COLLEGE PARK — Much hype and anticipation surrounded Maryland’s buzzy acquisition of Derik Queen in the 2024 recruiting class.
The initial verdict? He’s as good as advertised.
The Baltimore big man recorded a double-double — in the first half alone — en route to a stellar 22 point, 20 rebound debut as Maryland pulled away from Manhattan in the second half to win its season opener, 79-49.
“Nah, no nerves,” Queen said of his performance. “Just come out there and play basketball. That’s what I love to do. There’s no need to be nervous. I’ve been playing basketball forever. So why be nervous now?”
Queen, the second-highest-rated recruit in program history, brilliantly showed the promise and expectation coach Kevin Willard and Terrapin fans have for him from the jump, leading Maryland to its 47th-straight home opener win.
“I got the job three years ago, and the first place I went down to was Monteverde [Academy] to watch him,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “He’s one of the best freshmen, if not the best freshman in the country. I know a lot of people talk about other guys, but what he did tonight is what he does every day in practice. So it’s not really that surprising.”
In 27 sensational minutes, he shot 9-of-16 from the floor, and his 20 rebounds, 14 on the defensive glass, were the most by a Division I freshman in their debut since 2015 and the most by a Big Ten freshman in their debut since 1996. Queen joins Kansas State’s Michael Beasley (2007) as the only Division I players in the last 25 years to have a 20-20 stat line in their career debuts.
“I just had to just go get some rebounds. Had a lot of points, offensive rebounds, and then at the top of the key, when the ball got to me, it wasn’t denied,” Queen said. “So like I was playing like Lamarvelous [Lamar] Jackson.”
Belmont transfer guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie finished with 16 points and 5 rebounds, and Dematha grad and Virginia Tech transfer Rodney Rice added 12 for Maryland (1-0). Manhattan (0-1) was led by Shaquil Bender’s 12 points, as well as 10 from D.C. native and Gonzaga College High grad Devin Dinkins.
Queen scored his and the Terrapins’ first points of the season with a dunk on a pretty alley-oop from Selton Miguel. After only 6 minutes, he had already registered 6 points, 4 rebounds and a block to help Maryland to an 11-7 lead.
After their first seven points, Manhattan struggled through an 0-for-8, 5-minute scoring drought as the Terrapins put together a 9-0 run for a 16-7 lead, their biggest of the half.
Dinkins hits the second of back-to-back threes just minutes later, however, and Manhattan erased the deficit and tied the game at 17 with 7 minutes until halftime. Maryland aided the Jaspers by missing six straight shots amid a 5-plus minute scoreless streak from the floor.
Maryland only held a 3-point, 31-28 advantage at halftime. Both teams shot nearly the same from the field: 36% for Manhattan (8-22), 38% for Maryland (9-24).
But Maryland calmed down at the break — “just nerves,” Willard said for the initial struggles — and the Terrapins hit the gas.
“I really wasn’t that worried. I just wanted everyone to kind of get their their game nerves out,” Willard said. “It’s bad thing about playing scrimmages. The good thing is you play good teams. The bad thing is you don’t get that game experience. And so it’s just a little bit, more or less, just everybody kind of relax, and we’ll be okay, and it was.”
Queen scored seven straight points early in the second, including a sequence where he scored a layup, lost his shoe in the process, then got the ball back via a steal and pass from Julian Reese and finished another layup while drawing a foul.
“We wanted to get the ball inside. We knew the size..we had a really big size advantage. We didn’t do a good job of getting the ball inside in the first half,” Willard said. “Again, it’s when you have really talented players, certain guys can take over games. I think Derek just kind of..we got a good steal. He got a big duck in. He’s just a talented player. Sometimes, you just gotta get out of his way.”
His teammates then chipped in, with 5 straight points from Rodney Rice, a grown man dunk from Jordan Geronimo on the fast break, and a Ja’Kobi Gillespie three powered the Terrpains to a 14-2 run in the middle of the second half, a 57-39 lead, and eventually the victory.
“Ja’Kobi is a great shooter, too, so what I’m excited [about] is five assists, no turnovers for his first time out. Having to run the show taking over technically for Jahmir [Young] to get 16 and 5, play defense the way he played, I was really happy with Ja’Kobi.”
Maryland finished the second half 20-of-40 from the floor, while the Jaspers only scraped out an 18.8% mark on 6-of-32 shooting.
“Coaches told us to come out and be more aggressive, mainly on offense,” Rice said. “We needed to do better on that side of the ball. Our defense was well. Yeah, just being aggressive the main thing coming out into the second half.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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