As the good folks over at Backing The Pack noted two weeks ago: Omer Yurtseven’s decision to leave NC State means the basketball program has an open scholarship for the 2018-19 season. If he so chooses, Kevin Keatts has a few options to fill that void; one of which would be to use the scholarship for a transfer.
On Monday night, in the midst of the national title game, it was announced that an early name linked to NC State is 6-foot-4 Delaware guard Ryan Daly. (It’s quite the time for basketball in the state of Delaware, by the way.)
Delaware transfer guard Ryan Daly has been in touch with NC State, Nevada, St Joe’s, Temple, St Bonaventure, UMass, Charlotte, Ole Miss and San Diego within the past week, a source tells Rivals; averaged over 16 points past two years
— Corey Evans (@coreyevans_10) April 3, 2018
Ryan Daly has already scored 1,000 points across 60 career games; in 2017-18, he ranked 10th in the Colonial Athletic Association in scoring — 17.5 points per game. Daly, who just finished his sophomore year at Delaware, would not be eligible to play next season; however, he has two more years of eligibility, starting in the 2019-20 season.
Wing Production
In terms of percentage, Daly’s three-point number don’t jump off the page — 108-of-331 (32.6 3P%) in his career. It’s important, though, that he got those shots up — nearly 39 percent of his career field goal attempts have come from beyond the arc.
He’s a productive player coming off of screens, too. According to Synergy Sports, over 16 percent of Daly’s possessions this season came off screens; he scored 1.11 points per possession (54.7 eFG%), which ranks 12th nationally amongst Division I players with at least 75 possessions.
Next season, NC State will have to replace two key offensive cogs on the wings — Al Freeman and Sam Hunt. Freeman, NC State’s leading scorer in 2017-18 (16.1 points), and Hunt help create one of the nation’s top spot-up offenses this season in Raleigh.
In Keatts’ debut season, the Pack scored 677 points on spot-up possessions, per Synergy; Hunt and Freeman combined for 286 of those points. Hunt, especially, was awesome on spot-ups: 1.34 points per possession, 68 eFG%. Daly wasn’t remarkably efficient this season in Delaware clogged offense, but he did record 121 spot-possessions — 23.3 percent of his possessions.
Obviously, in this hypothetical, he wouldn’t be able to help replace that production from day one. Daly could, however, help down the line.
Pockets of Efficiency: Diamond in the Rough
The Blue Hens had all kinds of issues offensively this season — they rank 227th nationally in terms of adjusted offensive efficiency. Ryan Daly was a high-usage guard for this team, too. While on the floor, Daly used 25.5 percent of Delaware’s possessions — an above-average rate.
Despite the high usage rate, Daly really didn’t turn the ball over too often; instead, he usually got up a shot or got to the line. Daly posted a paltry turnover rate of just 8.1 percent, which ranks in the 98th percentile nationally of Division I basketball. Considering his minutes, and usage, that’s excellent.
According to KenPom, he drew 4.5 fouls per 40 minutes, which is solid. Daly isn’t a great free throw shooter — 65.6 FT% for his career — but he attempted nearly eight per 100 possessions. That’s a positive sign.
Read More
4 reasons why it makes sense for Trevon Duval to test the NBA Draft waters