Julian Reese, Derik Queen draw accolades following two-game road trip

Ahmed Ghafir
Jan 27
2 min read

Maryland men’s basketball’s starting frontcourt drew accolades coming off their dominant two-game road win streak as senior Julian Reese was named the Naismith Player of the Week, only for Derik Queen to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Week an hour later.

Reese was dominant in game one of the road trip as head coach Kevin Willard made clear the frontcourt would lead Maryland against then-17th-ranked Illinois. The senior set career-highs in Thursday’s win over after finishing with 27 points and 17 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the season and 30th of his career. He wasn’t alone with Derik Queen adding 25 points to help Maryland dominate inside while the team’s 62 points in the paint marked the most under Kevin Willard and by any Big Ten team this season. Reese followed it up with a 14-point and ten-rebound performance in Sunday’s win at Indiana.

The senior forward now sits third on the team in scoring, averaging just shy of a double-double on the season with 13.7 points and 9.2 rebounds while shooting 22-of-24 from the free-throw line over his last five games.

Reese’s 14 points on Sunday pushed him to 1,297 career points, passing Joe Smith for 31st-most all-time while his 866 career rebounds passed both Donta Scott and Tom McMillen for eighth-most in program history. He is also one of eight players in program history with 1,100 points and 800 rebounds in his career.

Queen, meanwhile, drew the conference honor for the third time this season, becoming the first Terp to do so since Jalen Smith in 2018-19.

Queen’s 25-point outing vs. Illinois marked his seventh 20-point game of the season, while the former five-star added seven points, two blocks and 11 rebounds against Indiana. He shot nearly 67% from the field across both games.

Maryland men’s basketball returns to action when they host 17th-ranked Wisconsin. They’ll look to do so with a chance to officially slide back into the AP top 25 next week, the first time the program has been ranked since Feb. 27, 2023. Maryland unofficially ranked 27th nationally in Monday’s updated ranking after drawing 116 points, 15 points shy of 25th-ranked UConn.

Illinois, who bounced back with a 27-point win vs. Nebraska on Sunday, dropped one spot in Monday’s ranking while Michigan State (7), Purdue (10), Oregon (16) and Wisconsin were the Big Ten teams ranked. Michigan drew 129 points and unofficially ranked one spot ahead of Maryland.

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