NEWARK — Ryan Allen likes to think of himself as a jack of all trades for Delaware.

The senior guard is more than capable of playing tough defense or distributing the ball for the Blue Hens.

But Allen is also still pretty good at carrying the offense, too.

Allen showed that again on Sunday when he netted a season-high 26 points as Delaware hung on for a 75-70 win over Elon in CAA men’s basketball at the Carpenter Center.

Allen tallied just six points on Saturday in a 23-point win over the Phoenix. But he also took only seven shots.

On Sunday, Allen took twice as many shots, sank 4-of-9 three-pointers and tallied 16 points in the first half alone. It’s what Delaware (5-4 CAA, 7-7 overall) needed to notch its third straight win and first weekend sweep of the season.

“It’s just how it works out sometimes,” said Allen, who had 25 points in a win over UNCW last Sunday. “It’s all about playing good basketball. You know me, I definitely would have rather (taken) the win yesterday than the win today — even though I had all those points. I’d definitely rather have six points in a blowout.”

“That’s what he’s tried to do for us throughout this year,” UD coach Martin Ingelsby said about Allen. “As an older, savvy, veteran guy, he’s got a lot on his shoulders. … Ry just wants to win. He’s such a competitive guy.

“You see it out there. He leaves it on the court. He gets after them. One time he wants to be a defender and guard the opponent’s best player. The next night he might make five threes and get you 25. Then he wants to be the distributor and get Kev (Anderson) and Dylan (Painter) get going. We’re really happy with where he is as we head into February.”

The Hens looked like they might have another easy win when it went up 60-40 on Elon (0-4, 3-5), which was playing only its second game after a 27-day layoff for COVID-19 reasons.

Delaware was still up 68-53 with just 1:32 remaining. But then Elon’s Hunter McIntosh got hot and the Hens sloppy.

McIntosh, who finished with a game-high 30 points, managed to hit three three-pointers in a span of only 33 seconds to get the Phoenix back in the game. And when teammate Ikenna Ndugba sank a three with eight seconds on the clock, Elon trailed just 74-70.
But freshman Andrew Carr made one of two foul shots with four seconds left and that was that. The Hens tallied their final 11 points on free throws (11-of-16).

All things considered, this would have been a good time for Delaware to play CAA leader Northeastern. But that two-game set, which was slated for next weekend in Boston, was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak with the Huskies.

At the moment, the Hens aren’t slated to play again until Feb. 11 at Drexel. Still, Ingelsby likes the way his team is playing right now.

Delaware’s other seniors, Painter (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Anderson (13 points, 3-for-7 from three-point range) also led the way on Sunday. After getting Anderson back from an ankle injury last week, there’s a feeling that things are coming together for the Hens right now.

“I do think our team is getting better,” said Ingelsby. “And it’s nice to see ‘the big three’ — our older guys — really play well together. I think the chemistry — the synergy — on the offensive end is coming along.

“It’s not where we need it to be but I was waiting for an afternoon like that, where those guys all played well together. It gives us great balance.”

WOMEN, Elon 83, Delaware 61: The Blue Hens’ nine-game winning streak came to an end with the one-sided loss on Sunday.

Delaware (9-1 CAA, 12-2 overall) trailed by just three points at halftime before being out-scored, 22-11, in the third quarter and 46-27 in the second half overall by the Phoenix (3-3 CAA, 7-5 overall).

Junior guard Jasmine Dickey led all scorers with 22 points, her fourth straight game with 20 or more points, and 11th 20-point game this season. Junior guard Jewel Smalls knocked down three three-pointers for nine points while also grabbing nine rebounds.

Delaware shot just 30.9 percent (21-of-68) from the floor, while Elon knocked down 50.8 percent of their field goal attempts (31-of-61).

Free throws

Delaware’s men were missing sophomore guard Johnny McCoy, who suffered an ankle injury in Saturday’s game. … Painter did have his five-game double-double streak snapped on Saturday when he scored only nine points. But he has reached double digits in rebounds in seven games in a row. … Carr added 12 points, five rebounds and three blocks.