University of Delaware Athletics
Halifax and Billy Hoyle: How Nate Darling Became The Blue Hens' Top Scoring Threat
2/5/2020 3:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
If you've watched any Delaware men's basketball this season, you've seen the dynamic-scoring Canadian guard who drains threes from all areas of the court, hits floaters over defenders, and whips passes through the lane like he's Steve Nash.
You've probably also caught a glimpse of the tattoo on his right thigh.
An eye gazes out from underneath the road that leads through Halifax, Nova Scotia's MacDonald Bridge. Above that is an image of Billy Hoyle from White Men Can't Jump, the 1992 basketball hustler movie starring Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes.
Both complex and unique, the tattoo tells you a lot about who junior Nate Darling is as a person and a basketball player.
**
While it's not a sport that's stereotypically associated with Canada, basketball still has a strong culture in the northern country. Darling's father played basketball at the university level in Canada and got his son involved in the game from an early age.
"I just loved it at a young age and I didn't really want to do anything else," Darling said. "I tried other sports, but I stopped playing around 10 or 11 and just focused on basketball."
The basketball-obsessed adolescent started to outgrow his competition in Halifax, hounding his dad to see if any offer letters from major college basketball programs came in the mail. The family soon realized that for Nate to pursue his dream of playing at the highest level, he would have to leave for the United States.
At 14 years old, he moved south to attend DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C., and play for one of the most highly regarded high school basketball programs in the country.
"A standard of excellence, first and foremost," Delaware assistant coach Corey McCrae, who was an assistant coach at DeMatha when Darling played there, said of the program. "At times, you'll have 15-16 people on the basketball team, and 11 or 12 of those guys are Division I basketball players. So it's very competitive, the cream rises to the top. It's a place that holds you accountable for everything that you do."
The rigid structure of an elite basketball program at a Catholic high school forced Darling (who McCrae describes as a chill, laidback guy: "as soon as it starts to warm up a bit, he's coming in with shorts and sandals") to mature at an early age.
"I kind of hated it as a school, because it was so straightforward, 'tuck your shirt in, always have your tie up,'" Darling said with a smile. "You hate it back then, but you know it prepares you for success, really. And all the guys that come out of there, they do well."
Darling is an incredible three-point shooter (his 68 made treys and .378 shooting percentage from deep this season are both second-best in the Colonial Athletic Association and top-60 in the NCAA), largely due to his nature as a gym rat. As a kid in the summertime, his dad would drop him off at the rec center on the way to work, and pick him back up on the way home.
"I'd be in there all day shooting, literally," Darling said. "I wouldn't have a tan as a kid."
At DeMatha, away from his family and in a new country as a teenager, Darling found solace in the place he was most comfortable: the basketball gym.
"When I went to DeMatha, I had keys to the gym," Darling said. "It was hard being there, so I would just go to the gym. I didn't really have friends at first and I would be in the gym all night shooting if I couldn't sleep."
His experience at DeMatha, being on his own while playing at a high level, equipped him well for college basketball. Darling started his collegiate career at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but after two years knew it wasn't the right fit and put his name in the transfer portal. Knowing he could make an immediate impact on the program, head coach Martin Ingelsby and McCrae sold him on the opportunity to evolve as a basketball player.
"I think you're selling from day one, the opportunity to come in and make an immediate impact here," Ingelsby said. "He was almost pigeonholed as a three point shooter at UAB, he stood in the corner and made threes, but we really tried to sell him on having the opportunity to have the ball in his hands and be a playmaker."
"I could tell they believed in my ability. Honestly, as a player that's the most confidence-boosting thing. It can do wonders for you," Darling said.
Due to NCAA transfer rules, Darling had to sit out the 2018-19 season. And while a year away from competing in the sport you love can be difficult, it did give Darling a year in an environment that he's comfortable in: putting in work in a basketball gym.
He spent the year getting shots up, working on his body (he gained 15-20 pounds of muscle), playing one-on-one with Justyn Mutts, his teammate who also had to sit out a year after transferring from High Point.
"I enjoy the journey and the grind of just seeing myself get better," Darling said. "That's what's rewarding for me."
