UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Despite late-game heroics, the Seton Hall men's basketball team lost to Hofstra, 49-48, in a special Icons of the Game matchup at Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday night.

Chaunce Jenkins scored 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor (4-7 from three) for the Pirates (1-2), while also contributing two steals. The Pride (3-0) scored 13 points to the Pirates 1 on the fast break, while Pirates struggled again from the free-throw line shooting 47.1 percent for the game (8-of-17).

How It Happened

In the opening minutes, the Pirates dominated on the defensive end while struggling to find their footing on offense. Through two-and-a-half minutes of play, Chaunce Jenkins served as the Pirates' metronome on both ends of the floor, helping the Pirates to a quick 5-0 lead. The Rams responded by claiming a two-point lead after a trio of shots fell, with both teams quickly trading buckets and the lead back-and-forth in the aftermath. After coming off the bench, David Tubek would net a trio of free throws to put the Pirates back in front 12-11 with 8:05 left in the half. After a timeout, Godswill Erheriene scored two quick baskets in the paint, pushing the game into The Hall's favor with 16-13 scoreline. Entering the half, the Pirates held a 24-22 lead off the back an 8-3 advantage on the offensive boards and a 12-8 advantage in paint points.

A flurry of free throws and foul shots through four minutes of the second half left the game tied 27-27 before Chaunce Jenkins took over. Jenkins would outscore Hofstra 7-2 and grow the Pirates lead to 34-29 with 12:36 remaining in the half. The Pride would counter with a run of their own, shortening the Pirates lead to 36-34 with 9:26 remaining. Yacine Toumi and Dylan Addae-Wusu ended Hofstra's run, protecting the Pirates' lead, but the Pride soon countered with another run to claim a 40-39 lead with 5:12 remaining, their first since midway through the first half.

Over the next three-and-a-half minutes, the Pride went on a 10-5 run to earn a 49-45 lead with 1:45 remaining. In search of points, a Isaiah Coleman rebound lead to a Dylan Addae-Wusu three to draw the Pirates within one with 51 seconds remaining. After an impressive defensive stop, the Pirates received a chance to win the game with 14 seconds on the clock. After a deflection on the inbound, Coleman secured the ball on the second inbound and lofted a shot that bounced off the backboard as time expired to give the Pride a 49-48 win.

News & Notes

• This will be Seton Hall's first appearance at Nassau Coliseum since the 1978-79 season where the Pirates, led by head coach Bill Raftery, lost to Iona, 80-73, in the first round of the ECAC Tournament on March 1.
• The Hall's first and only other game at Nassau Coliseum came the season before in 1977-78, a narrow loss in the ECAC Tournament to a Mike Krzyzewski-led Army squad, 81-79, on March 2.
• This was the Pirates first game against Hofstra since The Hall's 60-58 victory over the Pride on January 31,1970.
• The Pirates are now 4-2 all-time against Hofstra.
• With 18 points on Wednesday, Jenkins now has surpassed 1000-career points (1002 pts).
• Jenkins now has 52 career double-figure scoring games and two this season.
• Addae-Wusu now has 45 career-double figure scoring games.
• With eight rebounds on Wednesday, Dylan Addae-Wusu is up to 8 career games with eight or more rebounds.

Up Next
The Pirates will return home to historic Walsh Gymnasium to face Wagner on Saturday, November 16, at 12:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FS2.

It was a battle of styles in Wednesday evening’s Icons of the Game matchup at the Nassau Coliseum between Seton Hall, known for its physicality and defensive chops under Head Coach Shaheen Holloway, and Hofstra, a high-scoring team that’s been at the top of the CAA since alum and former NBA player Speedy Claxton took over the helm three years ago,.

Seton Hall slowed down Hofstra to nearly a grinding halt after the Pride averaged 89.5 points in their first two games entering the matchup, but the Pirates saw a former player come up clutch as they fell in the neutral site matchup 49-48, their second straight to a mid-major in as many games.

Jaquan Sanders, who transferred to Hofstra in the offseason from Seton Hall after its NIT Champion run, buried a three with less than two minutes remaining to give Hofstra the lead, 49-45, which they would not relinquish.

Dylan Addae-Wusu connected on a three from the wing off the assist from fellow graduate player Chaunce Jenkins to close the score to one with 50 seconds remaining before Seton Hall secured a defensive rebound with 19 seconds remaining to give themselves an opportunity to escape Long Island with a win. The Pirates have struggled to look cohesive offensively through the early part of the season and it proved to be their undoing once again as they came out of their final timeout and ultimately settled for a jumper from the corner, and not a particularly clean look at that.

