What Colorado State’s Nique Clifford, Niko Medved said after NCAA Tournament buzzer-beater loss to Maryland

The Colorado State men’s basketball team’s magical run came to an abrupt end Sunday evening in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Derik Queen, a projected top-10 pick in the NBA Draft, hit a fallaway runner as the horn sounded to give fourth-seeded Maryland a 72-71 victory over the 12th-seeded Rams at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

Colorado State (26-10), the Mountain West Tournament champion, took a 71-70 lead with 6.1 seconds remaining on a Jalen Lake 3-pointer. But Big Ten regular-season co-runner-up Maryland (27-8) had the answer to end the Rams’ 11-game winning streak and earn a spot in the Sweet 16.

“Obviously, just an absolute gut-wrenching loss for these guys,” Colorado State coach Niko Medved said. “Unfortunately, when you’re the man in the arena and you put yourself out there and you compete at this level and you give everything you have to something, you can experience this.”

Queen ended the game with 17 points, six boards and two blocks.

Nique Clifford, another projected first-round pick, led the Rams with 21 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks.

Here are the highlights from Colorado State’s postgame press conference.

Medved on the back-and-forth game, final shot

“I thought we did just about everything right. It was an unbelievable college basketball game. Both teams going at it, trying to fight to go to the Sweet 16. These guys made a lot of plays. I thought we defended that last play pretty well. It’s about all we could ask for and he made a freaking unbelievable shot. It’s what happens in March Madness, and sometimes you’re on their side of it, and sometimes you’re on ours.”

Medved on matching Maryland’s physicality

“We just battled defensively. I mean, we out-rebounded this team by 10. We fought. We moved the ball. Maybe just a couple more shots go in. But I’m not surprised we battled the way we did. I believed that we would, I believed that we were going to win, and those guys did, too. That’s the way that they played.”

Medved on lack of Cinderellas in 2025 NCAA Tournament

“I think what’s changed in college basketball is there’s not as many old mid-major teams as there used to be all the time where you’ve got guys who played together for two, three, four years at the mid-major level. There’s not as much of that because older guys who have played together are really, really good. So there’s some of that, but sometimes it’s just the way the year goes. I think it’s hard to generalize.”

Clifford on last college game

“My time here at CSU has gone by so fast. Two years, I wish I was there even longer. It was the best time of my life. I really can’t thank coach Medved, Ali (Farokhmanesh) and the rest of the staff enough for what they’ve done for me. They’ve really changed my life, and I’m just thankful for them and my teammates. It was just a fun run that we were able to go on this year.”