After winning a thrilling game over UConn the Florida Gators now know their Sweet Sixteen opponent–the Maryland Terrapins. While Florida’s matchup with the Huskies had its fair share of drama it was nothing close to what happened in Maryland’s thrilling win over Colorado State to advance to see the Gators. Colorado State, a 12-seed who only made the Tournament after winning the Mountain West autobid, was leading for much of the game until Maryland was able to go up by 2 in the final minute. With just 6 seconds left Colorado State’s Jalen Lake hit a massive three-pointer to put the Rams up by a single point, leaving Maryland without any options. Then, in the final possession of the game, freshman Derik Queen had an isolation in the middle of the floor that saw his driving attempt largely cut off, re-routing him towards the baseline and further from the hoop. With time expiring he rose up and put up an off-balanced prayer, and as the buzzer sounded–it kissed off the glass and fell through the net, giving Maryland a thrilling buzzer-beating victory.
Maryland went into the Round of 32 game with Colorado State as a heavy favorite and this game was not expected to be decided on the final shot of the game, but like the Gators they were able to “survive and advance,” the motto that fuels so many teams in March.
Going into the 2024-25 season there weren’t high expectations for the Terrapins. They were picked to finish just 10th in the Big Ten preseason poll, and according to KenPom they were the 38th best team in the country. Going through the non-conference portion of the season without many difficult opponents there weren’t any marquee wins, but there also weren’t bad losses either–leaving Maryland to be somewhat of an afterthought in the college basketball discussion.
However, when Big Ten play started–Maryland came alive. In the first half of the slate they grabbed wins over UCLA, Illinois, and Wisconsin, three of the top teams in the conference, before knocking off Michigan in the second half. Ultimately they finished a remarkable second place in one of the strongest leagues in college basketball and went to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals before losing to Michigan–the eventual champion.
On the back of the strong conference performance, Maryland earned a 4-seed in March Madness. They opened up against Grand Canyon, a trendy mid-major that’s loaded with talent, and left absolutely no doubt winning 81-49. As mentioned previously–things were much tighter with Colorado State.
Perhaps the subpar performance against Colorado State could have something to do with fatigue. This is worth pointing out because one of the unique things about this year’s Maryland team is that they ride their starters unbelievably hard, and only really get 8-10 minutes off the bench from one or two more bench pieces.
The heavy usage of the starting five, as well as their high level of success this year has earned them the nickname “The Crab Five,” a name you will hear nearly every time this Maryland team is referenced. Because of the tight rotation, it’s rather easy to give you a breakdown of every player you need to know entering the matchup.
Derik Queen is a superstar freshman who is likely to be one and done. At 6’10” and 250 pounds with ballerina feet and great hands he is extremely difficult for most teams to match up with. He leads the Terrapins in scoring at 16.2 points per game while adding 9.2 rebounds as well.
Joining Queen in the frontcourt is 6’9”, 250 pound Julian Reese, the brother of star women’s basketball player Angel Reese. Reese is a veteran with great feel for the game and he knows how to use his massive frame to create angles to catch and finish around the rim.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie is Maryland’s point guard, and a player you might have heard of before when the Gators aggressively pursued him in the transfer portal. Averaging 14.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game he’s an excellent point guard for the modern game who can both create his own shot and distribute.
Rodney Rice is a 6’4” wing who is largely a spot up player who is looking to catch and shoot or attack closeouts. Maryland fans will tell you that Maryland is at their best when Rice is playing well, and he’s been playing great as of late.
Selton Miguel is a veteran 6’4” guard who has had stops at Kansas State and South Florida. A physical defender. He’ll often take the opposing team’s best scorer.
Coming off the bench is Jordan Geronimo, a 6’6”, 225 forward who will take some minutes in the frontcourt, and Jay Young, a 6’2” point guard who will take some secondary ball handling abilities. There could be spot sightings of wing Deshawn Harris-Smith and Tafara Gapare, but generally speaking Maryland is going to play their bench as little as possible.
A big reason Maryland has been so successful this season, and the thing that makes this matchup so interesting, is their frontcourt of Derik Queen and Julian Reese. In a world of teams going for smaller, more skilled frontcourts–Maryland plays extremely big. Queen and Reese would be centers in most settings but they play together with Maryland making for a brand of power basketball few teams can match up with. Of course–Florida is another team that plays this style, so this will be one of the best frontcourt matchups in college basketball. Maryland’s frontcourt isn’t as versatile as Florida’s and they don’t have the ball handling of Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh but they have incredible size and strength and they should give Florida some issues.
Another reason why Maryland has been so good this year, and why the two big lineup has worked, is that the Terrapins have absolutely elite shooting from their three perimeter players. Gillespie (41% from three), Rice (37% from three), and Miguel (43% from three) are as marksmen as you’re going to see in college basketball and it can really deter teams from helping down on Queen and Reese when they catch the ball near the paint. Maryland’s offense isn’t particularly complex and they rely on the mismatches created by their size, and Florida will look to stay out of scramble mode and keep offensive players out of the paint in order to limit over helping and opening up catch and shoot opportunities.
Coming in at 22nd in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric, Maryland actually rates much better on defense where they are 6th. This comes as somewhat of a surprise given the roster build that doesn’t have a lot of size or athleticism on the perimeter and is featuring two big men which can be an issue for most teams, but head coach Kevin Willard is an excellent defensive mind who has got this group to protect the paint at a high level. There are some issues with only really playing five guys such as foul trouble and fatigue, but one of the benefits is that they are an extremely connected group that plays an intelligent brand of defense that can only come from a ton of minutes played together. You won’t often see the Terrapins get scrambled defensively, and if they do either Queen or Reese will be there at the rim to block a shot or make a big play.
Going into this game both Florida and Maryland won’t be particularly thrilled with how they played in the Round of 32, but there will be several days for both teams to get right. It will be a fascinating battle on the interior with Florida’s depth and versatility going against Maryland’s size and athleticism, and it will be a fascinating battle on the perimeter with two groups of guards that are elite at knocking down shots.
According to KenPom, Florida is favored to win this game by six points.
Florida and Maryland will play on March 27th, but the tip time is yet to be determined.