’re the best team in America, and then you lose and you’re the worst team in America,” he said. “And if you have a team that actually earns what they’re supposed to earn, meaning they work hard in practice, they compete and stuff like that, stuff won’t rattle you. But if it’s a team that doesn’t work very hard, then they’re, ‘Aw, man, maybe they’re right.’ Our team works pretty hard, and they know that they can compete, and they also know it’s not going to be easy.”

“I think we always come out with a little bit of an edge and competitiveness every time we play, and I thought we did that again tonight,” freshman Tate Sage said.

The Hawkeyes never let Maryland (6-4, 0-1) get comfortable. They made 12 of their first 16 shots, including 6 of 6 in 3-pointers, building a 30-13 lead in the first half.

Iowa was too stagnant offensively against Michigan State, McCollum said, and he put the blame on himself.

“I didn’t think I did a good job, probably coming off those two games in California (wins over Ole Miss and Grand Canyon in the Acrisure Series),” McCollum said. “I didn’t do a good job of getting our rhythm back. In practice, there were some things that I knew we needed to go to against Michigan State, and we didn’t go to them. I didn’t have it in. I tried to get it in — we tried to get it in flow, and it didn’t work, meaning we tried to get it organically and randomly. And I should have had it in, and I didn’t. And so part of that stagnant offense was my fault against Michigan State, so we got it corrected for at least this game.”

“We were moving the ball,” Manyawu said. “We had a good flow. We really hammered that home these last couple of days in practice. And I think we came out here and executed, and it worked for us today.”

Iowa forced nine first-half turnovers that were turned into 11 points, and the Hawkeyes held the Terrapins to 43.5% shooting in the half.

The Hawkeyes led by as much as 26 points in the second half, but that half soon bogged down with the number of fouls called. Iowa was called for 18 fouls in the half, leading to 26 Maryland free throws. Alvaro Folgueiras fouled out after playing just nine minutes, and three other Hawkeyes had four fouls.

Bennett Stirtz led Iowa with 25 points. Sage had 12 and Cooper Koch had 11.

Pharrel Payne led Maryland with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

The Hawkeyes don’t have to think about Big Ten play again until early January, but they do have to go to Iowa State on Thursday to face a rival that should be in the top 5 in the national rankings after Saturday’s 81-58 win at top-ranked Purdue.

As McCollum said, his team knows none of this is easy.

“And to be quite honest, sometimes that’s a good thing,” he said. “What’s the old book, ‘The Obstacle Is The Way’? Sometimes the obstacle is the way. And so we’ve just got to keep fighting, and hopefully we can continue to progress.”

Photo: Iowa’s Tavion Banks drives to the basket in Saturday’s game against Maryland. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)