Seattle – Derrick Queen demanded the ball.
With Maryland chasing 71-70 and only 3.6 seconds left against Colorado in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Terrapins coach Kevin Willard gave each player the opportunity to say they wanted to take their final shot. The Queen spoke using from exp for emphasis.
The 6-foot-10 freshman from Baltimore banked on buzzer-faith jumpers, with Maryland winning a 72-71 thriller on Sunday, reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016.
“Sometimes you can create something for guys who don't want basketball,” Willard said. “So, if he said that, it was a very simple decision and I was sure he wanted basketball, so I could see everyone's body language rise a bit.
“It was just a simple zipper. Give him a basketball and let him go to work.”
The Queen took the ball at the top of the key and ran to the left, surpassing the two defenders, kissing him high up from the glass as the horns squealed.
“When my coach wrote the play, he trusted me and my teammates trusted me,” Queen said. “I was a little nervous, but I was one plan and I had to make this.”
Jalen Lake excavated a rainbow 3-pointer over the Queen with six seconds left to dig into the 12th Seed Drums, 71-70 lead, seeking their first sweet 16 appearance since 1969.
This was a familiar feeling for the Terps, who all four of the last losses of the season, have taken their final ownership.
“In the Huddle, “Guys, for the first time, we have time left. It's time to make our moment come true,” Queen said.
The Rams were trying to become the lowest seeded team to reach the regional semi-finals of Madness in March of this edition.
Queen took care of the hero in the final two seconds, despite his team being preferred – and Terps went on to face Florida's No. 1 seed in the western region of San Francisco.
“I thought we defended that last play pretty well. It was all we could ask for, and he made an incredible shot,” Colorado manager Nico Medved said. “That's what happens in the madness of March, sometimes you're by their side, sometimes you're with ours.”
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Queen led fourth seed Maryland (27-8) with 17 points, with Rodney Rice earning 16, Julian Reese had 15 points and 11 rebounds, with each Maryland starter scoring in double figures known as the “Club Five.” Maryland's bench totaled two points.
Neek Clifford had 21 points, 7 rebounds and six assists for Colorado (26-10), while Lake scored 13 points.
Willard, a third-year Maryland coach, spoke openly about his complaints about his program in search of a contract extension before the first round, and took his team to the Sweet 16 for the first time in a crazy appearance in March.
Maryland chased 12 in the first half and was seven years old on a break, but Terps returned systematically in the second half.
With 22 seconds left, Reese pulled down an offensive rebound, pulled a foul and hit two free throws to bring Maryland to 70-68. After a Colorado timeout, Clifford drove and kicked Lake for the three of them.
However, the Rams left plenty of time on the watch for Queen to take advantage of.
“Too many people in this world don't have any positive energy anymore,” Willard said. “And he's always positive, so he's so much fun, so when he said he wanted the ball, and the way he said, I knew good things would happen.
