Queen regal for Terps, favored Maryland runs away from Grand Canyon in Seattle NCAAs
With a mad coach who sent away his boss in a far-from-complimentary way, Maryland’s madness marches on.
Thanks to Derik Queen being regal, again.
The Big Ten’s star freshman big man’s 14th double-double this season, and ninth in his last 11 games, left smaller Grand Canyon in a chasm it could never get out of.
The fourth-seeded Terrapins seized a 20-point lead in the first half. Then they cruised to a 81-48 victory over the 13 seed ‘Lopes at Climate Pledge Arena in the second of four first-round games of the NCAA tournament’s return to Seattle.
Queen finished with 12 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, multiple no-look passes inside and more menacing moves than a turtle should have. He led the Terps (26-8), second-place finishers in the Big Ten this regular season, into the second round Sunday at the home of the NHL’s Kraken — and hoped-for home of the future Sonics to the NBA.
Maryland will play Colorado State for a spot in the West regional semifinals, the Sweet 16, next week in San Francisco. The 12th-seeded Rams (26-9) rallied to beat fifth-seeded Memphis 78-70 in the first Seattle game Friday.
“We knew we had the advantage inside,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “Proud of the guys that they stuck with it, and got the ball inside, played physical.”
Before his team practiced at Seattle Center Thursday, Willard raised eyebrows and wonder when he vented on Damon Evans, the apparently outgoing Terrapins athletic director expected to become the next AD at SMU.
Willard hasn’t signed a new contract with the Terrapins’ athletic department. That’s led to rumors he could leave, perhaps for the job at Villanova that just came open.
Thursday here, Willard was asked why he hasn’t signed a contract with Maryland.
“He’s probably going to SMU,” Willard told reporters at Climate Pledge Arena Thursday, about AD Evans. “So it’s kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that’s maybe not here.
“But I need to make fundamental changes to the program. That’s what I’m focused on right now. That’s why, probably, a deal hasn’t got done.”
After the Terps showed while blowing out Grand Canyon they weren’t at all distracted by their coach and AD, Willard said: “There’s no situation. The only situation is you guys (the media), and Twitter.
“I can’t control you guys. And I can’t control Twitter.
“I’ve talked to these guys. These guys know exactly what’s going on. I’ve been open with them. I’ve been honest with them ...
“We have a website that’s like, might as well be TMZ. ...
“We were focused. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to beat these guys. There’s nothing else to talk about. You guys are going to write whatever you want to write. I don’t give a (s***).”
Then Friday evening, SMU announced it indeed hired Evans as the new athletic director at the Atlantic Coast Conference school.
On the court Friday, Willard’s senior forward Julian Reese scored 18 points on 8-for-15 from the field. The Terps trailed early. Then they blitzed Grand Canyon with Queen inside and hot shooting outside during a relentless, 31-6 run.
It put the Terps up by 20, 33-13, with 5 1/2 minutes left in the first half.
Grand Canyon missed 16 of its first 21 shots and was shooting 23%. That was while Maryland was scorching, 12 for 23 (52%).
All the while, Queen dominated the lane.
“We just kept punching, punching and punching — and just defended,” Queen said.
Late in the first half, Grand Canyon leading scorer JaKobe Coles spun on a Terps defender free to rim for what he thought was a layup. The 6-foot-10 Queen raced across the lane and swatted Coles’ shot from the rim into the corner. Coles, the Western Athletic Conference tournament most outstanding player last week, looked stunned.
To avoid Queen, the ‘Lopes resorted to shooting 3-point tries outside. That mostly failed, too.
GCU shot just 21.7% (5 for 23) from 3-point range.
Grant-Foster made one, from well behind the top of the arc to end the first half. He angrily pointed at his ‘Lopes bench as the teams headed into the locker room for halftime. That cut Maryland’s lead to 42-28.
Grant-Foster scored the first basket after halftime, too, a put back that got GCU within 12.
Grand Canyon couldn’t get closer after that. A tip-in backside off a miss by Queen put Maryland back up by 17, 51-34, with 15 minutes remaining.
The lead grew to 71-45 with 5:20 left, on a 3-pointer by the Terps’ Selton Miguel off the ‘Lopes’ ninth turnover, then to 79-48 with Jordan Geronimo’s emphatic, two-handed dunk off a loose ball in the lane with 2 minutes left.
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 3:54 PM.
