Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Derik Queen beats the buzzer to send Maryland into the Sweet 16
BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
It isn’t March without some late-game drama and Derik Queen made sure to cap off the matchup between No. 4 Maryland and No. 12 Colorado State with a walk-off game-winner to the Sweet 16.
“First I just want to put on for Baltimore,” the Baltimore native said postgame. “A lot of people don’t really make it out of Baltimore and then I just wanted to come here and make a change and hopefully I did make a change so coach Willard can keep getting local kids.”
Maryland needed all 40 minutes of the second round to defeat Colorado State 72-71 courtesy of Queen’s heroics. Queen finished the game with 17 points, none bigger than the two he scored to send Kevin Willard and his squad to San Francisco for the Sweet 16 at the Chase Center.
“I asked everybody, I said ‘Who wants the ball?’,” Willard told CBS postgame. “He (Queen) said ‘Give me the MF ball’ and I said ‘Alright you’re getting it’ and I said don’t mess around go after it and do it and I give him a lot of credit the big dog came up and proved it.”
Willard has been linked to Villanova who had an early exit from the tournament while Maryland is dancing on to the next round.
Maryland’s road to prosperity gets exponentially tougher from here as the No. 1 Florida Gators will be waiting for them at the Chase Center. Florida eliminated the defending back-to-back champions on Sunday.
The two teams will match up on Thursday with a spot in the Elite 8 on the line.
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