Eric Ayala (born January 2, 1999) is a Puerto Rican professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njar� ...

in the Icelandic top-tier Úrvalsdeild karla. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

High school career

Ayala played basketball for

Sanford School The Sanford School is a private school for co-ed students in PreK through high school, located in Hockessin, Delaware. Originally known as "Sunny Hills School", it was founded on September 23, 1930, by Sanford and Ellen Sawin, in memory of their ...

Hockessin, Delaware Hockessin () is a census-designated place (CDP) in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 13,527 at the 2010 census. History Hockessin came into existence as a little village in 1688 when several families settled in the ...

. After his sophomore season, he transferred to Putnam Science Academy in

Putnam, Connecticut Putnam is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 9,224 at the 2020 census. History Putnam, originally known as Aspinock, then part of Killingly, is a New England mill town incorporated in 1855. Created from s ...

. Ayala played a

postgraduate season A postgraduate (PG) year is an extra year of secondary coursework at a boarding school following high school graduation, but before entering college. It is a gap year option intended for students who either have not applied or were not admitte ...

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a boar ...

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

. A consensus four-star recruit, he committed to playing college basketball for

over offers from Miami (Florida) and

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

College career

As a freshman, Ayala became a regular starter at Maryland, averaging 8.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. In his sophomore season, he averaged 8.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, shooting 35.8 percent from the field. In his junior season, he became his team's primary point guard with the departure of Anthony Cowan Jr. Ayala averaged 15.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game as a junior, earning All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

honorable mention. He declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NB ...

while maintaining his college eligibility, before ultimately returning. Ayala was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by the media as a senior.

Professional career

In September 2022, Ayala signed with

of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild karla after originally having signed with

Sopron Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...

during the summer.

National team career

Ayala represented

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

at the

2015 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship The 2015 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship was the men's international basketball competition that was held in Bahia Blanca, Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a countr ...

in Argentina, averaging 19.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 33 , , 29.0 , , .430 , , .406 , , .774 , , 2.9 , , 2.1 , , .3 , , .3 , , 8.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 20 , , 27.8 , , .358 , , .274 , , .725 , , 2.9 , , 2.5 , , .4 , , .1 , , 8.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 28 , , 33.6 , , .437 , , .337 , , .831 , , 4.3 , , 2.2 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 15.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 29 , , 33.4 , , .383 , , .339 , , .688 , , 4.6 , , 2.1 , , 0.8 , , .1 , , 14.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 125 , , 110 , , 30.9 , , .402 , , .337 , , .758 , , 3.7 , , 2.2 , , .6 , , .2 , , 11.6

References

External links

Maryland Terrapins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Eric 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Wilmington, Delaware IMG Academy alumni Keflavík men's basketball players Maryland Terrapins men's basketball players Point guards Puerto Rican men's basketball players Shooting guards Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players