Derik Queen played as a king Thursday evening.
When the Beginner Center leads its No. 25 Maryland Terrapins to a Big Ten conference game against Iowa in College Park, MD., On Sunday he sees to be at the top of Hawkeye’s speor report.
Queen comes from a monster performance in an 83-75 victory in Nebraska and Dunker Cornhuskers for a match-high 24 points and 11 returns. No beginner this year in Division I has more 20-10 performances than Queen’s Five, a list containing National Player of the Year candidate Cooper Flagg from Duke and Ace Bailey from Rutgers.
“There have definitely been some games where I fought a lot and my numbers and performances were not good,” Queen said. “But now because my coaches and my teammates go on me and tell me that I’m better than this and then only I watch movies by myself, just keep building and (learn) what mistakes don’t make again. “
Queen (15.9 points, 8.6 returns per match) and Julian Reese (13.7 ppg, 9.1 RPG) give the Terrapins (19-6, 9-5 Big Ten) a powerful frontcourt. It does not hurt to have Ja’kobi Gillespie (14.3 ppg, 4.7 assists), Rodney Rice (13.2 ppg) and Selton Miguel (11.8 ppg) Bombing away on the circumference to keep the opponents honest.
Gillespie and Miguel met each 3 out of 5 3-point attempts in Nebraska.
“When you have Selton Miguel, Rodney Rice and Ja’kobi Gillespie out there and shoot three, it makes your life much easier,” said Maryland coach Kevin Willard.
This quintet currently consists of one of the college basketball’s most productive range. All five have reached double -digit points in the same game four times, including Thursday evening. Only Kentucky can boast more, with all five starters who do it five times.
While Terrapins rolls against an NCAA tournament, Hawkeyes (14-10, 5-8) screams just to make the Big Ten tour. A victory 84-73 at Rutgers on Wednesday, just Iowa’s second triumph in eight matches, was a big step in the right direction.
It was Hawkeye’s first victory without a leading goal scorer Owen Freeman (16.7 ppg), out for the season after finger surgery. Iowa did it behind a combined 46 points from Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort, and Hawkeyes surpassed Scarlet Knights 51-31 during the second half.
“We were locked in both crime and defense during the second half,” said Iowa coach from McCaffery. “I’m really proud of it. Especially when you’re on your way to a really good team you have to keep in touch, and we did.”
Even without Freeman, Hawkeyes has enough firepower to beat someone. They enter the weekend 11th Division I in points at 84.5 ppg, although they rely more on shooting outside with sand fort (16.1 ppg), Dix (14.4) and Drew Thelwell (10.5).
It was not known if Thelwell, who set out on Rutgers due to an ankle injury, could return on Sunday. Although McCaffery said Thelwell was closer to return, the coach also said that Brock Harding, who started and provides 13 points and seven assists against Scarlet Knights, would be on the floor, regardless of whether Thelwell returns.
Maryland owns a lead of 9-8 all the time, including two wins last season. The Sunday competition is the team’s only scheduled meeting this season.
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