City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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With 44 seconds left in a tense, back-and-forth battle Tuesday night, the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens watched the ball fly out of bounds off of a blocked shot and were able to breathe a sigh of relief as they retained possession.

Just four seconds, however, remained on the shot clock in a key, make-or-break possession.

First-year Delaware head coach Martin Inglesby called a timeout, rallied his troops and drew up the ensuing inbound play.

He knew exactly where he wanted to go with the ball.

Devonne Pinkard, who is no stranger to clutch situations, came off of a designed screen, head-faked, bent his knees and fired away from the corner to give his team a two-point lead that they would not relinquish, as Delaware downed the visiting Red Foxes by a final of 59-56.

“(When that shot goes down) you’re excited,” Pinkard said. “All that work you put into that, knowing I had the opportunity to make the shot, I was pretty excited, because I knew I was going to make the shot.”

He had been in such a situation before during this season, giving his team a late lead with clutch shooting in a November 20 game against Austin Peay.

Unlike that game, however, this shot led to a victory.

“What a big-time shot for him coming off that stagger screen and knocking it down,” Inglesby said. “I’m really, really proud of him.”

It’s that type of shot that provides a glimpse of the way Pinkard has flourished just two months into his first and only season under Inglesby; according to the 6-foot-6 forward, his new head coach has inspired a new-found confidence in him as a shooter this season.

For that, he’s quite grateful, and it’s clearly starting to pay off in his final year as a Blue Hen.

“It’s been great,” Pinkard said. “He’s challenged me, and I haven’t had that in a while, someone that believes in me, challenges me to show what I have. He knows I have a lot of potential, that’s what he does best with me, he just challenges me. He sets a standard, compared to these last few years.”

Soon after he got the UD job, Inglesby began sending Pinkard clips of hot-shooting professionals like Klay Thompson who can move without the ball and get themselves open to knock down shots.

He saw the potential his senior had as a clutch shooter, and from that point began challenging him to develop that part of his game.

Following the win, the Blue Hens’ coach spoke very highly of Pinkard, and made it clear what exactly he sees in him that has been the reason for his inspiring such a confidence-boost.

“I feel like he’s matured as a basketball player,” Inglesby said. “He’s a believer, he wants to be out there, he competes on the defensive end. We know he hasn’t shot it as well as he would have liked, but he’s got the ultimate green light. I tell him every day, we get into practice and when he turns down a shot, I’m not going to take you out for missing a shot, but I’m going to to take you out for not shooting it when you’re open.”

Being a senior leader in a young Delaware program, Pinkard’s new self-confidence is a huge asset for his team. Off the court, he may not appear the most confident guy, but his head coach knows he has a strong upperclassmen example in the J.P. McCaskey product.

“He’s quiet by nature, it’s almost painful to get him to talk,” Inglesby said. “I’ve tried to do stuff to get him more engaged with our group, not that he’s not, but just to hear him talk more. I want to help develop him just as a person, not just as a basketball player.”

Pinkard wasn’t the only major contributor for the Blue Hens, as three other players scored in double-digits – Anthony Mosley led UD with 13, while Ryan Daly and Cazmon Hayes had ten.

In fact, Pinkard didn’t have double-digit points until his clutch play, which made the biggest difference in the game.

Thanks to such a key shot, Delaware stayed undefeated at home on the season, much to the excitement of Inglesby, who challenged his players to step up in front of their own crowd.

“I told the guys before the game that we hadn’t been in this building for 18 days,” he said. “So it’s good to be back here, it’s good to see the white jerseys again. After we lost to Seton Hall, I talked about getting in a good rhythm at home...I talked about making this one of the hardest places to play in the country, and we’ve got to keep building off that.”

Obviously, there’s still a lot to work out, on the offensive end in particular, for a Delaware team that struggled to shoot the ball as a whole in their tight win. The Blue Hens shot just 38 percent from the field and 27 percent from three-point range. More alarmingly, they went just 13-of-23 from the charity stripe.

But as this team continues to find its identity in a year full of transition, it appears they’ve found a guy they can go to for the clutch play going forward in Pinkard.

“I do think games like this can really catapult him into a big end of this month and into CAA play,” Inglesby said. “We’ve got to keep developing that out.”

And if they didn’t know it, Pinkard certainly does.

“You’ve just got to be confident,” he said. “When the big shot comes, take it.”