COLLEGE PARK — In a battle between three of the most talented freshmen in the country, it was Maryland’s rising star who outclassed his current Big Ten and likely future NBA contemporaries.
Center Derik Queen dominated with a career-high 29 points and 15 rebounds as he and the No. 18 Terrapins out-dueled Rutgers’ talented guard duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey in a 90-81 win Sunday.
“He finally played against someone his own age. He’s been going against, the last four or five games, [a] fifth year senior, fifth year senior, fifth year senior, And he’s played well, but that’s a grind,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “So I thought he I thought he just took advantage of the mismatch and played really well.”
With 47 scouts and executives from 23 different NBA teams in the Xfinity Center “blackout” crowd, Queen dominated/ The Baltimore native recorded with his seventh double-double by halftime and scored 20 or more for the eighth time in his magnificent debut campaign, drawing “one more year” chants from the Maryland student section as the game wound down.
“So them two is, like, my guys. But obviously, we’re all in a in the race [for] freshman of the year,” Queen said of Bailey and Harper. “On the court, it’s competitive, and I just wanted to set my myself aside and just let them know that I want the freshman of the year.”
Queen and Harper even chatted earlier in the week about their marquee matchup.
“We was always talking briefly, like, about this game. I told him I couldn’t wait for the game,” Queen said. “And we actually talked yesterday, two days ago, about it. And then I told him, I wanted this game. I wanted to win this game.”
Harper acquitted himself well for Rutgers, scoring 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting and a perfect 6-for-6 mark from the foul line, while Bailey was limited by injury, only scoring 4 points, all in the first half. All three have been projected as potential lottery picks in this summer’s NBA Draft.
“I think the biggest thing was for us, knowing they were young, knowing they’ve never seen pressure in this building, was to just keep pressure,” Willard said. “And really it was all our whole focus was the first half, making sure that they really were not comfortable in the first half. They’re too talented.”
Selton Miguel helped drive much of the Terrapins’ offense early, and finished with 17 points, all but 2 of those coming from 3-point range. Rodney Rice added 19 points for Maryland, 12 in the second half, and Ja’Kobi Gillespie also finished in double digits with 14 as Maryland has now won five of its last six games.
“I think Rod and Selt have kind of figured out,” Willard said. “One of them have it going, and they’re going to look for each other.”
The Terrapins (18-6, 8-5 Big Ten) started 0-for-7 shooting, with no points in the first 3 minutes. Rutgers used an 8-0 run early in the half, including back to back layups from Harper, to take a 14-7 lead before Willard called a time out.
“I kind of just reminded them, like, ’Hey, we practice great. Whenever we practice great, we play great. Let’s just kind of get get in the rhythm,’” Willard said. “And I thought Selton helped us get in the rhythm.”
It worked. Miguel and Gillespie hit back to back threes, and Queen converted a 3-point play to tie the game at 16 with 11:59 until halftime.
Miguel stayed hot, part of a 3-of-5 start from the floor. He also spread the wealth, dishing a bounce pass underneath to Jordan Geronimo, who threw down his second double-handed dunk in a row to surge Maryland to its first double-digit lead, 32-22.
Queen charged into the post with the ball early, but met resistance and went up too strong on his layup tries. He adjusted mid-half, camping out underneath instead to gobble up rebounds and convert his putback attempts.
His efforts netted him a first half double-double —13 points and 10 rebounds — only the second time the freshman has done that all season and the first since Maryland’s season opener against Manhattan.
“We know when somebody’s hot who to give the ball to,” Miguel said, “and I think it’s understanding when and what spot to give the ball to [someone].”
Though the Scarlet Knights (12-12, 5-8) outshot Maryland 42% to 40% in the first 20 minutes, Queen and Miguel’s performances, along with 13 strong minutes from Geronimo, gave the Terrapins a 49-38 halftime lead.
“JG gives us energy when he comes in,” Rice said of Geronimo, who left the game in the second half after a collision under the basket on the defensive end. “He brings the defensive spark, dunks that get the crowd going, so we appreciate JG.”
Miguel immediately opened the second half scoring with another three, but Rutgers quickly countered with an 8-0 run of its own to narrow the gap to 54-48.
The gap got tighter as more of the whistles started to go the Scarlet Knights’ way. Maryland quickly racked up 6 fouls in barely the same amount of minutes to put Rutgers in the bonus.
The Scarlet Knights got as close as 4 before Rice scored 7 points in a row to push the Maryland lead back to 65-56. Soon after, Queen fueled a 8-2 run to put the Terrapins up by 13, 79-66, with less than 6 minutes to go, then put the exclamation point on his day and the win by scoring 8 of Maryland’s last 11 points to finish his career day.
“I don’t think it matters who’s playing or who’s watching,” Willard said of Queen. “He’s just that good of a player.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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