City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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After spending his entire childhood watching Big 5 basketball games, Ryan Daly finally got the chance to come home and play a game at one of the arenas he was a spectator in not long ago.

As the son of a Catholic League MVP and St. Joe’s star, Ryan Daly spent plenty of time in the city’s various gyms growing up, at the Palestra, at Hagan Arena, the Liacouras Center. He’d gotten the opportunity to play in some, leading Archbishop Carroll to the Catholic League semifinals at the Palestra this spring.

Tuesday night, he played a college game in one of those gyms for the first time, and looked right at home.

“It’s definitely different,” said Daly. “The lights are a lot brighter. When you’re on the floor, they’re really bright and everyone is watching you instead of you watching them.”

The 6-foot-4 freshman didn’t seem to be affected by the bright lights as he torched La Salle on their home court for 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting while also adding in seven rebounds.

Although his Blue Hens left Tom Gola Arena on the wrong end of a 74-68 contest on Tuesday night, the reigning Philadelphia Catholic League MVP still had a special feeling in his first game back home.

“It’s awesome,” said Daly. “I grew up here, my dad was a coach, my grandfather was a coach. Watching, coming down to games since I was younger and now playing in one of the Big 5 gyms, (there’s) nothing much more I could ask for.”

After going a combined 3-of-10 from the floor in his first two games, a trip back to the city that he calls home was just what Daly needed to jumpstart his freshman campaign.

Coming into halftime with just two points, Daly picked up his game in the second half and played as if he was back in the red and white for Archbishop Carroll rather than a college freshman in his third game.

Daly torched the Explorers for 17 second-half points, scoring in a variety of ways, including scoring twelve over a seven minute span on two three’s, a short jumper, and two aggressive takes to the rack over Explorers’ defenders.

Tagged as primarily a shooter in high school, Daly knew that he had to do more at the college level to be successful.

“I just had to be aggressive,” said Daly. “Before the game I heard they were saying ‘Shooter, doesn’t dribble, doesn’t dribble,’ so I heard that and I was like well if they’re going to play me up close, I might as well try to beat them to the basket.”

Beating his defenders off the bounce and rising up over defenders to finish at the hoop was a side of Ryan Daly that hadn’t been seen very frequently before.

“I’m happy for Ryan Daly, he was in a terrific rhythm in the second half. I joked with him before the game and said he’s been really good in Philadelphia so let’s go out and show that,” University of Delaware coach Martin Inglesby said. “He’s a competitor, he brings it every day, he makes the starting group better because all he wants to do is compete. That’s what he did in the Catholic League and I think that’s something in his DNA.”

After seeing his game translate from practice to the game, Daly can expect to see his role expand for Delaware in the near future.

“He’s only going to get better,” Inglesby said. “There’s so many things he can do to help us win games. He’s a good shot maker, he can compete and get out there. It’s not a surprise that he was able to do that on this stage tonight.”
 

Starting off the season in less than ideal fashion, Daly started to lose some confidence in himself while finding difficulty adjusting to the college game.

“I airballed my first two times at the Bob (Bob Carpenter Center),” he said, referencing the Blue Hens’ home court. “Tonight, I guess I got comfortable, I adjusted pretty well and I started making some plays.”

The confidence from gaining his stroke along with being back in the town he calls home was a magical combination for Daly, which helped him gain success that he will hopefully continue to have for the rest of his freshman season and career at Delaware.

“It’s nice coming back here,” Daly said.  “I had a couple of friends here, a couple of family members. It was nice to play in front of them and I guess that put some extra adrenaline into my brain that I didn’t realize I had and luckily, I was able to play pretty well.”