Derik Queen's buzzer-beating fadeaway gives Maryland a 72-71 March Madness win over Colorado State

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Derik Queen's buzzer-beating fadeaway gives Maryland a 72-71 March Madness win over Colorado State

2025-03-24 11:12 Last Updated At：11:20

SEATTLE (AP) — Derik Queen demanded the ball.

With Maryland trailing 71-70 and only 3.6 seconds left against Colorado State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Terrapins coach Kevin Willard gave each of his players a chance to say they wanted to take the last shot. Queen spoke up, using an expletive for emphasis.

The 6-foot-10 freshman from Baltimore banked in a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer, and Maryland won a 72-71 thriller on Sunday to reach 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 at the top of the key, drove to his left, elevated over two defenders and kissed it high off the glass as the horn sounded.

“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 drilled a rainbow 3-pointer over Queen with 6 seconds left to give the 12th-seeded Rams, who were seeking their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1969, a 71-70 lead.

It was a familiar feeling for the Terps, whose last four losses this season all came on the final possession.

“In the huddle, I said, ‘Guys, for the first time, we have time left. It’s our time to make our moment happen,’” Queen said.

The Rams were seeking to become the lowest-seeded team to reach a regional semifinal in this edition of March Madness, which had been light on upsets and buzzer-beaters.

Queen took care of the last-second heroics — even though his team was the favored one — and the Terps advanced to face the West Region’s No. 1 seed, Florida, in San Francisco.

“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.”

Queen led fourth-seeded Maryland (27-8) with 17 points, Rodney Rice scored 16 and Julian Reese had 15 points and 11 rebounds as each of Maryland’s starters known as the “Crab Five” scored in double figures. Maryland’s bench totaled two points.

Nique Clifford had 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Colorado State (26-10) and Lake scored 13 points.

Willard, Maryland’s third-year coach who before the first round spoke candidly about his frustrations with the program as he seeks a contract extension, took a team to the Sweet 16 for the first time in seven March Madness appearances, five with Seton Hall and one with the Terps.

Maryland trailed by 12 in the first half and was down seven at the break, but the Terps methodically worked their way back in the second half, using their height advantage to pull ahead during the back-and-forth closing minutes.

With 22 seconds left, Reese pulled down 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 kicked the ball to Lake for his 3.

But the Rams left just enough time on the clock for Queen to take advantage.

“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 pulled down a missed Colorado State jumper in the first half for his 1,000th career rebound, joining Len Elmore as the only Terps player to reach the milestone. Elmore had 1,053 boards from 1971-74.

Clifford’s two-handed dunk in the second half allowed him to break the program’s single-season scoring mark set by Pat Durham in 1977-78. He finished with 681 points.

The Rams were the lowest seed left in the tournament. This is the first year there hasn’t been a team seeded 11th or lower in the Sweet 16 since 2007.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Lauren Betts is nearly perfect to lead UCLA past Ole Miss 76-62 and into Elite Eight

2025-03-29 13:39 Last Updated At：13:42

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Lauren Betts was so dominant inside that she barely missed, scoring 31 points on 15-of-16 shooting to lead UCLA past Mississippi 76-62 on Friday night and sending the Bruins to the Elite Eight of the women's NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.

The 6-foot-7 Betts added 10 rebounds and three blocks for the No. 1 overall seed, which will face LSU on Sunday for a spot in the Final Four. The Tigers beat N.C. State 80-73 earlier Friday.

UCLA coach Cori Close called Betts a “generational player.”

“She’s not only dominant for herself, but she makes everybody on the floor better. And so you just want to put the ball in her hands as many ways and as many times as possible,” Close said.

Kiki Rice added 13 points and seven assists and was the only other player in double figures for the Bruins (32-2).

Tameiya Sadler scored 14 points for the fifth-seeded Rebels (22-10), who had reached the Elite Eight five times, but not since 2007.

Betts had a similar line — 30 points and 14 rebounds — in the Bruins' second-round 84-67 victory over Richmond.

“We’ve worked so hard to get here and I’m just so proud of the selflessness,” Betts said. “I think that to get to this point, it doesn’t matter who’s having their best game, it’s just getting wins at the end of the day. It took a lot of grit from everybody tonight, but I’m so proud of this program.”

Betts is one of just three players to have multiple games with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in the tournament in the last 25 seasons.

Ole Miss beat Baylor on its home floor to reach the Sweet 16 for the second time in the past three years. In 2023, the Rebels upset Stanford in the second round before falling to Louisville.

“When I look at the season, no one wanted us here, and no one thought we would be here. And we’re still here," Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. “We got this far, but unfortunately, we ran into a tough team tonight and did not prevail. But at the end of the day, we will continue to build."

Betts' layup put the Bruins ahead 19-10 in the opening quarter, but Ole Miss closed within 21-19 on KK Deans' jumper.

Deans' fast-break layup at the end of the first half got the Rebels within 30-29 at the break.

The Bruins opened the second half with an 8-0 run and went up 45-33 on Londynn Jones' 3-pointer.

Gabriela Jaquez was all alone on a fast-break layup that put UCLA up 63-46 in the final quarter, and Ole Miss never threatened after that.

UCLA’s only two losses this season came against JuJu Watkins and Southern California before the Bruins got their revenge in the Big Ten Tournament final, beating USC 72-67.

“Honestly, I feel like ever since our loss to SC, I’ve just completely changed my mindset going forward. I think just being aggressive, no matter what, and doing whatever I need to do to help my team and just continuing to be positive regardless of what happens,” Betts said.

The Trojans will also play in Spokane, facing Kansas State on Saturday. It will be their first full game without Watkins, who tore the ACL in her right knee during the first quarter of a 96-59 second-round victory over Mississippi State.

There were not enough superlatives for Betts' performance. She scored 16 of UCLA's 30 first-half points, the second time this season that she's scored more than half of the Bruins' points in a half.

She finished the game with a plus-23 rating, the highest of any player. And the Big Ten's defensive player of the year now has 93 blocks this season.

Last year, UCLA lost to LSU 78-69 in the Sweet 16. Now the Bruins have a chance at revenge.

“We expected to be in this position and it’ll be a good opportunity for all of us who were on the team last year because LSU’s the team that knocked us out,” Rice said. “So obviously want to come out, play hard and play really well against them.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.