No. 20/20 Maryland (20-6, 10-5 B1G) vs. USC (14-11, 6-8 B1G)
February 20, 2025
8:30 p.m.
XFINITY Center
COLLEGE PARK, MD -- Coming off three straight wins, No. 20 Maryland returns home on Thursday night to host USC. The game will be televised on FS1 (8:30 PM) and fans can also listen on the Maryland Sports Radio Network with Voice of the Terps
Johnny Holliday calling the action alongside Chris Knoche and Walt Williams.
Maryland has now won seven of its last eight games, has six Quad 1 victories, and has three top-25 wins on its resume for the season. The Terps are ranked No. 12 in the NCAA NET, No. 14 in the Kenpom ratings, No. 14 in the Torvik ranking, No. 12 on EvanMiya.com, and No. 15 on the ESPN BPI.
At home this season, the Terps have won 12 straight games including seven consecutive Big Ten games. Three of Maryland's final five regular-season games will come at home. The Terps are 15-1 at home this season, tied for the third-most wins among all Division I schools. Only St. John's (16-0) and Missouri (16-1) have more.
Maryland is averaging 83.5 points per game and are outscoring opponents by 16.3 points per game. The bulk of Maryland's offense has been bolstered by fast starts as the Terps average 41.7 points in the first half of games. That ranks fourth nationally and is the best average for a Big Ten team over the last 15 seasons.
Promotions:
- Black History Month Celebration: Join us as we celebrate Black History Month. Arrive early to hear a special performance of Lift Every Voice and Sing before the game.
- Halftime: The Star Strutters will perform a special majorette routine at halftime.
- Happy Hour: Get to XFINITY early to enjoy our special Happy Hour promotion! From 7-8 PM, fans can purchase a Testudo Premium Lager/Hot Dog Combo for just $10!
Big Note: The Big Five
- Maryland is one of four major conference programs with all five starters scoring double-figures while starting at least 50 percent of the team's games. Joining the Terps are Arizona State, Kentucky and Michigan. The Terps' starting five, known as "The Crab Five" on social media, consists of: Derik Queen (16.0), Ja'Kobi Gillespie (14.7), Julian Reese (13.8), Rodney Rice (13.4), Selton Miguel (12.0). They are also the team's five leading scorers with a combined scoring average of 69.9, the highest among all major conference programs.
- This season, the group have all scored in double figures in five games which is tied with Kentucky as the most of any power conference teams.
- In the win at Nebraska, the group scored all 83 of Maryland's points in the game. Among power conference teams, that was the highest for any starting five behind Marquette (85 at DePaul, 1/14/25) and ahead of Providence (81 at Butler, 2/8/25).
- Dating back to 1996-97, that was the largest total number of points scored in a game by just the starting five for Maryland. In that span, only four other times did all five starters account for all the scoring. The previous high in that stretch was 76 against Clemson (3/7/97) by Obinna Ekezie (20), Keith Booth (19), Terrell Stokes (17), Sarunas Jasikevicius (14), and Laron Profit (6).
Maryland is averaging 83.5 points per game which is the 9th-best mark in program history.
Ja'Kobi Showing The Range
- Since joining the Terps, Ja'Kobi Gillespie has scored in double figures in 21 of his 25 games played.
- Against No. 22 UCLA, Gillespie set a season-high with 27 points going 4-of-8 from deep and 9-of-9 from the charity stripe. He also had four assists and a season-high four steals in the win.
- Against No. 15 Marquette, Gillespie had 24 points going 10-of-17 from the floor and 4-of-9 from three-point range. That total was just two shy of matching his career-high of 26 points scored against Southern Illinois (2/14/24) when he was at Belmont.
- Gillespie leads the team with 125 total assists (4.8 per game) giving him 337 for his career. He set a new career-high with 11 in the win over Syracuse as part of his first career double-double (17 pts). The 11 assists were the most by a Maryland player in a game since Melo Trimble had 12 against North Carolina (12/2/15).
- His 4.8 assists per game rank 6th in the B1G.
- Gillespie now has 1,119 career points between Belmont and Maryland through 83 total career games played. He scored his 1,000th career point on a buzzer-beating three-pointer before halftime of the Nebraska (1/19) win.
- A highly-touted football prospect while in high school, Gillespie received offers from ACC and SEC programs on the gridiron. As a wide receiver, defensive back, and special teams returner, he pulled off a touchdown trifecta with a receiving touchdown, a pick-six, and a punt return in a single-game.
Juju Beast
Queen Is The Truth
- Derik Queen arrived in College Park as one of the most heralded recruits in program history and has lived up to the hype early in the season. From starting his career with a 20/20 double-double to scoring a career-high 29 points against Rutgers in front of 47 NBA Scouts, Queen has shown he is one of the best in the country.
- Queen leads Maryland in scoring at 16.9 points per game and is second with 8.8 rebounds per game. His scoring average is the third-best among all-time Maryland freshmen dating back to 1947-48.
- Since 2008-09, there have been 39 20-point games by Maryland freshmen. In just his first 26 games, Queen already has nine.
- Since 1996-96, Derik Queen's career-high 26-point performance at No. 8 Purdue marked the most points scored by a Maryland freshman in a true road game since Terrell Stoglin and Justin Jackson each scored 28 points in 2011 and 2017, respectively.
- Queen is part of an exceptional class of 2024-25 freshmen. He is now eighth in overall rookie scoring and is the top center among all NCAA freshmen.
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With a 29-point, 15-rebound, 5-assist statline vs. Rutgers, Derik Queen became the first freshman in the nation since 2002 to produce 25-15-5 in a single game. He was also one of just three players of any class in the Big Ten to do have such a game since 2008.
