Queen’s career-high 27 points leads Maryland to comeback win over Minnesota

COLLEGE PARK — A predictable letdown against a struggling conference opponent after a rousing, double-digit ranked win started to happen again for Maryland against Minnesota on Monday night.

Not needing another ugly Big Ten blemish after a humbling loss to open the year at Washington, and with the 0-5 in league play Golden Gophers outclassing them in the first 20 minutes, the Terrapins’ biggest star took matters into his own hands.  

Freshman phenom Derik Queen scored 18 of his career-high 27 points in the second half, as Maryland overcame a halftime deficit for just the second time this season to come back and beat Minnesota 77-71.

“I just had to go harder,” Queen said. “Bring a different mentality and insert myself into the game.”

Rodney Rice scored 21 points, and Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 15 for Maryland (13-4, 3-3 Big Ten), which looked lethargic three days after upsetting No. 22 UCLA for its first ranked win of the season.

“We’re still wasting way too many possessions at times,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “I think that’s the one thing that we’re going to really focus on going forward is just limiting our possessions where we’re kind of just not getting as quality shots as we can.”

Queen scored all but two of his points in the final 23:20 of the game while adding seven rebounds, and his career-high comes after teammate Gillespie’s identical career-high 27 points last Friday against the Bruins.

“I don’t think I really played good,” Queen said of his eight points against UCLA, only the third time this season he didn’t reach double digits. “And then this game, I think I played good. So just basically bringing the [right] mindset, and I think it has helped me learning for where I want to go, to get to the next step.”

Dawson Garcia led Minnesota (8-9, 0-6) with 21 points while Issac Asuma and Lu’cye Patterson added 15 each.

With most students still on winter break, the first half fell into a lull quickly amid a quiet, sparsely-populated Xfinity Center. Minnesota rattled off a 15-2 run and a 23-16 lead in the first 10-plus minutes, holding Maryland off the scoreboard for nearly four of those during the span as the Gophers made five of their first six attempted threes.

Asuma had more points in the first 13 minutes — 10, on 4-of-6 shooting — than the 5.6 per game he was averaging entering the night. 

“I didn’t think we came out with really good defensive intensity,” Willard said. “We talked about making sure they didn’t get hot from the 3-point line, and then we give up three-straight threes to start the game and kind of just got us on our heels.”

Minnesota outperformed its season averages in the first half, shooting 50% from the floor and 55.6% from three. After starting the game 5-of-10 shooting, Maryland shot only 40% in the frame and was 3-of-12 from beyond the arc.

“I mean, that’s just really on us,” Gillespie said. “We didn’t have a lot of energy coming out, warming up, so we just gotta be better at that.”

Queen started to give the Terrapins life near the end of the session, scoring seven of his nine first-half points consecutively in the final 3:20. But Maryland trailed at the half, 35-32, for only the second time this season.

Out of the break, Maryland noticeably showed more intensity on defense, especially in the halfcourt. It would pay off when Gophers’ starters Garcia and Mike Mitchell Jr. headed to the bench with foul trouble.

“I thought we did a much better job in the second half just disrupting their offense, where in the first half, I thought they dictated the tempo and dictated pace.”

Rice hit his second three with 14:02 remaining to tie the game at 44. Two possessions later, Gillespie hit his second triple from in front of his own bench — keyed by a Tafara Gapare block on the other end — giving Maryland a 49-46 lead, its first since the first 6 minutes of the game.

“We play good together,” Gillespie said. “So when I see Derik scoring, I just, I want to get him the ball, and then he finds me. So I think it works out.”

Then Queen got to work again. His fast-break dunk extended the Terrapins’ lead, 51-46, and Gillespie got fouled driving to the lane and converted an and-one to cap a 10-2 Maryland run. 

Minnesota wouldn’t lead again, as Queen capped his incredible night with 12 of Maryland’s final 23 points to seal the win. After losing two straight games to start the year, Maryland has now won two straight, part of a string of five games in 13 days that continues Thursday at Northwestern.