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Derik Queen game-winner controversy: Gene Steratore reacts to officials decision not to call a travel

FaceProfileby:Thomas Goldkamp•03/23/25
Derik Queen
Photo by Stephen Brashear / USA TODAY Sports

Maryland knocked off Colorado State in thrilling fashion to advance to the Sweet 16. But immediately the game-winning, buzzer-beating bucket came under scrutiny for a possible travel. Whether Derik Queen took two or three steps after picking up his dribble was the question.

To CBS rules expert Gene Steratore, he was in the clear. He joined a postgame broadcast to discuss the lack of a call.

“It’s a great ending, right? Look, by rule the dribble doesn’t end until there’s firm possession with one hand locked or more times than not with two hands,” Steratore explained. “So we’ve got to look to see when the dribble ends. Derik Queen makes the turnaround, the loop. At that point when he brings it back up, we don’t know if that’s fully possessed. If he bobbles that at that point he could continue to bobble that basketball all the way to the hoop without a travel. So you’ve got to wait until you can define firm possession.”

For Steratore, possession was established once Queen got into the lane and began to pull up for his shot. He viewed the Maryland play as a basketball play only.

“Now the dribble has ended, as I said most times than not it’s when both hands come together,” Steratore said. “You can see when Derik Queen has both hands together, one foot hits, next foot, great shot, great ending. To me it just really doesn’t jump off the screen as anything big, I’ve got to be honest about that.”

Maryland has been no stranger to close games this season, losing a handful of them at the buzzer. This one was different.

Colorado State hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left to take the lead. But rather than panic, Maryland just went to work. The Terps drew it up and executed.

“I mean, I couldn’t do it without my team,” Derik Queen said postgame to Andy Katz. “Like, we was down and then, and then Ju (Reese), Jo (Geronimo), Selton (Miguel), and all those seniors? We didn’t want, uh, want this to be their last game. So we just kept fighting and kept fighting. My coaches and my teammates trusted me to take that last shot.”

He discussed the confidence in getting the game-winner. Not everyone is capable of making that play.

“I mean, so I think – I’m from Baltimore. That’s why,” Queen said. “And then, and then I kinda had it going all game, me and my teammates had it going. Like I said, they trusted me to take that last shot.”