Maryland is still dancing.
The 4th-seeded Terrapins stunned No. 12 Colorado State on a buzzer-beating floater from Derik Queen on Sunday to secure a 72-71 thriller and advance to the Sweet 16.
The shot concluded a back-and-forth contest that Colorado led for much of the game until it saw its Cinderella dreams crushed in heartbreaking fashion.
Colorado State took a 9-8 lead early in the first half that it didn’t relinquish until Maryland took a 49-47 lead with 13:39 remaining. From there is was a back-and-forth battle with a trip to the tournament’s second weekend at stake.
Maryland appeared to be in control with a 68-64 lead under two minutes following a 9-0 run. But CSU answered to tie the game at 68-68 on a Jalen Lake jumper.
Maryland retook the lead at 70-68 on a pair of Julian Reese free throws with 22 seconds remaining, setting up Lake for late-game heroics.
After a CSU timeout, Lake drained a 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left to retake the lead at 71-70.
But Colorado State’s elation was short-lived. Maryland called a timeout to set up the final play with 3.7 seconds remaining, and Queen delivered to send the Terps to the Sweet 16.
Kevin Willard: ‘We were due’
Maryland was on the wrong end of multiple buzzer beaters this season. Head coach Kevin Willard told TBS’ Andy Katz after the game that “we were due.”
“I think we were finally due for us to have one,” Willard said. “Our last four losses have all been buzzer beaters.
“When Lake shot that shot, I was like, man that’s going in. I’m like, we were due to get one.”
Give me the MF ball
Willard was then swarmed by his team as he attempt to laud Colorado State for its game. He then re-gathered to talk about that final play that was drawn up for Queen.
“I asked everybody, ‘who wants the ball?'” Willard said. “He said give ‘me the MF ball.’ And I said ‘all right, you’re gettin’ it.’ I said ‘don’t mess around. Get after it and do it.’ And I give him a lot of credit. The big dog came up and through.”
Queen’s shot highlights a stellar season for the freshman center, who paced the Terrapins to a second-place finish in the Big Ten and No. 4 seed in the tournament. Queen entered Sunday as Maryland’s leading scorer and rebounder while averaging 16.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.
He was voted Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for his efforts. Now he has a basketball moment that he and Maryland fans will never forget.
Queen said in his postgame news conference that the shot was the first game winner in his basketball career. Willard joked after he said that “I wouldn’t have given it to him had I known that.”
A Baltimore native, Queen said that he was proud to “put on for Baltimore.”
“First, I just want to put on for Baltimore,” Queen said. “A lot of people don’t really make it out of Baltimore. I just wanted to come here and make a change. And hopefully I did make a change, so coach Willard can keep getting a lot of local kids.”
Queen has certainly made a change and an imprint on the legacy of Maryland basketball.
