Despite playing just 31 games, Derik Queen’s name already litters the Maryland men’s basketball record book. That recognition only grew on Tuesday, when he was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Queen joins Buck Williams and Joe Smith as the only Terps to win the conference rookie of the year award. The 6-foot-10 Baltimore native was also named to the coaches’ All-Big Ten first team, becoming the first Maryland freshman to make a first team since Melo Trimble in 2014-15.
In what could be his lone season in College Park, the center put up one of the best-ever statistical seasons by a Maryland first-year.
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The former five-star recruit averaged 15.7 points, 9.2 rebounds and two assists. He earned the program’s second-most conference freshman of the week honors with five, while Smith won six in the 1993-94 season. Queen ranks second all time among Maryland freshmen in double-doubles, third in total points and is tied for third in total rebounds.
Some of Queen’s best performances came in games when he had the most eyeballs on him. He scored 24 points in an early-season ranked matchup against Marquette, recorded 26 points and 12 rebounds in his first Big Ten road game against then-No. 8 Purdue and outdueled Rutgers freshmen Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey in a game that had dozens of NBA scouts.
“He’s always came to play and just never shied away from the big matchups,” senior big man Julian Reese said. “He’s been playing way further than his years. He’s not really playing like a freshman anymore.”
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But Queen also struggled at times. Perhaps his worst performance came in one of Maryland’s biggest games, a 58-55 loss to then-No. 8 Michigan State in which he scored 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting. He also went through a self-admitted “freshman slump” in January — the month where the Terps lost their most games — before breaking out of it with a 25-point domination in a ranked road win over Illinois.
Two other Terps received conference honors — junior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie made the third team and Reese was named an honorable mention.
Gillespie, a Belmont transfer, ranks second on the team in scoring with 14.9 points per game and leads the Big Ten with 76 3-pointers. Reese has anchored a Terps defense that finished second in the Big Ten in points allowed.
Sophomore guard Rodney Rice was a notable omission. Rice ranks third on the team in total points and 3-pointers, and averaged 14.8 points in conference play with many of those baskets coming down the stretch in close games.
