New faces shine in College Park debut as Terps take care of business versus Manhattan

Photo courtesy of University of Maryland Athletics

A first-half double-double wasn’t enough to satisfy five-star center Derik Queen in his collegiate debut. The Montverde Academy product had the XFINITY Center crowd on its feet for most of Monday night.

The second-highest recruit in program history, Queen led Maryland men’s basketball to its 48th straight win in home openers, defeating Manhattan, 79-49.

Before this season, six players in program history had scored in double figures in their debut. The most recent was DeShawn Harris-Smith, who had 12 points in last year’s opener versus Mount St. Mary’s last November.

Monday night against Manhattan, Queen had a double-double at halftime. His 22 points and 20 rebounds were both category leaders in the game, in fact, no other player grabbed more than six boards. Queen played 27 minutes, more than any other Terp.

“No nerves, just go out there and play basketball–that’s what I love to do,” said Queen. “I’ve been playing basketball forever, so why be nervous now?”

Queen is the first Terrapin to register a 20-20 game since Joe Smith did so in 1995.

Transfer guards Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice also had an impact in their first games as Terrapins. Gillespie started at point guard and finished with 16 points, a notch below his season average of 17.2 per game last year at Belmont. Rice found the hot hand off the bench in the second half, finishing with 12 points in the second-highest scoring performance of the sophomore’s career.

“He’s gained a lot of confidence in practice, so through his confidence, I have gained confidence,” head coach Kevin Willard said of Rice.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with Maryland carrying a 31-28 lead into the locker room. Queen’s first points, a dunk off an easy feed from fifth-year transfer guard Selton Miguel, was met with raucous applause from the XFINITY faithful.

Both teams shook off the rust early on, with five turnovers each in the first ten minutes of the game. The Terps cleaned up their game in the second half, giving the ball away just two times and taking it away seven times.

Maryland came roaring out of the break, highlighted by an 18-5 run driven by Queen and Gillespie. The Manhattan offense, which had answers for Maryland buckets in the first frame, endured a stretch of nine straight misses and one make out of 17.

Gillespie, Harris-Smith, Miguel, Queen, and senior big-man Julian Reese started the game, though all uniformed players saw action for the Terrapins.

“Last year we would’ve been stuck with that same five out there, and I would’ve looked at it and it would not have been a lot of options,” Willard said. “We were struggling, and I had no problem going in with Jay, Rodney, Jordan. It was nice to sit there and give us options.”

Reese had a relatively quiet night in the first game of his senior season, notching nine points and five rebounds. He had two blocks and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line.

Standout performances from Maryland newcomers shrouded a poor night from beyond the arc, as the Terrapins shot 5-for-23 (21.7%). Last season’s three-point percentage of 28.9% was the worst the team had ever performed from range since joining the Big Ten for the 2014-15 season. Manhattan fared no better from distance, knocking down five of 27.

The Terps will host Mount St. Mary’s on Friday night, the second of five straight games at XFINITY to start the season.