NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Delaware of last decade

6. Eric Ayala – Maryland

An impressive shooting guard from Wilmington, Ayala was another fringe Top 100 prospect who found his way to Maryland in 2018, spending most of his college career playing under Mark Turgeon with the Terrapins. He was an impressive talent who certainly contributed on a couple of solid Terrapin squads, though unsurprisingly his best years were as an upperclassman.

Ayala was a full-time starter as a freshman and hit over 40% of his long-range attempts, the highest mark in his career. He averaged at least 2 or more assists per game in all four seasons at Maryland, while also averaging 15.1 and 14.7 points per game as a junior and senior respectively. Had career highs with a 26-point, 11-rebound effort against Northwestern as a senior and also had a 23-point performance in an NCAA Tournament win over Connecticut in 2021.

While he wasn’t honored on any of the All-Big Ten teams, he was honorable mention as a junior and was one of the league’s best 3-point shooters throughout his career, finishing top 5 in his two final campaigns. While things didn’t go well for the Maryland program, Ayala was still putting up buckets and doing what he could for the program. He’s now playing overseas in Hungary, leaving a hole for the Terrapins to fill next season at point guard.