#4 Seed Maryland (26-8) vs. #12 Seed Colorado State (25-9)
March 23, 2025
7:10 p.m. ET / 4:10 p.m. PT
Climate Pledge Arena
TBS
SEATTLE -- Coming off an 81-49 win over 13-seed Grand Canyon on Friday, the fourth-seeded Maryland men's basketball team advances to the NCAA Tournament Second Round on Sunday to face 12-seed Colorado State (4:10 PM PT, TBS). The Rams advanced after defeating fifth-seeded Memphis on Friday.
The 32-point win was the Terps' largest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament Game (bettering the mark of +30 vs. Wisconsin in 2002). In the win, Maryland also broke its team record for 3-pointers in a season with 276, surpassing the previous mark of 272 in 2016-17. It also earned it's 26th win of the season which is tied as the sixth-most for a season.Maryland has now won 16 of its last 17 opening games in an NCAA Tournament, dating to 1997.
The 49 points scored by Grand Canyon are the fewest allowed by a Terps in an NCAA Tournament game since holding Villanova to 46 in the 1985 Tourney, and second-fewest allowed ever.
Derik Queen (12 points, 15 reb) had the first double-double by a Terp freshman in an NCAA Tournament game since Jalen Smith in 2019 vs. Belmont. Queen's 15 rebounds were the most by a Terp in an NCAA Tourney game since Jordan Williams had 17 in 2010 vs. Houston.
Selton Miguel was a perfect 3-for-3 from 3FGs, the 5th Terp to shoot at least 3-for-3 on 3FGs in an NCAAT game, without a miss, joining Duane Simpkins (1994), Sarunas Jasikevicius (1998), Steve Blake (2001), Aaron Wiggins (2019).
Maryland led by 14 at the half, its largest halftime lead in an NCAAT game since leading Xavier by 17 in 2003.
Terps In The Big Dance
- This is the 31st all-time appearance for Maryland in the NCAA Tournament (45-29). 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.
- This NCAA Tournament marks Maryland's seventh appearance in the last nine applicable years (2020 canceled due to COVID-19).
- Should Maryland advance out of the first weekend, the Terps will most likely stay on the West Coast similar to the 2001 NCAA Tourament. That year, Maryland defeated George Mason and Georgia State in Boise, Idaho, before defeating Georgetown and No. 1 seed Stanford in Anaheim, Calif., to reach its first-ever NCAA Final Four.
- On the West Coast, Maryland is now 9-5 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 scored 18 points to lead Maryland over GCU - his NCAA Tournament career-high.
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 (16.2), Ja'Kobi Gillespie (14.7), Rodney Rice (13.8), Julian Reese (13.3), 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 27 of his 33 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 167 total assists (4.9 per game) giving him 379 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 1,236 career points between Belmont and Maryland through 91 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 16.2 points per game and rebounds per game (9.2). 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 34 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.
