Maryland basketball’s Eric Ayala enters NBA Draft, will retain eligibility

Maryland basketball junior guard Eric Ayala announced on Friday that he entered his name in the NBA Draft while maintaining his eligibility.

The junior guard led the Terps in scoring last season, averaging 15.1 points per game, 4.3 boards and 2.2 assists per game earning him an All-Big Ten honorable mention.

Ayala’s free throw percentage (.831) ranked third in the conference and against Michigan State on Feb. 28, the 6-foot-5 guard went 13-for-13 from the charity stripe marking the best single-game percentage from the line since Len Bias in 1986.

In three seasons with the Terps, Ayala has scored 994 points, grabbed 313 rebounds and has 212 assists.

Ayala’s announcement makes him the third player from last year’s team to enter the 2021 NBA Draft, doing so alongside Darryl Morsell and Aaron Wiggins. Ayala will participate in the NBA Draft Combine from June 21 to June 27, giving him the opportunity to showcase his abilities to NBA teams before having to decide whether he’ll return to College Park on July 7.

If Ayala and Wiggins were to remain in the draft, they would become the fourth and fifth players to leave the program since the end of the season with Morsell, Aquan Smart and Chol Marial.