COLLEGE PARK, MD – No. 13 Maryland men's basketball continued its late-season surge as it closed out the 2024-25 regular season with a 74-61 win over Northwestern on Senior Day before a sold-out XFINITY Center crowd on Saturday. Maryland, No. 12 in the NCAA NET, improved to 24-7 overall and 14-6 in Big Ten play. The Terps have won seven of their last eight and 11 of their last 13 games. Since Jan. 10, the Terps are 13-3.
The Terps finished 17-2 at home, their most wins in College Park since the 2014-15 season, when they went 18-1. Their 17 wins also rank as the third-most in the nation behind St. John's (18-0) and Missouri (18-2). With the win, Maryland clinched a top-three seed in the Big Ten Tournament. It will clinch the No. 2 seed if Michigan State defeats Michigan at home tomorrow.
The Crab Five accounted for 68 of Maryland's 74 points, as all five starters recorded double-digit points. This was the seventh time the unit scored in double figures this season, the most by any starting unit in the nation.
Julian Reese led the group with 19 points. The senior showed out on senior day, also grabbing 11 rebounds and making his usual impact on the defensive end with two blocks and a steal. He earned his 36th career double-double and his 14th of the season. He ranks fifth in program history in double-doubles.
Derik Queen posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He has the most double-doubles by a freshman in program history since Joe Smith had 20 during the 1993-94 season. He also has the most double-doubles of any freshman in the nation. This was the sixth time both Reese and Queen posted a double-double, the most by any duo in the nation.
Transfers Ja'Kobi Gillespie (17 points, four rebounds and four steals),
Selton Miguel (11 points and five rebounds), and
Rodney Rice (11 points and four assists) followed the frontcourt duo with standout performances.
The key to victory was a play where Rice dropped his defender and pulled up for a deep 3-pointer that sunk through the bottom of the net at the 8:33 mark of the second half. The shot, giving Maryland a 53-46 advantage, tied for either team's largest lead to that point (seven points). The Terps went on to outscore the Wildcats 24-15 for the remainder of the game.
Northwestern (16-15, 7-13) was led by Nick Martinelli's 28 points and seven rebounds. The Terps avenged their loss on the road to the Wildcats on Jan. 16, where Martinelli hit the game winner at the buzzer in overtime.
Willard's Take
"I think he really embraced his last time being here," Willard said of Reese. "I'm very thankful for our students and our fans to get here and give him — I think you're probably looking at maybe one of the last guys ever spent four years or been here for four years at Maryland. So I think it was really special for him to get that moment."
From The Guys
"I was really grateful in that moment," Reese said regarding his feelings during the Senior Day ceremony. "I'm just really grateful that the fans came out to see me. A lot of people had my number on, and it's just great that I got an impact on people's lives. Just them showing love like that, I'm just really grateful."
Breaking Down The Action
- Maryland trailed 13-10 at the 11:25 media timeout. Julian Reese had seven points, and Selton Miguel had three.
- Derik Queen sunk two free throws at the 4:45 mark to give Maryland a 22-21 lead. It was its first lead since early in the first.
- Maryland led 32-29 at halftime. Reese and Queen combined for 19. Maryland's defense also shined, limiting Northwestern to 2-of-10 shooting from the 3-point line.
- Ja'Kobi Gillespie hit a big 3-pointer to give Maryland a 46-42 lead at 11:48 in the second. Maryland had made just one of its last nine before the shot, and the crowd went wild.
- Queen threw down a dunk at the 3:48 mark. All five starters reached double-figure scoring for the seventh time this season. The Terps led 57-66.
- The Terps outscored the Wildcats 42-32 in the second half, closing out the regular-season 17-2 at home.
Double-Figure Factors
- Julian Reese recorded 19 points for his 76th career game in double digits. He has scored double figures for the 20th time this season.
- Ja'Kobi Gillespie scored 17 points and earned his 65th career game in double figures. It was his 25th game scoring double digits this season. He's tied with Queen for the most double-digit scoring games this season.
- Selton Miguel tallied 11 points and earned his 83rd career game in double figures. It was his 23rd as a Terp this season. He leads the Terps in double-digit scoring games and scoring overall, with 1,562 career points in his five-year career.
- Rodney Rice netted 11 points and scored in double digits for his 26th career game. It was his 23rd game in double figures as a Terp this season.
- Derik Queen scored 10 points, scoring double-digit points for the 25th time in his freshman season. It was his 10th straight game scoring in double figures. He's tied with Gillespie for the most double-digit scoring games this season.
