Colorado State didn’t have a ticket to the NCAA Tournament until winning the Mountain West postseason tourney one day before Selection Sunday.
Now the bracket-crashing Rams are one victory away from their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1969.
One of the nation’s hottest teams, 12th-seeded Colorado State searches for its 12th consecutive victory when it meets No. 4 seed Maryland in West Region second-round play at Seattle.
The Rams (26-9) notched a 78-70 first-round victory over No. 5 Memphis, while the Terrapins (26-8) rolled to an easy 81-49 win over 13th-seeded Grand Canyon. The 32-point margin of victory is the largest for Maryland in NCAA Tournament play.
Meanwhile, Colorado State is hearing it’s an underdog, but the group, led by projected NBA first-round draft pick Nique Clifford (18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds per game), isn’t worrying about labels.
“I feel like we just don’t really look too much into the underdogs or look into seeding,” Rams guard Jalen Lake said Saturday. “We’re just here to play, and we just try to take one game at a time and have the same mindset that we have had in the conference tournament, whether it’s March Madness or not.”
Colorado State coach Niko Medved’s team whipped Virginia 67-42 in the 2024 NCAA Tournament before losing to Texas in the second round. So it’s not like the Rams don’t have familiarity with the terrain.
“We just have a strong level of belief in what we’re doing,” Medved said. “We have a really competitive group who cares and really believes they can win, that loves to put it all out there. I just think more than worrying about whatever people think of us, it’s just more we just really try to double down on the belief in ourselves.”
The Terrapins aren’t about to look down on Colorado State.
“Yeah, I believe whether they’re a 12 seed, 14 seed or whatever, it’s March. It’s win or go home,” Maryland forward Jordan Geronimo said. “Other coaches stress that we can’t take anybody lightly, no matter what seed they are or what their name is. We’re all going in with the mindset of playing hard and winning because it’s survive and advance at this point.”
The Terrapins have won 13 of their past 16 games as they attempt to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016, when they beat two double-digit seeds in No. 12 South Dakota State and No. 13 Hawaii.
At the same time, Big Ten Freshman of the Year Derik Queen (16.2 points, 9.2 rebounds) just keeps getting better.
He scored 20 or more points 11 times in the regular season, topped by a 31-point effort against Michigan in an 81-80 loss in the Big Ten tournament semifinals.
“Derik is a great basketball player, as you guys already know,” Geronimo said. “He plays at his own pace, and I’ve played with a lot of talent in my time in college, and Derik is a special one.
“But he’s always laughing, great attitude. He’s a good person to be around, and I’m also glad to be part of his journey and see where he gets to go afterwards.”
Queen was an inside force with 12 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks against Grand Canyon. Julian Reese stood out with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Kyan Evans led the Rams with a career-high 23 points in the takedown of Memphis. Clifford was just 3-of-13 shooting while contributing 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
This will be the first meeting between the Rams and Terrapins.
–Field Level Media
