COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Freshman Derik Queen scored 18 of his season-high 27 points in the second half, Rodney Rice added 21 points and Maryland beat Minnesota 77-71 on Monday night.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie sank a 3-pointer from the corner with 13 minutes left in the second half to give Maryland its first lead, 49-46, since it was 14-13.
Queen scored six straight Maryland points for a 60-53 lead. His dunk with 4:19 left topped his previous scoring high of 26 against No. 8 Purdue on Dec. 8. Queen finished 10 of 15 from the field and 7 of 8 at the free-throw line.
"Give Minnesota credit," Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said. "I thought they were physical, and we're really making it difficult to get the ball inside. Sometimes you just got to be nice and simple and get to your best players in a two-man game. They were really trying to get the ball out of Ja'Kobi's hands, so it was just a little bit more pick and pop and let Derik kind of create from that elbow area where he's really good."
Gillespie, coming off a career-high 27 points in a win over then-No. 22 UCLA on Friday, had 15 points and seven assists for Maryland (13-4, 3-3 Big Ten). Julian Reese grabbed eight boards to go with four points.
Dawson Garcia led Minnesota (8-9, 0-6) with 21 points despite battling foul trouble in the second half. Freshman Isaac Asuma and Lu’Cye Patterson each scored 15.
Garcia scored 12 points in the first half and Asuma added 10 to help Minnesota build a 35-32 lead. The Golden Gophers shot 50% from the field in the first half, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range, but were hurt by 11 turnovers that Maryland turned into 11 points.
Garcia picked up his third foul with 15:34 left and his fourth six minutes later.
Maryland travels to play Northwestern on Thursday.
Queen Of The Court
- Freshman Derik Queen has been an unstoppable force for the Terps. He scored a career-high 27 points, the most points by a Maryland freshman since Justin Jackson had 28 vs. Minnesota on Jan. 28, 2017.
- It was his sixth game scoring 20 or more points. Since 2008-09, there have been 35 20-point games by Maryland freshmen. In just his first 17 games, Queen has six. It's the second most in that span behind Melo Trimble (10).
- Queen's points per game mark (16.2) ranks second-best among Maryland freshmen dating back to 1947-48. Joe Smith has the best per-game mark (19.4). Furthermore, 18 of the top 26 freshmen scorers in program history were NBA Draft picks.
