With Maryland down 71-70 and only 3.6 seconds left in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Colorado State, Terrapins coach Kevin Willard gave his players a chance to say who wanted the final shot. Queen spoke up, using an expletive to emphasize his desire.
The 6-foot-10 freshman from Baltimore made a fadeaway jumper off the glass as time expired, giving Maryland a 72-71 victory and sending them to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016.
“Sometimes, you can draw something up for a guy that maybe doesn’t want the basketball,” Willard said. “So once he said that, it was a pretty simple decision, and I could see everyone’s body language kind of perk up a little bit, because he was so confident that he wanted the basketball. It was just a simple zipper: Give him the basketball and let him go to work.”
Queen took the ball from the top of the key, drove to his left, rose above two defenders, and banked it off the glass as the buzzer went off.
“When Coach drew up the play, he trusted me and my teammates trusted me,” Queen said. “I was a little bit nervous, but I was due for one, and I had to, had to make this.”
Jalen Lake hit a 3-pointer over Queen with 6 seconds left to give Colorado State a 71-70 lead. The Rams were trying to reach their first Sweet 16 since 1969.
“This has been a familiar feeling for the Terps, as their last four losses this season all came on the final possession,” Queen said. “In the huddle, I said, ‘Guys, for the first time, we have time left. It’s our time to make our moment happen.’”
The Rams were aiming to be the lowest-seeded team to reach a regional semifinal this year, a tournament that had seen few upsets and buzzer-beaters.
Queen’s clutch shot, even though Maryland was the favored team, gave them the win and a spot in the Sweet 16, where they will face Florida, the No. 1 seed in the West Region.
“I thought we defended that last play pretty well. It’s about all we could ask for, and he made a freaking unbelievable shot,” Colorado State coach Niko Medved said. “That’s what happens in March Madness and sometimes you’re on their side of it and sometimes you’re on ours.”
Kyle Jorgensen reacts after the lossQueen led Maryland with 17 points, Rodney Rice added 16, and Julian Reese contributed 15 points and 11 rebounds
Each of Maryland’s starters, known as the “Crab Five,” scored in double figures. Maryland’s bench totaled just two points.
Nique Clifford scored 21 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and made six assists for Colorado State, while Lake scored 13 points.
Willard, who is in his third year as Maryland’s coach, reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in seven March Madness appearances, which includes five with Seton Hall and one with Maryland.
Maryland trailed by 12 in the first half and was down by seven at halftime, but they slowly worked their way back in the second half, using their height advantage to take control in the final minutes.
With 22 seconds remaining, Reese grabbed an offensive rebound and drew a foul, hitting two free throws to put Maryland up 70-68. After a Colorado State timeout, Clifford drove and passed to Lake, who made a 3-pointer to give the Rams a 71-70 lead.
But the Rams left enough time on the clock for Queen to make his game-winning shot.
“Not too many people in this world have positive energy anymore,” Willard said. “And he’s so fun to be around, because he’s always positive. So when he said that he wanted the ball, and the way he said it, I knew something good was going to happen. Because good things happen to good people, and he is a great, great person.”
Reese grabbed his 1,000th career rebound in the first half, making him just the second Terps player to reach that milestone, joining Len Elmore, who had 1,053 rebounds from 1971-74.
Clifford’s two-handed dunk in the second half broke the program’s single-season scoring record, previously held by Pat Durham in 1977-78. Clifford finished the season with 681 points.
The Rams were the lowest seed remaining in the tournament, and this marks the first year since 2007 that no team seeded 11th or lower has made it to the Sweet 16.
