(Photo By: Mikey Reeves/Delaware Athletics)
The Delaware Blue Hens finished its third straight winning season at 19-14 a season ago, where the group finished 10-8 and to the tournament quarterfinals in CAA play. The season included many highlights, most notably defeating Xavier for the program's first ever Big East win. Jyare Davis and Christian Ray both surpassed the 1,000-point club throughout the season, Ray also earning his 1,000-rebound badge just a few days after. Both leaders found their names on the conference awards with Davis earning All-CAA 2nd Team Honors and Ray being recognized as the Scholar Athlete of the Year. As a team, six players averaged more than 8 points a game. Defensively, the group held their opponents to shooting just 31% beyond the arc, which was the program's best since 2011. Officially closing Chapter 9 of Head Coach Martin Ingelsby's tenure, let's dive into the start of Chapter 10.
The Roster
When talking to Coach Ingelsby in a Feathers and Field Goals Podcast this summer, I asked him about the coaching staff's priority heading into the offseason with losing six scholarship players via eligibility and the transfer portal. Ingelsby stated, "I didn't think we shot the ball as efficiently from the three-point line as we needed to last year. We had a couple non-threats from the three-point line, and we had to play to our strengths. The game has evolved so much that it's really hard to have non-shooters on the court to be able to effectively score enough points to win games. As we went out and knew we were working with 4-5 scholarships, everyone that we targeted needed to be efficient from the three-point line."
The Hens roster returns three rotational pieces from a season ago, including starters Niels Lane and Cavan Reilly. Lane, who transferred from Florida known for his defensive abilities, found his offensive game take strides in conference play averaging 39.3% from 3 and 79.4% from the line in 18 CAA starts. "He has worked really hard to become a much more consistent shooter from the three-point line and his hard work has shown great dividends so far in the early part of practice." Reilly, who set the single-season freshman three-point percentage record at 45.3% in 2022-23, made 3 or more threes in 12 of 32 games, averaging 37.8% for the year. Kobe Jerome, guard transfer from UC Riverside, scored a career high 18 points off 6 threes early last season against Goldey Beacom. Tyler Houser, former VMI forward transfer from a season ago, will unfortunately not be able to build off his first season in Newark as he underwent season-ending surgery per the team.
Reilly, Lane, and Jerome all have the ability to effectively shoot from outside. The offseason hope was to add pieces that can elevate the strengths from the returning group and allow more perimeter spacing. Ingelsby and the staff did just that in the portal targets that they landed. First, the program landed a high-volume flamethrower from Division II's Thomas Jefferson in Erik Timko. "Erik is an elite offensive player that made almost 100 threes last year that will come in and be a game changer for us," Ingelsby noted in the podcast. The body of work was there in all three seasons for Timko, shooting 43.6% beyond the arc and averaging over 3 threes per 40 minutes. Reilly, when asked about playing alongside Erik so far, said "I have loved playing with Erik so far and we've been able to work out together and get close over these last few months. I think both of our games are just going to continue to open up when we are on the floor together." Timko and Reilly will only help each other out as defenses will have to account for them both around the perimeter when they share the floor.
Next, the program added Wagner guard Tahron Allen. Allen helped Wagner reach and win a game in the NCAA Tournament last season, where he was also named the NEC Tournament MVP after averaging 18.3 points in the tournament, including 22 in the championship. Ingelsby described Allen as a "jack of all trades that brings all the intangibles to winning." Allen, while not the high-volume shooter Timko is, shot 44.1% from three on 1.8 attempts a game. He will be familiar to some CAA fans as he spent his first two seasons at Monmouth, where his sophomore year was the program's first in the conference.
While this upcoming season will be the last at the collegiate level for Timko and Allen, Delaware also added a guard transfer with multiple years of eligibility in Trent Middleton Jr. As a true freshman at Ball State a season ago, Middleton averaged 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 29 games. "Trent handled the basketball and had a high efficiency rate at Ball State last year. He's a point guard, a great distributor that shot over 40%... a Philly kid that has a toughness about him." According to KenPom, the former Philadelphia Public League Player of the Year had an assist rate of 18.8 last season, which was the second highest on Ball State. Middleton will be able to space the floor and be one of the primary ball handlers this season.
In the frontcourt, the Blue Hens signed Virginia Tech transfer John Camden. "John went to my high school. We followed him for a long time... I think this is a great opportunity for him to get back to having fun playing the game of basketball and he fits a need for us," Ingelsby added. Camden, originally from Downington, PA, was a former top 150 prospect from the Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. He started his collegiate career at Memphis, but spent the last two seasons at Virginia Tech. He shot 7-15 (46.7%) from three last year. Like the others above, Camden will be able to step out and stretch the offense. "We're going to need him to be an impact guy like Dylan Painter was."
