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Derik Queen travel or no travel? Fans, media react to Maryland’s wild game-winner

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

Derik Queen is a Maryland hoops legend coming out of Sunday after leading the Terrapins to a major 72-71 win over Colorado State in the NCAA Tournament.

Facing the 12-seeded Rams, Maryland fell behind, 71-70, in the final seconds on a go-ahead 3-pointer by Jalen Lake. It was a stunning development after the Terps had seemingly grabbed control of the game in the final minutes, but Queen was undaunted.

Maryland was able to set up an inbounds play with 3 seconds left to go, and it was a clear one-on-one situation to Queen at the top of the key. After the game, head coach Kevin Willard said Queen was asking for the ball in the huddle, and the head coach obliged.

Queen took the ball at the top of the key and went right to the bucket, elevating and getting his shot off in enough time to push Maryland into the Sweet 16. Here’s how it looked live:

However, fans were quick to pounce on the play and question if Queen should have been whistled for traveling on the play. It was certainly a close one, but multiple analysts have since broken it down in detail.

According to BTN’s Ant Wright, it was not traveling with the initial step without a dribble still serving as the gather for Queen.

CBS Sports rules analyst, Gene Steratore, joined the studio crew to break it down, and he also believes it was not a major miss by the officials. Charles Barkley also said he was mad at the amount of texts calling it a travel.

“I was so mad, like ‘What travel are y’all talking about?'” quizzed Barkley.

“It’s a great play, it’s a great ending,” said Steratore. “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’ve got to see when the dribble ends… To me, this just really doesn’t jump off the screen as anything big.”

While there does not appear to be a major controversy in the final ruling, it did not stop social media from lighting up with reactions to whether or not officials should have ruled the play differently:

Moving forward, things get much tougher for Maryland with the Terps drawing 1-seed Florida in the Sweet 16. The Gators are listed as a 6.5-point favorite per BetMGM, and it is Florida who is given much better odds to reach the Final Four.

Florida is the heavy favorite in the West Region at -130 to reach the national semifinals while Maryland is listed at just +450 entering the massive showdown. Be sure to take advantage of the Maryland sports betting apps throughout the tournament.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.