COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Sarah Te-Biasu and Derik Queen have more in common on the basketball court than you might think.
Te-Biasu is 5-foot-5 and Queen is 6-foot-10, but both rely on a soft shooting touch and a fair amount of guile offensively — and each of them sent Maryland to the Sweet 16 in dramatic fashion.
Maryland basketball had never experienced a 24-hour period quite like this. On Sunday night, Queen's bank shot at the buzzer gave the Terrapins a 72-71 victory over Colorado State. The following day, Te-Biasu made a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter that tied the game, and the Terps eventually beat Alabama 111-108 in double overtime. This is the first time the men's and women's teams at Maryland have ever reached the Sweet 16 in the same season.
“Look how both teams won, and that’s the pride of who we are to represent our athletic department, our university, our state, on the biggest stage nationally,” women's coach Brenda Frese said after the women's game. “Two teams that have been really resilient all year. You look at the men and you were just hoping it was going to break last night for them, and some of the buzzer-beater shots that have gone on (against) them and they stayed the course and stayed resilient. I’ll say the same thing for this group.”
It's been a pretty pedestrian start to these NCAA Tournaments in general, with few major upsets or thrilling finishes on the men's or women's side. But at Maryland, this has been a memorable March Madness already.
The men's team endured several last-second defeats against Big Ten opponents, including a shot from beyond halfcourt by Michigan State's Tre Holloman and a length-of-the-court drive by Michigan's Tre Donaldson. Against Colorado State, Maryland got the ball to Queen, a big man who is comfortable handling the ball away from the hoop. He dribbled to his left — some would say that dribble ended suspiciously early, before Queen took a couple more long strides — and then deftly banked in a shot from a severe angle.
“Coach drew up the play, my teammates trusted me, he trusted me,” Queen said. “I was a little bit, like, nervous, but I knew we were due for one and I had to make this.”
Te-Biasu's shooting has become a bigger factor of late for the women. She's made 42 of 81 shots from beyond the arc in her last 13 games. Her last-second shot to beat Ohio State late in the season was part of the reason Maryland was able to host Alabama on Monday as the No. 4 seed in its region. Down three against the Crimson Tide, the Terps were scrambling. Kaylene Smikle had a 3-pointer blocked, but came up with the ball against the sideline and passed to Te-Biasu near the top of the key.
Te-Biasu connected, and the game went on through a pair of overtimes. She finished with 26 points to give the school another incredible March moment.
“Coach Frese and Coach (Kevin) Willard, congrats to them and what they've been able to accomplish thus far,” football coach Mike Locksley said Tuesday at a spring practice news conference. “Anybody knows me knows I'm a huge, huge basketball fan, so this time of year, to see our Terps doing some big things is really good.”
It's a bit of a surprise that Maryland's men and women have never been to the Sweet 16 at the same time. This is one of only three schools — along with UConn and Baylor — that have won national titles in both men's and women's basketball this century. But the women's team went 13 years without a Sweet 16 before Frese won it all in 2006. And after winning the NCAA championship in 2002, the men's team made the Sweet 16 only twice more before this year.
The big victories in the past few days came amid a bit of upheaval in the athletic department. Athletic director Damon Evans left to go to SMU last week, and his exit was a little awkward, with Willard openly discussing the likely move before it was official — while also complaining about institutional support for his men's basketball program.
Although Locksley made a point of congratulating the basketball teams — and shouting out several other Maryland sports programs for their success — he didn't have much to say about Willard's comments.
“I'm an old-school DC guy. Family business is family business,” Locksley said. “I have no comment on any of those things. It doesn't pertain to my business, it doesn't pertain to what I need to do. As I've stated, since I've been here, I've gotten the resources that I've needed.”
As college sports prepares for its revenue-sharing era, Maryland is in an interesting spot. It competes in the Big Ten in football and has reached its share of bowl games recently, but the school's most significant success has come in sports like lacrosse, field hockey and soccer — and it's often basketball that really moves the needle in terms of fan support.
The next athletic director will have to make some interesting decisions when it comes to priorities, but for now that can wait. The Sweet 16 beckons.
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Noah Trister, The Associated Press