More additions that project to make early impacts include signees at the high school and junior college levels. Macon Emory, a 6'8" forward from Devon, PA, is the younger brother of Delaware forward Houston Emory. "Macon is an elite athlete who can really stretch the floor from the wing position. He's one of our best perimeter shooters and continues to show the ability to defend multiple positions on the defensive end." Macon has impressed through the preseason and will receive minutes early on. Izaiah Pasha, a 6'4" guard from Harrisburg, PA, originally signed to play for Rick Pitino at Iona out of high school but transitioned to St. Thomas More Prep School after Pitino left for St. John's and the Big East. Pasha has been selected as the CAA Preseason Freshman of the Year by media outlets Mid-Major Madness and Three-Man Weave and may see himself in the starting lineup immediately. Kevin Kogbara, a 6'8", 275-pound forward from Peoria, AZ, is joining the program from Bishop State Community College, where he averaged 6.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 25 games. Kogbara received praise from Ingelsby on CAA Media Day and will add to the frontcourt depth this season. Along with both Emory brothers, Kogbara, and Camden, third year forward Gabe Moss is expected to make his first career appearance. The staff has high hopes for Moss, who should be ready for the start of the season after missing his first two collegiate seasons due to injury.
The Schedule
Delaware's 2024-25 schedule consists of 14 home games, 13 away games, and 2 neutral site games. The Hens kick off the season at home against Bucknell in a rematch of last season's opener where Delaware won 78-57. They will remain at home to play Robert Morris, another school with a home-and-home that started last season where the Hens won 73-69. Their first road game will be at Iona, where head coach Tobin Anderson is in year 2 of rebuilding the program post-Pitino. Anderson led Farleigh Dickinson to a 16-over-1 seed upset against Purdue in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Delaware then returns home to play Bryant in the SL24 UnLocke the Light Awareness Game, the first of its kind. Another storyline is the return of two familiar faces to the program in Bryant Head Coach Phil Martelli Jr. and assistant Ryan Daly. Martelli was an assistant under former head coach Monte Ross from 2011-2016, while Ryan Daly played two seasons for Delaware from 2016-2018, most notably being named the CAA Rookie of the Year in 2017.
The Hens will be playing a strong duo of mid-major programs at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Tip Off in the Mohegan Sun: Vermont and Yale. The Vermont Catamounts have been a powerhouse in the America East under head coach John Becker, winning the last eight conference regular season titles and five of the last six conference tournaments. The Yale Bulldogs also made the NCAA Tournament two of the last three seasons, where they made some noise knocking off #4 Auburn in one of the biggest March upsets last year. Delaware will then travel to Rider, which will be the third straight season these two programs face off. Two seasons ago, Jameer Nelson Jr. scored at the buzzer to win, but last year in Newark the Broncs got their revenge in an 88-85 overtime thriller.
Delaware will then return home for the Battle of the 302 against Delaware State. The Hornets fell a game short of representing the state in March Madness last season losing in the MEAC Championship. Three days following, the Hens head to Pittsburgh for the first time since their NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022 to take on Duquesne, who went on an end-of-season heater to win the Atlantic 10 Tournament and upset #6 BYU in the first round of March Madness in 2024.
Before wrapping up their non-conference schedule, the Hens will host a pair of non-Division I schools in Chestnut Hill and Misericordia. Heading into the holidays, the team will travel to Jersey City to play Saint Peter's, another school that has made the NCAA Tournament two of the last three years, engraving their name in history making an Elite 8 Cinderella run in 2022. Inching up to Queens, the team will look to enter their CAA regular season play on a high note as they finish 2024 playing St. John's. Rick Pitino's Red Storm are projected to be one of Big East's best this season.
In their final season in the Coastal Athletic Association, the Hens will start traveling as they begin at Northeastern on January 2nd, then return home to play Monmouth two days later. Monmouth, playing their opener at home, will have a shorter distance to travel than Delaware for the Hens' first conference home game. The other weekends are as follows: a southern road trip to NC A&T and Hampton, a home weekend of Stony Brook and Elon, a northern road trip to Hofstra and Drexel, a split weekend home versus Towson and at Monmouth, a home weekend of UNCW and William & Mary, a split weekend at Towson and home versus Campbell, a home weekend of Drexel and Hofstra, and a difficult ending road stretch at Charleston and UNCW. Delaware, ranked 5th in the Preseason Poll, will play three of the top four ranked teams twice in conference play. A difficult ending, but a schedule that will test them heading into their final CAA Tournament.
A full outline of the schedule can be seen here:
The Projected Lineup
G: Izaiah Pasha
G: Cavan Reilly
G: Erik Timko
G: Niels Lane
F: John Camden
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G: Tahron Allen
G: Trent Middleton Jr.
F: Macon Emory
F: Kevin Kogbara
F: Gabe Moss
G: Kobe Jerome
F: Houston Emory
In just a week, the Hens will kick off their season home against Bucknell. With a lot of new faces, I think this team will look a lot different in terms of offensive tempo and how they'll want to score. I look forward to covering my second season of Delaware Hoops, make sure to say hello in The Bob this season.
Twitter: @SSN_BlueHens
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