Haley bestows inside presence in VCU’s win at Delaware

Jim Swing
Sports Editor
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NEWARK, Del. – D.J. Haley talks with a deep, yet humble voice and usually holds his head down when he’s speaking.

He chooses his words carefully with a well-spoken delivery and personifies one of his nicknames “The Professor” handed down to him by his teammates and coaches.

His 7-foot, 250-pound frame is difficult to miss on the street or in a hallway, but his reserved personality isn’t in your face as much.

But on the court, VCU’s sophomore center is a whole different animal. When he’s guarding an opponent on the inbounds in or in the paint, Haley is screaming in their face, looking to throw them off their game.

It’s a new look for Haley who, as a freshman, was often timid and hesitant to go after a loose ball or get overly physical with the opposition. He’s not afraid to get nasty and get his hands dirty in the trenches.

That became increasingly evident Saturday afternoon when Haley posted a career-high eight points to go with five rebounds and one block in VCU’s 68-55 win at Delaware. All in a days work, which was just 12 minutes of play for Haley due to foul restraints.

VCU head coach Shaka Smart didn’t want to label Saturday’s effort the best of Haley’s collegiate career, but said it definitely was as far as numbers go.

“He played terrific last year at Drexel but he didn’t have these kind of numbers,” Smart said. “For 12 minutes and he gets eight points and four rebounds, that’s great productivity, we’ve got to keep him out of foul trouble so we can play him a little bit more.”

Saturday’s tilt presented Haley with the tall task of dealing with a couple of seasoned Delaware big men in juniors Josh Brinkley and Jamelle Hagins, who ranks fifth in the country in rebounding. For the short period of time he was on the floor, Haley held his own, providing second chances on offense and showcasing a newly developed hook shot that appeared as natural as they come.

“He’s worked on his game, he’s gotten better, he’s just a sophomore,” Smart said. “We want to be a team we can throw the ball into the block and go score.”

On defense, Haley forced ill-advised shots and helped muddle Delaware’s plan of attack. Midway through the second half Haley pinned a layup attempt by Brinkley up against the backboard, then shut down a second try.

“Delaware has pretty good bigs, we definitely emphasized them in practice,” Haley said. “Advice we took was to create a wall for them in the basket and play as hard as we can.”

Erecting a presence in the frontcourt has been a building process for Haley. Up to this point he hasn’t been necessarily the scariest player on the floor, nor a human eraser by any means. But his performance on defense is a morale booster for a young VCU team.

“He has that ability to show presence for us, he’s got a big body and he uses it well,” Smart said. “D.J. Haley, I would say other than Briante Weber, he can lift our defensive energy and our defensive intensity more than anyone on our team with his talk and with his presence out there and his physicality. I think he did that today.”

Just as his teammates feed off of his verve and charisma, he feeds right back off of them.

“When we’re in his ear telling him how well he’s playing, that gets his motor going even more and brings his energy up even higher,” senior Bradford Burgess said. “So when he’s like that, our interior defense is pretty solid.”

Eighteen games into the season, the Palmdale, Calif. native is beginning to come in to his own. He’s regarded as a vocal leader on a young VCU team in need of a couple loud voices on the court. Saying Haley has come a long way since his freshman year would be an understatement. He’s found his basketball niche and now he’s pursuing it.

“I definitely feel a lot more comfortable on the court, I kind of know the ropes now,” Haley said. “Going to have to step up a little and show younger guys what to do, it feels good I feel comfortable.”