Derik Queen caught the ball at the right elbow and quickly turned to the basket. Queen put the ball on the floor and dribbled toward the hoop while a Penn State defender abandoned his post guarding the perimeter to help guard the Baltimore product.
Queen moved too quickly for the double team to arrive in time, powering through the defender standing between him and two points. Queen dribbled once more, jumped up, and slammed home his twentieth point of the game giving the Terps a five point lead heading into the final four minutes of regulation.
Maryland’s freshman phenom finished as the game’s highest scorer with 23 points leading No. 16 Maryland (22-7, 12-6 Big Ten) to a, 68-64, road win against Penn State (15-15, 5-14 Big Ten), Saturday afternoon.
“I think the biggest thing was, you know, I got on Derik about it’s time to be physical,” said head coach Kevin Willard. “Sometimes he tries to show his skills but he was physical tonight and that was the difference.”
Despite Queen’s dunk providing the Terps with a huge momentum swing, the game remained close down the stretch.
Maryland found itself in foul trouble, sending the Nittany Lions to the free throw line to shoot six free throws in the final four minutes of the game. Penn State converted on all six shots — including two that resulted from a technical foul on Queen — never letting the Terps’ lead grow past five points.
As the Terps led by two and time fell under a minute, Penn State graduate student Ace Baldwin Jr. drove toward the basket and decided to pull-up from the mid-range instead of taking it into the paint where Queen and Julian Reese were lurking. Baldwin Jr.’s shot bounced off the rim and into the hands of Reese who passed it up the floor to Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
Gillespie settled the Terps offense on the right side standing far beyond the 3-point line slowly bleeding the clock down. Gillespie drove to the paint with ten seconds remaining on the shot clock, but the Penn State defense stopped his momentum and forced him to pass to Rodney Rice in the corner. Rice — who was one-for-ten from the floor — faked a three, took a dribble into the mid-range, and fired, placing the ball perfectly through the net.
Rice’s only made field goal in the second half was the biggest of the game.
“That just shows what type of guy he is, what type of teammate he is,” said Gillespie. “He wasn’t in his feelings because he wasn’t making shots. He was ready and he made the most important shot of the game.”
Rice wasn’t the only Maryland player to struggle on the offensive end of the court. Reese finished the game converting on two of his ten shots supplementing his 15 rebounds with only four points. Instead, the Terps’ offense relied on Queen, Gillespie, and Selton Miguel to guide them to victory.
The trio scored all but nine of Maryland’s 68 points while making half of their shots. Maryland also benefited from Penn State’s blunders, scoring 21 points off of 16 Nittany Lion turnovers, in similar style to the first half.
Early in the first half, the Terps appeared to play with a vengeance coming off the heartbreaking loss against No. 8 Michigan State three nights ago. Gillespie — who missed what would’ve been the go ahead shot in Wednesday’s loss — started his afternoon scoring two deep 3-pointers putting Maryland up early.
“We knew we needed this win and we knew we needed to bounce back from that heartbreaking loss,” Gillespie said.
The Terps increased their lead by benefiting from the sloppy play of the Nittany Lions, scoring 12 points off seven Penn State turnovers in the first half. But once the turnovers stopped, so too did Maryland’s offense.
The Terps struggled to score through the final ten minutes of the half. Penn State employed a zone defense against Maryland that completely scrambled the Terps offensive agenda. Maryland shot under 30 percent during that stretch only converting on five of their 18 shot attempts.
The Nittany Lions finished the half on a 7-2 scoring run going into the break with a six point lead.
Penn State fell into the same trap in the second half turning the ball over eight times within the first ten minutes allowing Maryland to retake the lead. Baldwin Jr. finished as the team’s leading scorer with 18 points on four made shots.
Maryland’s win was its first at Bryce Jordan Center since 2015 and is a key victory in the Terps’ pursuit of a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. Maryland and Purdue are tied for the fourth spot in the Big Ten standings. Purdue holds the tiebreaker over the Terps.
Maryland will try and carry this momentum into its next game against No. 15 Michigan. The Wolverines lead the Big Ten standings with a conference record of 14-3.
