#4 Seed Maryland (25-8) vs. #13 Seed Grand Canyon (26-7)
March 21, 2025
4:35 p.m. ET / 1:35 p.m. PT
Climate Pledge Arena
TBS
COLLEGE PARK, MD -- The Maryland men's basketball team has earned a four seed in the NCAA Tournament and will face No. 13 seed Grand Canyon in the first round hosted in Seattle in the West Region. The first round game will be held on Friday, March 21 at 4:35 p.m. ET/1:35 p.m. PT and air on TBS. The winner will face the winner of No. 5 Memphis and No. 12 Colorado State. This will be the first game between the Terps and Antelopes.
The Terps enter the tournament with a 25-8 overall record after reaching the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament in head coach
Kevin Willard's third season with the program. It marks the second NCAA Tournament selection for Maryland during his tenure following the 2022-23 trip where the Terps advanced to the second round.
The Terps closed out the regular season as one of the hottest teams in the country winning seven of eight games and 11 of 13. Maryland also became road warriors going 5-1 in their last six road games of the regular season.
Maryland was the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament where the Terps defeated Illinois in the quarterfinals to make its second-ever Big Ten semifinals appearance since joining the conference.
Terps In The Big Dance
- This will mark the 31st all-time appearance for Maryland which has a 44-29 record in the NCAA Tournament. The four seed is the highest for Maryland in the NCAA Tournament since also being a four seed in 2015.
- The Terps have reached the Sweet Sixteen 14 times, the Elite Eight four times, the Final Four twice, and won the NCAA National Championship title in 2002.
- Most recently, Maryland defeated West Virginia in the 2023 NCAA First Round before falling to top-seed Alabama in the second round.
- The Terrapins have won 15 of their last 16 opening round games dating back to 1997.
- The NCAA Tournament bid marks Maryland's seventh appearance in the last nine applicable years (2020 canceled due to COVID-19).
- On the West Coast, Maryland is 8-5 all-time in NCAA Tournament games. The most recent was the 2016 Midwest Regional Second & Third Rounds in Spokane, Washington where the Terps defeated South Dakota State and Hawaii to earn their most recent trip to the NCAA Sweet 16.
Julian Reese helped lead Maryland to a win over West Virginia in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Terps' B1G Postseason Honors, DQ Freshman of the Year
- After finishing the regular season 24-7 and earning the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, No. 11 Maryland had four players honored on postseason league teams headlined by Derik Queen being named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
- Queen was also named to the All-Big Ten First Team by the coaches, the All-Big Ten Second Team by the media, and was a unanimous selection to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. He is the first Terp since Melo Trimble in 2014-15 to earn All-Big Ten First Team honors.
- Ja'Kobi Gillespie was an All-Big Ten Third Team selection by both the coaches and media, while Julian Reese earned honorable mention accolades from both groups as well. Selton Miguel was chosen as the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree for Maryland.
Four Terps earned Big Ten postseason honors.
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 (16.3), Ja'Kobi Gillespie (14.7), Rodney Rice (13.9), Julian Reese (13.1), and Selton Miguel (12.0).
- They are also the team's five leading scorers with a combined scoring average of 70.0, the highest among all major conference programs.
- 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 81.7 points per game which is the 12th-best mark in program history.
Ja'Kobi Showing The Range
- Since joining the Terps, Ja'Kobi Gillespie has scored in double figures in 26 of his 32 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 164 total assists (5.0 per game) giving him 376 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 fifth in the B1G.
- Gillespie now has 1,220 career points between Belmont and Maryland through 90 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 16.3 points per game and is second with 9.0 rebounds per game. His scoring average is the second-best among all-time Maryland freshmen dating back to 1947-48.
- Since 2008-09, there have been 40 20-point games by Maryland freshmen. In his 33 games played, Queen already has 11.
- Since 1996-97, Derik Queen's 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 scored a career-high 31 points in the Big Ten semifinal against No. 22 Michigan. He finished the two games of the Big Ten Tournament averaging 25.0 points.
- Queen is part of an exceptional class of 2024-25 freshmen. He is now 9th 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 stat line 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.