The grind paid off. After averaging 10.1 points per game during his sophomore season at UAB, Darling is now averaging 20.0 points per contest 22 games into his redshirt junior year as a Blue Hen, ranking as the 25th highest scorer in Division I. In addition to being a dynamic scorer, Darling is also a skilled passer, averaging 2.86 assists per game.
"He's impacted our group since the minute he stepped foot on campus," Ingelsby said. "Really proud of his development as a basketball player that he can do so much more than just knock down three-point shots. And I think you saw in the Northeastern game [a 76-74 Delaware win on Jan. 25], he made some threes, but he was able to get downhill, he's driving, he's penetrating. His assist numbers have been up lately. You know, he's really bought into being a better defender and guarding."
"He's locked in. He's a guy that we're really trying to develop as our leader," Ingelsby continued. "He's there every day, he's committed to his craft. When he has that mindset, that competitiveness, that festers with the rest of our group and we need that."
So why Billy Hoyle for a tattoo? Just like Woody Harrelson's titular character, Darling's chill-guy-from-Canada vibe doesn't scream "20 points per game." But when the lights are on, the fans are in the stands, and the ball is tipped, Nate Darling becomes a different animal.
That animal was on full display in Delaware's 80-72 win over Drexel on Feb. 1, with Darling dropping a game-high 27 points. He knocked down four three-pointers, but also scored with Eurostep drives, floaters, and cutting runs to the basket where his teammates found him for easy lay-ups.
Darling plays with an edge. A quiet confidence that flirts with, but doesn't cross into, cockiness. Not enough to cause any trouble, but certainly enough to energize his teammates.
"There's a quiet confidence about him," Ingelsby said. "He wants to do anything he can to help his team win, and that's what I really admire about him."
The other half of the ink, with a symbol of his hometown watching over him, represents how even though he's been away from his family chasing his dream, he knows that support system is there for him.
"He's not walking around here like he's on top of the world, he has that blue collar mentality," McCrae said. "I think it starts with his family. Very grounded, very humble kid."
After winning a program-record nine straight games to start the season, Darling and the Blue Hens hit some adversity to start conference play. But now on a four-game winning streak, Delaware is right in the thick of a tight race atop the CAA.
As the Blue Hens stare down the last eight games of the regular season in the pursuit of a conference championship, expect Darling to continue doing what he's always been doing: knocking down shots.
"That's where I feel the most like me out there," Darling said. "Playing basketball."
You've probably also caught a glimpse of the tattoo on his right thigh.
An eye gazes out from underneath the road that leads through Halifax, Nova Scotia's MacDonald Bridge. Above that is an image of Billy Hoyle from White Men Can't Jump, the 1992 basketball hustler movie starring Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes.
Both complex and unique, the tattoo tells you a lot about who junior Nate Darling is as a person and a basketball player.
**
While it's not a sport that's stereotypically associated with Canada, basketball still has a strong culture in the northern country. Darling's father played basketball at the university level in Canada and got his son involved in the game from an early age.
"I just loved it at a young age and I didn't really want to do anything else," Darling said. "I tried other sports, but I stopped playing around 10 or 11 and just focused on basketball."
The basketball-obsessed adolescent started to outgrow his competition in Halifax, hounding his dad to see if any offer letters from major college basketball programs came in the mail. The family soon realized that for Nate to pursue his dream of playing at the highest level, he would have to leave for the United States.
At 14 years old, he moved south to attend DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C., and play for one of the most highly regarded high school basketball programs in the country.
"A standard of excellence, first and foremost," Delaware assistant coach Corey McCrae, who was an assistant coach at DeMatha when Darling played there, said of the program. "At times, you'll have 15-16 people on the basketball team, and 11 or 12 of those guys are Division I basketball players. So it's very competitive, the cream rises to the top. It's a place that holds you accountable for everything that you do."
The rigid structure of an elite basketball program at a Catholic high school forced Darling (who McCrae describes as a chill, laidback guy: "as soon as it starts to warm up a bit, he's coming in with shorts and sandals") to mature at an early age.
"I kind of hated it as a school, because it was so straightforward, 'tuck your shirt in, always have your tie up,'" Darling said with a smile. "You hate it back then, but you know it prepares you for success, really. And all the guys that come out of there, they do well."