The Crab Five
- Maryland's starters, dubbed "The Crab Five" on social media, combined to score 68 of its 74 points in the game.
- The scoring amongst the starters was as follows: Julian Reese (19 points), Ja'Kobi Gillespie (17 points), Rodney Rice (11 points), Selton Miguel (11 points) and Derik Queen (10 points).
- 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' five consists of: Queen (15.7), Gillespie (14.9), Rice (13.7), Reese (13.2), and Miguel (12).
- Maryland's five starters — the team's five leading scorers — have a combined scoring average of 69.5, the highest among all major conference programs.
- This was the seventh time The Crab Five scored in double figures this season, the most such games by any starting unit for any program. (Kentucky has five)
- 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).
Queen Of The Court
- Derik Queen scored 10 points while grabbing 10 rebounds, earning his 13th career double-double. Since 1993-94, he's one of just 13 Terps to post a double-double in their rookie seasons. He has the second most double-doubles in that span behind Joe Smith (20 from 1993-94).
- Queen's points per game mark (15.7) is third among Maryland freshmen from 1947-48. Joe Smith (19.4) and Melo Trimble (16.2) are the only ones who averaged more points. Furthermore, 18 of the top 26 freshmen scorers in program history were NBA Draft picks.
- The freshman is third on the program's freshman scoring list with 488 points this season. Next on the list is Melo Trimble, who scored 568 points in 2015.
- Queen is tied for third on the freshman rebounding list with 284 boards. He's tied with Jordan Williams (284 in 2010). Second on the list is Joe Smith (322 from 1994).
Juju Beast
- Julian Reese scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, recording his 36th career double-double and his 14th of the season.
- He ranks fifth in program history in double-doubles. Next on the list is Joe Smith (38 from 1994-95). Since 1996-97, Reese has the most double-doubles of any Terp in program history.
- Reese moved to 23rd all-time in program history for scoring with 1,420 points. He passed James Gist (1414 from 2004-08). Next on the list is Jake Layman (1436 from 2012-16).
- He has 976 rebounds in his career, ranking third on Maryland's all-time rebounds list. Second on the list is Lonny Baxter (998 from 1998-2002).
- The big man blocked two shots, ranking eighth on Maryland's all-time blocked shots list with 174 in his career. Joe Smith ranks seventh with 190 blocks from 1993-95.
- Reese has over 1,400 points and 900 rebounds in his career. He's one of five players in program history who reached those career thresholds.
Home Cooking
- Maryland is 327-77 all-time at the XFINITY Center, including 42-9 under Kevin Willard. Under Willard, the Terps have seven home Top-25 victories, highlighted by the 2022-23 win over No. 3 Purdue.
- This season, the Terps are 17-2 at home, the third-most home wins among all Division I teams. Only St. John's (18-0) and Missouri (18-2) have more home wins than the Terps.
- Maryland is 17-2 at home this season. The 17 wins are its most since the 2014-15 season. In 2012-13 and 2014-15, the Terps won 18 games at home, going 18-3 and 18-1, respectively.
- Maryland won a program-record 14 consecutive Big Ten conference games at XFINITY, including all 10 games in 2022-23 and the final three of 2021-22. This year, they've won nine straight conference games.
Senior Day Celebration
Numbers And Nuggets
- 3: Maryland clinched a top-three seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
- 4: 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.
- 5: Maryland honored five seniors ahead of the game.
- 5: Reese is one of five players in program history to record over 1,400 points and 900 career rebounds.
- 6: This was the sixth time both Reese and Queen posted a double-double, the most by any duo in the nation.
- 7: This was the seventh time all five starters scored in double figures this season.
- 13: This was the 13th game this season in which Miguel made three or more 3-pointers.
- 12: The Terps are ranked No. 12 in the NET Rankings.
- 12: Queen notched his 12th career double-double.
- 13: Maryland is ranked No. 13 in this week's AP Poll.
- 17: The Terps are 17-2 at home, their most wins in College Park since the 2014-15 season.
- 21: The Terps are now 21-2 when Miguel scores in double figures this season.
- 36: Reese posted his 36th career double-double, ranking fifth in program history.
- 209: Three-pointers by Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice - the most combined threes in a single season by a trio of Terps.
- 464: The Terps have now made a 3-pointer in 464 consecutive games.
- 1,562: Miguel leads the Terps with 1,562 career points in his five-year career.
Up Next
- Maryland clinched a top-three seed in the Big Ten Tournament. It will clinch the No. 2 seed if Michigan State defeats Michigan tomorrow. Updates regarding seeding, opponent and game time will be available on umterps.com.
