College sports fandom is often built on a connection to a school, team or program. But when elite-level talent is on display, the focus can shift.

That’s what many fans presumably came for on Sunday when Maryland men’s basketball beat Rutgers, 90-81, at Xfinity Center. The Scarlet Knights haven’t lived up to their lofty preseason expectations, but dozens of NBA scouts still flocked to Xfinity Center to watch five-star freshmen Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper and Derik Queen.

Queen said he and Harper, who have been playing against each other since middle school, spoke two days ago about the upcoming matchup. Maryland’s (18-6, 8-6 Big Ten) big man made it clear what he was playing for.

“[Harper and Bailey are] my guys. Obviously, we all in a race [for Big Ten] Freshman of the Year,” Queen said. “On the court it’s competitive, and I just wanted to set myself [apart] and let them know that I want the freshman of the year.”

Queen’s fingerprints were all over a game that turned into one of his most complete performances of the season. The freshman produced 29 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in 31 minutes, outdueling the Rutgers duo that combined for 24 points on 21 shots.

[No. 18 Maryland men’s basketball blows 17-point lead to Ohio State in 73-70 loss]

Harper scored 20 and had a stronger individual performance than Bailey, who took just four shots but while dealing with an illness. The 6-foot-10 forward played 24 of the game’s first 27 minutes and never returned for the Scarlet Knights (12-12, 5-8), sitting on the bench before heading to the locker room late.

Coach Kevin Willard said all Maryland talked about at its last practice was making Bailey and Harper uncomfortable offensively, particularly in the first half so that they couldn’t get a rhythm.

“They’re too talented,” Willard said. “They’re going to eventually find a way to get a smooth bucket. … [But] the biggest thing was for us, knowing they were young, knowing they’ve never [played] in this building, just keep pressure.”

Queen did much of his damage on the interior against an inferior Rutgers frontcourt. He tied his season-high of six offensive rebounds — with five of those coming in the first half — and seven of his nine made field goals were either layups or dunks.

For a team barely ranking inside KenPom’s top-100 adjusted defensive efficiency metric, the Scarlet Knights held strong on that end in the early going. Maryland missed its first seven shots and 12 of its first 15, going down by as much as seven points.

But the Terps hung around enough in the opening 10 minutes despite those offensive woes, and soon after exploded.

[A unit lacking scoring, Maryland men’s basketball’s bench wants to outwork everyone]

They made six of their ensuing 10 shots across a 13-4 scoring run, opening a double-digit lead late in the first half. A big reason for Maryland’s success was its dominance on the interior. The Terps hauled in offensive rebounds on 11 of its 24 misses and scored 11 second-chance points in the half.

That advantage remained steady for the remainder of the period, with the Terps at one point ahead by 15. They entered the break up 49-38, while fifth year guard Selton Miguel led all scorers with 14 points on four made 3-pointers.

“I thought Selton in the first half was phenomenal,” Willard said. “He just made some shots that he’s been doing.”

Maryland suffered another lengthy scoring drought early in the second half, missing six consecutive shots in a more-than-five-minute drought. Rutgers didn’t do much better across that stretch, missing five of seven attempts, but went on an 11-2 scoring run to cut its deficit to just three.

The Terps slowly built their lead back from there, with Queen and sophomore guard Rodney Rice doing most of the scoring to close it out.

Queen won the battle against two top-five projected NBA draft picks, both individually and team-wise. He knows that’ll likely help his draft stock down the line, but for now the big man isn’t too focused on that.

“I just gotta go out there and try to win as many games as possible,” Queen said. “Play well and just keep winning games.”