Maryland center Derik Queen scored a game-high 27 points, but No. 1 seed Florida dominated the rebounding battle and pulled away in the second half to beat the No. 4 seed Terrapins 87-71 Thursday in their West Region semifinal, ending Maryland’s season and likely coach Kevin Willard’s time in College Park.
Queen set the Maryland record for points by a freshman (594), surpassing Joe Smith’s 1993-94 effort, with an 8-of-17 shooting performance along with a perfect 10-of-10 from the foul line in likely his final game as a Terrapin before he’s expected to declare for the NBA Draft.
“I’m not sure yet. I have to talk to my mom, my agency, coach Willard, all the coaches. See what I’m doing.” Queen said of his future.”
Maryland guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 17 points before fouling out late in the second half. Rodney Rice and Julian Reese scored 12 each, but final “Crab Five” member Selton Miguel was held without a point for only the third time all season as Maryland fell to 2-13 all time in Sweet 16 games.
“We only get this opportunity once to be together as a team, build relationships,” Queen said. “It’s gonna be like hard to make relationships like this, but we’re just gonna remember each other and remember all the memories we did.”
Florida (33-4) out-rebounded Maryland 42-20 — and by an identical 21-10 margin in each half — the fourth time in its last five games that Maryland has lost the glass battle by 10 or more. The Gators were paced by Will Richard’s 15 points, along with 14 from Alijah Martin and 13 each from Walter Clayton Jr. and Thomas Haugh.
“They come from a kind of a physical conference in the SEC. And they were really deep. They have a lot of 6’10” and taller guys coming off the bench, where we’ve got a little bit of shorter guys,” Reese said. “But they just kind of outhustled us and they kind of was just more prepared in the rebound battle.”
The Terrapins (27-9) played in their first regional semifinal in nine years under a cloud of distraction caused by coach Kevin Willard and uncertainty about his future at Maryland.
“I don’t I don’t know what I’m doing,” Willard said. “I’ll just be honest with you, I haven’t talked to my agent. I haven’t talked to my wife. I made a promise to this team that I was going to just focus on this team, and that’s all I’ve done. So I haven’t talked to anybody. I have an agent. I’m sure he’s talking to people, because that’s what agents like to do.”
The third-year Maryland leader publicly reveled that athletic director Damon Evans was leaving for SMU ahead of an official announcement while refusing to completely deny rumors that he himself is connected to the coaching opening at Villanova.
“I love College Park. I love Maryland. When you’re it at this point in your career, and you’re looking at things, I have to take everything into consideration about what’s going moving forward. But I have not even talked to anybody, so I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Though Willard had an indirect part in helping to jettison Evans, he lamented the opening and uncertainty that vacancy now causes.
“I don’t know who my boss is going to be,” Willard said. “The guy that brought me here, who I really liked, and appreciative of him bringing me to College Park, is not here anymore, and I don’t know who we’re going to hire. And in today’s day and age, that worries me a little bit, just to be — I’m just being honest.”
Willard’s vacillation in press conferences and media appearances during the last two weeks has served to overwhelmingly turn Maryland boosters and fans against him all in the lead up to Thursday’s game, with sentiments expected to continue to sour against him following Maryland’s biggest loss of its season.
“I understand fans are gonna be pissed because I’m in limbo and this and that. I get it, like, I’m kind of pissed to be honest with you, because I didn’t expect to be in this situation,” Willard said.
The Gators built an initial bit of separation with a 9-0 run across 3-plus minutes, taking an 18-9 lead after Clayton, Haugh and Richard hit threes.
Maryland had more turnovers (6) than field goals (5) in the first 10 minutes. But a 10-4 Terrapins run narrowed the deficit to 24-19 with 7:38 until halftime.
Following a time out, Gillespie then strung together five straight points — hitting a three, then stealing the ensuing inbound pass and converting both free throws after he was fouled — to tie the game at 24.
Maryland then took its first lead since 2-0 on the back of six-straight Queen free throws, 30-27. Richard answered with two-straight layups to put the the Gators back ahead, a lead Florida would carry into halftime, 40-38.
Eleven of the Terrapins final 16 points of the first session came from the foul line after Florida committed 11 fouls in the half. From the rest of the floor, though, Maryland struggled, closing the half on 2-of-10 shooting. Only three players — Gillespie, Reese and Queen — accounted for Maryland’s first 30 points.
Florida was without starting forward and top rebounder Alex Condon for most of the first half after he left following a roll of his right ankle, but still dominated the glass 21-10. Uncharacteristically, the Gators were sloppy with the basketball, turning it over 13 times in the first half alone when they only average 10.6 per game.
Florida scored the first five points of the second half, then after back-to-back buckets by Reese and Queen added another five to build a 10-2 run and an eight point lead, 50-42.
Condon reentered, proving to be a tipping point for the Gators. Gillespie committed his fourth foul, sending his double-digit points to the bench, and Florida opened up a 10 point lead as it settled back into its big man-laden lineup.
Florida, the nation’s third best rebounding team, further exploited its advantage underneath with a Condon block of Miguel that was the closest he would get to scoring. UF buckled down on turnovers — committing only four in the second half — before stepping on the gas with a 13-2 run across 4 minutes to go up 18, before eventually winning by 16.
“I’m just, you know, kind of grateful I was able to be a part of a program like this,” said Reese, who finished his Maryland career with 1,488 points and 1,014 rebounds. “It was just a blessing to be a part, through the ups and downs. And I feel like I kind of came out, and even though we lost, I came out with my chin up. We fought hard, and we just weren’t able to get it done.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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