Delaware relishes, and is at its best, when the Blue Hens are employing an inside-outside scoring approach.
Work the basketball into the paint for a close-range shot and, when defenders collapse, kick it out to the perimeter for an open jumper.
Only half of that strategy was effective enough Thursday night and it added it up to a rare home loss to Drexel in a Colonial Athletic Association game at the Carpenter Center.
Andrew Carr supplied 21 points and fellow post player Jyare Davis had 12 off the bench while the two made half of Delaware’s field goals. The Blue Hens played their second game without 2021 first-team All-CAA big man Dylan Painter, who has a sprained ankle.
But UD guards couldn’t keep up with Drexel’s, on the offensive or defensive end, and the Dragons prevailed 76-68 in front of 2,844, the largest home crowd in almost two years. It was the Dragons’ first win in Newark in seven years.
“Give Drexel credit,” Delaware coach Martin Ingelsby said. “I thought they did a really, really good job of taking away the 3-point line. That’s kinda who they are on the defensive end. We go 5 of 21 [on 3-pointers]. I don’t remember we got too many good looks from behind the arc.”
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Needing a victory to secure what would have been its second-best CAA start in 21 league seasons, Delaware instead fell to 15-8 overall and 6-4 in the CAA with back-to-back home defeats.
The game was the first of four straight at home for the Blue Hens, who now have a week before hosting Northeastern next Thursday. That’s followed by visits from Hofstra Feb. 12 and James Madison Feb. 14.
It was the 164th meeting in the CAA’s oldest and most-played rivalry, which Delaware leads 84-80. Delaware won for the first time at Drexel since Feb. 26, 2015, on Jan. 11 by an 81-77 score. Drexel (10-10, 5-5) has now ended an identical 5-game losing skein in Newark, where it had previously prevailed Jan. 17, 2015.
Delaware did remain in third place in the CAA behind UNC-Wilmington, which suffered its first league loss Thursday, and Towson.
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“We did a good job giving ourselves a chance I think,” Carr said. “We missed some good looks and just needed to do a better job defensively.”
Ebby Asamoah, coming off his career-high of 30 points fueled by six 3-pointers in Saturday’s win at James Madison, shot 1-for-7 with the one basket a triple in a 3-point night.
Delaware shot 42.6-percent overall (26-for-61), well below its league-best 49.1-percentage in league games.
“Andrew Carr was fabulous being effective around the basket and scoring it for us,” Ingelsby said of the red-shirt freshman who also had a game-high 12 rebounds.
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“But we gotta get back to trusting our offense. I thought we took some quick ones, some careless ones, especially when you get down. There’s not a 9-point shot, so you gotta get a good offensive possession, get a stop. Get a good offensive possession, and it’s work, physically, mentally, to be able to grind a possession to be able to get that.”
Jameer Nelson Jr. scored 13 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dealt six assists and Kevin Anderson added 10 points for Delaware.
“We didn’t play as connected as we should have,” Nelson said. “Coach talked about passing the ball a little bit more and guys getting impatient on offense, stuff like that.”
A Blue Hens turnover gave Drexel possession and set the stage for Amari Williams’ off-balance 3-pointer to close the first half, giving the Dragons their widest lead 45-36. A 75-percent shooting start and 11-0 run had fueled Drexel’s first-half success and allowed the Dragons to erase a 4-point UD edge.
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After eight straight points by Carr and back-to-back buckets by Davis, Delaware was within 51-50 with 14:14 left. Drexel’s lead then grew to 68-56 on Melik Martin’s 3-pointer with 6:54 to go before Delaware whittled away again.
The Hens got as close as five during a stretch where Carr scored seven straight points. With Delaware down 74-68, Ryan Allen and Asamoah each missed a trey on the same possession with about a half-minute left, and that ended Delaware’s pursuit of victory.
Martin’s 21 points led four scorers in double figures for Drexel, which shot 53.4 percent for the game (31-for-58).
“They hit a lot of tough shots,” Nelson said. “We could always make it tougher. When we play defense and then we get out and run, it gives guys open looks, stuff like that. It’s always gotta start on defense with us.”
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