The Colorado State men’s basketball team got away with an elbow early Sunday night against Maryland. But a no-call on the decisive play of their NCAA tournament game might’ve helped the Terps, too.

Freshman center Derik Queen took three steps after collecting his dribble on his last-second drive, which ended with a banked-in buzzer-beater that gave fourth-seeded Maryland a 72-71 win over the 12th-seeded Rams and a trip to the Sweet 16.

Critics of the no-call have pointed to Queen’s “gather step,” the point at which he gains control of the ball after ending his dribble drive. In the NCAA, players do not get a gather step, as they do in the NBA. According to CBS Sports, a veteran official said Queen had “absolutely” traveled on the shot.

But the popular BBALLBREAKDOWN account wrote on X that “there are directives by the NCAA not to call this a travel.” And, a couple of hours after Maryland’s win, CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore, a former NCAA official, said the no-call was correct. He pointed to the moment when Queen stopped his dribble and brought the ball up toward his chest with his left hand.

“At that point, when he brings it back up, we don’t know if that’s fully possessed,“ he said. “If he bobbles that at that point, he could continue to bobble that basketball all the way to the hoop without a travel.

“You’ve got to wait until you can define firm possession,” he continued. “Now the dribble has ended — as I said, most times than not, it’s when the hands come together. You can see when Derik Queen has both hands together. One foot hits, the 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 with you.”

Queen, who finished with a team-high 17 points, turned the ball over on a traveling violation in the first half on another dribble drive, a call that seemed to perplex him.

But, with the game in the balance, the officials’ whistles kept silent and Queen kept the Terps alive.

This story has been updated.