Darling is an incredible three-point shooter (his 68 made treys and .378 shooting percentage from deep this season are both second-best in the Colonial Athletic Association and top-60 in the NCAA), largely due to his nature as a gym rat. As a kid in the summertime, his dad would drop him off at the rec center on the way to work, and pick him back up on the way home.
"I'd be in there all day shooting, literally," Darling said. "I wouldn't have a tan as a kid."
At DeMatha, away from his family and in a new country as a teenager, Darling found solace in the place he was most comfortable: the basketball gym.
"When I went to DeMatha, I had keys to the gym," Darling said. "It was hard being there, so I would just go to the gym. I didn't really have friends at first and I would be in the gym all night shooting if I couldn't sleep."
His experience at DeMatha, being on his own while playing at a high level, equipped him well for college basketball. Darling started his collegiate career at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but after two years knew it wasn't the right fit and put his name in the transfer portal. Knowing he could make an immediate impact on the program, head coach Martin Ingelsby and McCrae sold him on the opportunity to evolve as a basketball player.
"I think you're selling from day one, the opportunity to come in and make an immediate impact here," Ingelsby said. "He was almost pigeonholed as a three point shooter at UAB, he stood in the corner and made threes, but we really tried to sell him on having the opportunity to have the ball in his hands and be a playmaker."
"I could tell they believed in my ability. Honestly, as a player that's the most confidence-boosting thing. It can do wonders for you," Darling said.
Due to NCAA transfer rules, Darling had to sit out the 2018-19 season. And while a year away from competing in the sport you love can be difficult, it did give Darling a year in an environment that he's comfortable in: putting in work in a basketball gym.
He spent the year getting shots up, working on his body (he gained 15-20 pounds of muscle), playing one-on-one with Justyn Mutts, his teammate who also had to sit out a year after transferring from High Point.
"I enjoy the journey and the grind of just seeing myself get better," Darling said. "That's what's rewarding for me."
The grind paid off. After averaging 10.1 points per game during his sophomore season at UAB, Darling is now averaging 20.0 points per contest 22 games into his redshirt junior year as a Blue Hen, ranking as the 25th highest scorer in Division I. In addition to being a dynamic scorer, Darling is also a skilled passer, averaging 2.86 assists per game.
"He's impacted our group since the minute he stepped foot on campus," Ingelsby said. "Really proud of his development as a basketball player that he can do so much more than just knock down three-point shots. And I think you saw in the Northeastern game [a 76-74 Delaware win on Jan. 25], he made some threes, but he was able to get downhill, he's driving, he's penetrating. His assist numbers have been up lately. You know, he's really bought into being a better defender and guarding."
"He's locked in. He's a guy that we're really trying to develop as our leader," Ingelsby continued. "He's there every day, he's committed to his craft. When he has that mindset, that competitiveness, that festers with the rest of our group and we need that."
So why Billy Hoyle for a tattoo? Just like Woody Harrelson's titular character, Darling's chill-guy-from-Canada vibe doesn't scream "20 points per game." But when the lights are on, the fans are in the stands, and the ball is tipped, Nate Darling becomes a different animal.
That animal was on full display in Delaware's 80-72 win over Drexel on Feb. 1, with Darling dropping a game-high 27 points. He knocked down four three-pointers, but also scored with Eurostep drives, floaters, and cutting runs to the basket where his teammates found him for easy lay-ups.
Darling plays with an edge. A quiet confidence that flirts with, but doesn't cross into, cockiness. Not enough to cause any trouble, but certainly enough to energize his teammates.
"There's a quiet confidence about him," Ingelsby said. "He wants to do anything he can to help his team win, and that's what I really admire about him."
The other half of the ink, with a symbol of his hometown watching over him, represents how even though he's been away from his family chasing his dream, he knows that support system is there for him.
"He's not walking around here like he's on top of the world, he has that blue collar mentality," McCrae said. "I think it starts with his family. Very grounded, very humble kid."
After winning a program-record nine straight games to start the season, Darling and the Blue Hens hit some adversity to start conference play. But now on a four-game winning streak, Delaware is right in the thick of a tight race atop the CAA.
As the Blue Hens stare down the last eight games of the regular season in the pursuit of a conference championship, expect Darling to continue doing what he's always been doing: knocking down shots.
"That's where I feel the most like me out there," Darling said. "Playing basketball."
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