Sweet 16 Game Preview - Maryland vs. Florida
- Zach Penrice
- Mar 27
- 5 min read
Nuts & Bolts
Date: March 27, 2025
Time: 7:39 p.m. ET
Venue: Chase Center - San Francisco, CA
How to Watch: TBS
Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, stan Van Gundy // Lauren Shehadi
NCAA Tournament Bracket: HERE
Matchup History: All-time series between Maryland and Florida is tied 2-2
Last Meeting: Maryland def. Florida 70-68 on 12/12/21 (Brooklyn, NY)
Prediction: Maryland 72, Florida 77
Betting Lines: (Via Draftkings)
Spread: Maryland +6.5
Over/Under: 156.5
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Head Coach: Kevin Willard (3rd season, 65-38 record at Maryland)
Record: 27-8 (14-6, 2nd in Big 10)
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 31
Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2023
Last Time Out: Won vs. #12 Colorado State 72-71 on 3/23/25 (NCAA Tournament - Second Round)
Highlights HERE
Player to Watch: Derik Queen
Two completely different games have vaulted the Maryland Terrapins into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
On Friday, Maryland defeated #13 Grand Canyon emphatically 81-49 behind a team-high 18 points from Julian Reese to lead five Terps who finished in double figures, including a 12 point/15 rebound performance from Big 10 Freshman of the Year Derik Queen.
On Sunday, the Terrapins faced a Colorado State team that had won 11 games in a row, including the Mountain West Conference Tournament and a First Round 78-70 victory over #5 Memphis.
Maryland fell behind early and trailed for the vast majority of the first half and into the second, trailing 37-30 at the break after being down by as many as 12 in the opening 20 minutes.
Just over six minutes into the second half, the Terps had recaptured the lead, resulting in a back-and-forth war of attrition over the final 13 minutes of the game.
There were 15 lead changes in the game, including several down the stretch; neither team led by more than five points over the final 16+ minutes of the game.
With just over 20 seconds to go, senior Forward Julian Reese knocked down two clutch free throws to put Maryland on top 70-68.
Moments later, after a Colorado State timeout, Rams senior guard Jalen Lake knocked down a go-ahead three to put CSU back on top with just six seconds remaining. Lake finished with 13 points in the game, including going 3/6 from deep.
The Terps advanced the ball to mid-court before calling its final timeout with just over 3 seconds remaining.
In the Maryland huddle, Head Coach Kevin Willard asked his team ‘who wants the ball?’ It was the freshman Queen who stepped up, saying ‘give me the f***ing ball.’
Well, it’s a good thing he did, because Queen got the inbounds pass, made a move to his left and made a running jumper at the buzzer to win it for Maryland 72-71.
“That was my first game winner,” Queen said after the Round of 32 victory. “When coach drew up the play, my teammates trusted me and he trusted me. I was a little bit nervous, but I knew we was due for one and I had to make this.”
The game of the tournament thus far lifts Maryland to the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2016, where the team fell to a #1 seed in Kansas 79-63. Maryland has not been to the Elite 8 since 2002, which is also the year of the program’s only national championship.
Awaiting the Terps in the Sweet 16 in San Francisco is Florida, one of the perennial favorites to win this year’s title entering the NCAA Tournament.
The Gators finished 2nd in the SEC, a conference that has put seven teams in the Sweet 16.
For Maryland, much of the game will come down to how JaKobe Gillespie defends Walter Clayton Jr., a First-Team All-American selection and the Florida point guard.
If Gillespie holds up well and Reese and Queen can control the glass, just as UConn did for much of its close loss to Florida, then Maryland will have a real chance to advance back to its first Elite 8 in 23 years.
Regardless, it’s already a tournament to remember for Kevin Willard and Maryland; the Queen buzzer beater will go down in Maryland lore as one of the best tournament moments the program has ever had. At this point, Terps fans just don’t want this run to end.
Head Coach: Todd Golden (3rd season, 72-33 record at Florida)
Record: 32-4 (14-4, 2nd in SEC)
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 25
Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2024
Last Time Out: Won vs. #8 UConn 77-75 on 3/23/25 (NCAA Tournament - Second Round)
Highlights HERE
Player to Watch: Walter Clayton Jr.
Florida survived the biggest scare that any of the 1-seeds faced in the Round of 32.
The Gators trailed for most of its game against #8 UConn on Sunday, but took the lead for good with just under three minutes to go after a three pointer from First Team All-American Walter Clayton, who scored eight of his game-high 23 points in the final three minutes.
This time of year, it’s all about surviving and advancing, which Todd Golden’s team did, knocking off the back-to-back defending national champions, the first time to win back-to-back titles since Florida did so back in 2006-07, the program’s only two titles.
The Gators are widely regarded as the favorite to win the national championship, and for good reason.
Florida is currently 32-4 and has won eight games in a row and 14 of its last 15 contests. Clayton, a senior point guard who is in his second year with the team after transferring from Iona, has led the team in scoring six games in a row, averaging 21.8 PPG during that span and scoring exactly 23 points three times in that stretch.
Florida has not been to the Elite 8 since 2017 when Chris Chiozza hit a buzzer beater three to win over Wisconsin in Madison Square Garden (with yours truly in the stands), before the Gators fell short of the Final Four, losing to South Carolina.
For the Gators to return to the Elite 8 and face the winner of Arkansas/Texas Tech, they’ll need Clayton to perform well and need to slow down the Maryland bigs of Derik Queen and Julian Reese.
Beyond that, Florida will need to be better from the free throw line. In the 77-75 win over UConn, the Gators shot just 64% from the stripe, going 22-34.
Whether it’s this game or a future game in the tournament, Florida will not be able to get away with shooting that poorly from the free throw line if it wants to win a national title.
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