Kevin Willard reveals unusual method behind drawing up Derik Queen game-winner: 'He said give me the MF ball'

March Madness is the time when college basketball teams across the country demand their superstars to burn the brightest. And nobody knows that more than Maryland star Derik Queen. He’s carried the ‘Terps on his back all season long. And with his team trailing by one point late against Colorado State, Queen did not hesitate in the huddle. His coach, Kevin Willard was trying to decide who was getting the rock with under four seconds left. That’s when Queen spoke up and said, “give me the MF ball”.

It was then that Willard immediately knew who was getting the ball. And the decision worked out beautifully, with Queen delivering a buzzer-beating bank shot to lift his team to victory.

"I asked everybody. I said, 'Who wants the ball?' He said, 'Give me the MF ball.' I said, 'Alright, you're getting it.'"

Kevin Willard on Derik Queen's game-winner. pic.twitter.com/VZ1XhRNeJ7

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 24, 2025

Derik Queen delivered the onions in crunch time

The first weekend of the 2025 NCAA Tournament hadn’t had as much madness as we’d usually want or expect expect. However, that changed tonight in Seattle with the first game-winner in the event.

Down one with just under four seconds left, Maryland’s Derik Queen drove left and hit a running fadeaway off the glass at the buzzer to win it for the Terrapins at 72-71 and knock off No. 12 Colorado State. That’ll send the Terps into the Sweet 16 for the fifteenth time in school history and for the first time in almost a decade.

“I mean, I couldn’t do it without my team,” 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.”

“I mean, so I think – I’m from Baltimore. That’s why,” said Queen of his confidence to hit the season-saving shot. “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.”

Maryland wasn’t glad to be in such a familiar place in the closing seconds against the Rams. CSU had, after a back-and-forth second half, hit a three-pointer from Jalen Lake to take the lead and have what would be the fourth and final game-winner hit on the Terrapins in just this season – two in the regular season from Northwestern and Michigan State and one from Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament. That was before Queen saved them from that fate with his own winner at the buzzer.

Queen, their leading scorer and rebounder this season, led the Terps again with 17 points (58.3% FG), six rebounds, and two blocks in the one-point win. Their starting lineup as a whole was as effective as they have been too with double figures for all of them from Rodney Rice (16), Reese (15 points, 11 rebounds), Ja’Kobi Gillespie (11 points, seven assists), and Miguel (11).

The NCAA Tournament had picked up over the weekend with the games across all four regions during the Round of 32. That was highlighted by this shot from Queen with it being the first game-winner this year in March Madness.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater also contributed to this article.