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Ingelsby, Blue Hens aiming much higher in 2017-18

11/10/2017, 12:00pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Delaware head coach Martin Ingelsby (above) has higher hopes for his Blue Hens this year. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2017-18 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 10. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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Martin Ingelsby’s first season at Delaware was rather unremarkable.

Thanks in large part to a promising young crop joining some key returners, this year’s Blue Hens are hoping to make a lot more noise.

“I love where our group is at mentally, I think they’re a confident group, we have more depth than we had last year and they’re really excited to get going,” the second-year coach told CoBL by phone on Thursday. “Our focus has been on raising the bar and continuing to work to put this program back on the map.”

The Colonial Athletic Association champs in 2014, Delaware had quickly fallen to the bottom of the CAA, winning just seven games in Monté Ross’ final season in 2015-16. In came Ingelsby, an Archbishop Carroll grad and former Notre Dame guard who had been on the Fighting Irish’s staff under former UDel head coach Mike Brey since 2003, first as his director of basketball operations and then as an assistant coach.

Last year, Ingelsby guided Delaware to a 13-20 record, including a 5-13 mark in league play. That was good enough for a ninth-place finish, ahead of only Drexel, which also had a first-year coach in Zach Spiker.

The bright mark was certainly the play of freshman Ryan Daly. Also an Archbishop Carroll product, the 6-foot-5, 225-pound wing guard led the team in scoring (16.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg), earning CAA Rookie of the Year and Third Team All-League honors.

Daly leads four of the top five scorers returning from a year ago, including senior Anthony “Champ” Mosely (10.0 ppg), plus redshirt junior guard Darien Bryant (7.6 ppg) and redshirt junior big man Eric Carter (6.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg); Cazmon Hayes (8.6 ppg) was the only one who graduated.

They’re joined by a group of three freshmen with a lot of promise.

From the DMV region come Ryan Allen, a 6-2 guard from powerhouse DeMatha Catholic (Md.), and Chyree Walker, an athletic 6-5 wing out of the Bullis School (Md.). They’re joined by Kevin Anderson, a 6-5 wing guard from St. John Neumann (Pa.), a single-A school up in Williamsport, was the PIAA Class A player of the year as a senior; he might need more time to get adjusted to college, but might be the highest ceiling of the group.

All three will jump right into the rotation. In an exhibition game against Mount St. Mary’s, with Bryant and Mosley sidelined by injuries, Walker (five points) and Anderson (12 points) both started and played at least 30 minutes in the overtime loss; Allen scored 19 points in 38 minutes off the bench.

“That’s a big difference, the freshmen,” Daly said. “They each do something. One shoots better, one passes better...they’re all individually really good. When we play together, there’s such good energy. And they don’t like losing.”

“They’ve been great, since the day they stepped on campus,” Carter added. “They came in eyes wide and open ears and [they] pick up things quick and listen. They’re going to shock a lot of people.”


Eric Carter (above) averaged double-figures in scoring over the last 14 games of last season. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

In addition to the freshmen playing like they’ve got some experience under their belts already, Delaware also is counting on Carter to take a big leap forward in his second full year as a starter.

The Jackson Memorial (N.J.) native played in 23 games (three starts) as a freshman in 2014-15, but only averaged 9.5 minutes; he then missed the entire 2015-16 season with a torn ACL. He started the first 11 games last year but then was moved into a reserve role as he averaged just 4.2 ppg and 5.1 rpg through his first 19.

He hit a low in the Blue Hens’ first game against Drexel, on Jan. 14, when he played just two minutes in a loss.

“To be honest, [assistant] coach Corey [McRae] got on me one day and I think I had to demand more from myself and just play better,” he said. “We had a practice...and he just got on me, texted me and said, ‘You gotta do more. I wouldn’t say it to you if I didn’t think it.’ And it worked out.”

Carter re-entered the starting lineup in the following game and averaged 10 ppg and 5.9 rpg over the final 14 games of the season. That’s the minimum they need from him this season.

Against Mount St. Mary's, Carter scored 20 points (5-9 FG, 10-13 FT) and grabbed eight rebounds, while also dishing out three assists and grabbing a steal without committing a turnover in 35 minutes.

“I do think we really committed to him and invested in him,” Ingelsby said, “and he was playing a lot of minutes and he learned how to play well and play in our system and we allowed him to play through some mistakes, and I think his confidence level is at an all-time high, and I’ve really talked about him as far as believing in himself and believing that he’s one of the best big guys in our league.”

Backing up Carter will be two other bigs, senior Skye Johnson and redshirt sophomore Derrick Woods, a 6-8 St. Bonaventure transfer originally out of Pennsbury.

Ingelsby will get a chance to see what he’s got in his group right away, opening the season on the road against an always-tough Richmond squad on Friday night before traveling to Peoria (Ill.) to take on Bradley next Tuesday night. They won’t play a home game against a Division I opponent until Nov. 27, when Yale visits the Bob Carpenter Center.

Two weeks after that, Notre Dame comes to visit on Dec. 9 in what’s sure to be a sold-out atmosphere.

“We’re going to take some punches and be ready to learn from it and go out and be ready to compete the next game,” Ingelsby said. “I like our depth, I like our competitiveness and I look forward to seeing who our team can become over the next weeks and into a five-month season.”

There are a few teams in the CAA that are clear favorites, including a 25-win Charleston group and 18-win Elon squad that both return all five starters; Towson and Hofstra are also expected to be in the mix.

If all the pieces come together, the Blue Hens don’t see why they can’t be in the running as well.

“Last year, I wouldn’t have said (a championship) was reasonable,” Daly said. “This year, I think we have the talent and capabilities to do that. If we all, come together, I think we have a good chance that if somehow we can click at the right time and play really well this year.”


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