No. 16/15 Maryland (21-7, 11-6 B1G) at Penn State (15-14, 5-13 B1G)
March 1, 2025
12 p.m.
Bryce Jordan Center
BTN
COLLEGE PARK, MD -- The No. 16 Terps look to bounce back on Saturday afternoon as Maryland head's to Penn State. The game will be televised on BTN (12 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.
Maryland has eight of its last 10 games, has six Quad 1 victories, and has three top-25 wins on its resume for the season. The Terps are ranked No. 15 in the NCAA NET, No. 16 in the Kenpom ratings, No. 13 in the Torvik ranking, No. 15 on EvanMiya.com, and No. 14 on the ESPN BPI.
Maryland's seven losses this year have come by an average of 3.9 points (27 total points). Three have come against teams that were ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll and six of the seven were on the road. Two of those losses were by shots that beat the final buzzer (Northwestern in OT, Michigan State), while a third was on a banked three pointer with seven seconds remaining (Ohio State).
Maryland is averaging 82.6 points and are outscoring opponents by 15.7 points per game. The bulk of Maryland's offense has been bolstered by fast starts as the Terps average 40.9 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.
Big Note: The Nation's Best Starting 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 (15.6), Ja'Kobi Gillespie (14.9), Rodney Rice (14.0), Julian Reese (13.6), and Selton Miguel (11.7). They are also the team's five leading scorers with a combined scoring average of 69.8, the highest among all major conference programs.
- This season, the group have all scored in double figures in six games the most of any power conference teams (Kentucky has 5).
- As a group, Maryland's starting five averages more points per game (69.8) than 73 total NCAA Division I 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 82.6 points per game which is the 10th-best mark in program history.
Ja'Kobi Showing The Range
- Since joining the Terps, Ja'Kobi Gillespie has scored in double figures in 23 of his 28 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 132 total assists (4.7 per game) giving him 344 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 ranks sixth in the B1G.
- Gillespie now has 1,154 career points between Belmont and Maryland through 85 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 15.6 points per game and is second with 9.1 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 28 games played, 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 10th in overall rookie scoring and is the top center among all NCAA freshmen.
-
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.