It was more of the same missteps and miscues abound for a Seton Hall team sporting 10 new players and returning only one starter from a year ago as they committed 14 turnovers, scored one fast break point despite causing 14 turnovers and shot 47.1% from the charity stripe (8/17), 35.4% from the field (17/48) and 30% from three (6/20).

Leading Hofstra was Jean Aranguren with 13 points and six assists, while Sanders registered 12 points and four rebounds.

Pacing Seton Hall was Jenkins with 18 points, five rebounds, two steals and an assist and Addae-Wusu with 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a steal, while freshman Godswill Erheriene tallied six points, six rebounds a block and an assist in his third collegiate start.

The Hall jumped out to an early 5-0 lead to start the contest, but was unable to grow the lead further as they turned it over and missed three layups leading to a three minute scoring drought, which allowed the Pride to take an 8-7 lead halfway through the opening half.

Down 13-12 with just over six minutes to go in the first half, the Pirates put together a 7-0 run as Erheriene faked a screen, dove to the hoop and dunked the ball off the dish from Addae-Wusu then put back an offensive rebound on the next possession before Jenkins hit a three for a 19-13 lead, which would grow to the team’s largest, 22-15, just a possession later as Addae-Wusu connected on a triple.

Seton Hall committed three turnovers and missed two layups over the final four minutes of the half to enter halftime up just two, 24-22.

Hofstra kept the game tight throughout the second half and it was evident with just under eight minutes remaining that the Pirates would not do themselves any favors in the contest as they proceeded to go 1/6 from the free throw-line over the course of one possession that saw Yacine Toumi go 0/4 from the charity stripe, while Addae-Wusu corralled two offensive rebounds and missed the first of two freebie attempts for a 39-36 lead.

Over the course of the final six minutes, Seton Hall committed three turnovers and converted on just one of three attempts from the foul line to allow Hofstra to come away with the win despite leading for just five minutes all night.

Thoughts/Musings

While there’s not much too look forward to with this team right now, try and enjoy what Jenkins brings to the squad. Loved seeing him attack the hoop early and play off the attack shortly thereafter and step into a three.

Hate to think about how this game would have looked without Jenkins/Addae-Wusu.

Addae-Wusu is a truly maddening player to watch as a fan. Early and late in the first half he has miscues and lost the ball, but at the same time he played through a pick and roll two on one, shielding the ball away from his defender and scored. I think at the end of the day I just don’t love him as a lead facilitator particularly because it seems like we get into sets even later than we have historically.

Zion Harmon played on the court with Addae-Wusu in the first half and wasn’t the primary ball-handler, which can be viewed as frustrating. He needs to find a way to earn Sha’s trust and earn some time on the court and fast.

Sanders was not impressive and looked very much like the same player that he was at Seton Hall, but we sure could use a guy that knows how to put the ball through the hoop.

Another example of this team being disjointed and pressing came after Yalden attempted a long three early, which I was relatively fine with. Later he hoisted another three attempt when he would’ve been better suited to pass it up and make the extra pass to the open man on the wing.

The Godswill dunk off the fake screen and drive before the offensive rebound putback and the Jenkins three was probably the three best consecutive possession the team has had all year.

Toumi, who is rail thin in the mold of someone like Robert ‘Stix’ Mitchell, as the second unit center seems to lead to him racking up fouls. I would like to see more of Toumi at the four with Godswill at center, who been challenging well at the rim and really looks like he belongs at the high D1 level as a freshman.

This team needs Coleman to just do more, plain and simple. It’s probably more than a bit unfair to ask the world of him as a sophomore, but he has one of if not the highest ceiling on the team and he needs to find a way to impact the game more if this team is going to win.

It’s been stated before, and I will stated again. The downfall, and we are witnessing the downfall of a legendary basketball program, of Seton Hall basketball lies at the feet of Lyons.

His lack of vision or lack of willingness to be ahead of the curve like the rest of the universities, put us in a bad spot then and now there is no path to recovery. This will also lead to the departure of our coach in the next year or so.

Hopefully our new president has great visions for the university from academic perspective as the athletic program will no longer be the focal point

We can all talk about go support that NIL with bake sales and car washes and buy some bad beer and hang out at bunnies but I’ll leave that to the Boy Scouts for their fundraising.