Big Ten Daily (March 23): Did Maryland's Derik Queen Travel on Winning Shot? Expert Says No

The Big Ten Daily is back, and it's better than ever. Our roundup of all things good and bad around the league each has been a fun staple of our "On SI'' coverage through the years, and it returns today. And every day going forward, Brandon Brown of our team will keep you updated with a fun take on Big Ten news.
We've got a good one right out of the box, because there was a lot of controversy to the ending of the second-round NCAA Tournament game Sunday between Maryland and Colorado State. The Terrapins know all about drama this year, because their last four losses all came in the last second in the last two months.
It looked like it was going to happen again on Sunday when Colorado State's Jalen Lake hit a three-pointer with 6 seconds left to give the Rams a 71-70 lead. Maryland got the ball to halfcourt and called timeout. Freshman Derik Queen demanded the ball in the huddle, caught it at the free throw line and dribbled down the left side. He picked up his dribble, took a step — or maybe two — and scored on a layup to give the Terrapins the win.
There was an immediate cry on social media that Queen traveled, and the basket should not have counted. In slow motion, it's easy to count the dribbles, and the steps. But for many fans — the same ones who cry that ''palming'' doesn't get called any more either —,they simply don't know that rules and the interpretations.
Gene Steratore, who is the only person to referee a Super Bowl and officiate Final Fours, has been a rules analyst for CBS and its partners since 2018. The CBS and TNT studio shows talked to him about the call — and he said officials got it right. It was not a travel.
“To me, it just really doesn’t jump off the screen as anything big.” - @GeneSteratore
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 24, 2025
Our rules analyst @GeneSteratore joins the crew to discuss the travel rule and why he doesn’t see a violation on Derik Queen before his game-winner against Colorado State. pic.twitter.com/krV0lTkjfD
"It's a great play, and a great ending, right?'' Steratore said. "By rule, the dribble doesn't end until there's firm possession with one hand locked, or more times than not, with two hands. So we have to look to see when the dribble ends. Derik Queen makes the turn around the loop and that point, when he brings it back up, we don't know if it's fully possessed.
"If he bobbles it at that point, he could continue to bobble that basketball on the way to the hoop without a travel. So you've got to wait until you can define firm possession. Now the dribble has ended, as I said most times than not it's when both hands come together. You can see when Derik Queen has both hands together, one foot hits, next foot, great shot, great ending.
"To me, it just really doesn't jump off the screen as anything big, to be honest with you.''
With the win, Maryland advances to the regional finals to take on No. 1 seed Florida on Thursday night in San Francisco. And it almost seems like redemption after crazy last-second losses to Northwestern, Ohio State, Michgian State and Michigan.
Coolest moment of my broadcasting career. Terps keep dancing. pic.twitter.com/O4ENevPabF
— Tyler Lochte (@tylerlochte) March 24, 2025
Queen was ready for the big moment. And coach Kevin Willard was happy to trust his young star.
“When Coach drew up the play, he trusted me — and my teammates trusted me,” Queen said. “I was a little bit nervous, but I was due for one, and I had to, had to make this. In the huddle, I said, ‘Guys, for the first time, we have time left. It’s our time to make our moment happen.’ ”
Ethan Morton, who played four years at Purdue before closing out his college career at Colorado State, played great defense on the final possession, forcing Queen to use his wrong hand and elevate over him. Morton did a great job, but Queen was even better.
“I thought we defended that last play pretty well. It’s about all we could ask for, and he made a freaking unbelievable shot,” Colorado State coach Niko Medved said of Queen. “That’s what happens in March Madness and sometimes you’re on their side of it — and sometimes you're on ours.”
Oregon loses in uncharacteristic fashion
No. 5 seed Oregon got knocked out the NCAA Tournament late Sunday night when the Ducks fell to former Pac-12 partner Arizona 87-83 in Seattle. They got off to a great start, going up 19-4 to start the game, but gave it all back. It was a one-possession game at the end, and Arizona pulled it out by making their last six free throws.
Oregon (25-10) has had great success winning games at the line all season, but they were just 12-for-22 from the free throw line on Sunday, and missed a key one-and-one late.
"I was talking to the guys here, and we have played 30-some games and it’s the first one this year that we lost at the line,'' Oregon coach Dana Altman said postgame. "We’ve been a good free throw shooting team. We’ve hit clutch free throws all year, and we went 12--for-22 with missing a front end.
"So you know, that hasn’t been typical for us, but I’ve always told the guys it’s a game of very few possessions in most cases, and tonight that was true. We had our opportunities, came out great, but didn’t play the way that we needed to play to win the game.''
Oregon was one of four Big Ten teams to not make it out of the first weekend. UCLA, Illinois and Wisconsin were the others. Wisconsin was the only one who was a top-four seed, losing to BYU.
Big Ten by the numbers
- REESE HITS 1,000: Maryland forward Julian Reese had 11 rebounds in ther Terps' win over Colorado State, and now has 1,006 boardrs during his four-year career in College Park. He's just the second Maryland player to reach that level, joining legend Len Elmore as the only Terps player to reach the milestone. Elmore, an All-American, had 1,053 rebounds from 1971-74.
- SWEETEST 16 FOR IZZO: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is headed back to the Sweet 16 for just the second time since 2019, but it's his 16th visit overall, tied for the most overall among active coaches along with Arkansas' John Calipari, who's back this year, too. The No. 2 Spartans take on Ole Miss on Friday in the regional semifinals in Atlanta. If you're curious, Izzo has reached the Elite 8 on 10 occasions.
- A PERFECT 10: Purdue tipped off the NCAA Tournament with an afternoon game on Thursday and got a win against High Point. Then the other seven league teams — Michigan State, Michigan, Maryland, Oregon, Wisconsin, UCLA, Illinois —all won their first-round games. And when Purdue and Michigan won second-round games on Saturday, that was 10 straight victories to start an NCAA Tournament. That's never been done before in NCAA history. The streak ended when Wisconsin lost to BYU on Saturday night.
Related stories on Big Ten basketball
- INDIANA GETS IT RIGHT WITH DeVRIES: Indiana moved on from Mike Woodson last week by hiring Darian DeVries, the former coach at Drake and West Virginia. Indiana Hoosiers on SI columnist Todd Golden thinks that even though DeVries is "nothing flashy, nothing controversial, and a steady hand on the tiller,'' he's the right hire. "That might seem boring to fans who want a personality, but DeVries’ earnest way of approaching success is what Indiana needs,'' Golden wrote. To read the full column, CLICK HERE.
- MICHIGAN GETS AUBURN NEXT: Michigan beat one SEC opponent — Texas A&M in the second round — and now gets another one in the regional semifinals, No. 1 seed Auburn. Here's a look at the matchup. CLICK HERE
- PURDUE MILESTONE: In Saturday's win over McNeese, Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn became just the eighth player in program history to score 700 points in a single season. Here's the story. CLICK HERE