PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By JP Pelzman
Two games in four days. Yes, both at home, but one against a top-10 powerhouse guided by one of the most sought-after head coaches in the country.
The second for Garden State bragging rights against the rival that had demolished Seton Hall on the road two seasons ago before the grudge match was put in suspended animation for a season.
No. 23 Seton Hall (9-1) emerged from this gauntlet with two victories, a nailbiter over the Longhorns and a comfortable 77-63 victory against the Scarlet Knights on Sunday night.
“I think we’ve proven we’re one of the best teams in the country,” senior wing Jared Rhoden said. “I'm going to continue to stand on that.”
Rutgers (5-5) also was coming off an exhilarating win Thursday, having downed then-top ranked Purdue at home on a 40-footer by Ron Harper Jr. as time expired.
“I give a lot of credit to Steve (Pikiell) and Rutgers,” coach Kevin Willard said, “because they had a more emotional win than we did, the way they won, and I thought they came out with great energy. I was so proud of my guys because it’s tough to bounce back after those wins."
The Scarlet Knights kept it close for the first 16 minutes, and were tied at 23 on Caleb McConnell’s jumper with 4:18 left in the half.
Then came The Hall, with a 14-0 blitz that ended the competitive portion of the game. Kadary Richmond and Bryce Aiken each had a three- and a two-pointer during the run, and just like that, it was 37-23.
McConnell and Harper each sank two foul shots in the final minute to cut the halftime deficit to 37-27, but the damage was done. The Pirates' maximum second-half lead was 16. And each time Rutgers managed to creep to within six, somebody in blue and white had the answer, whether it was Rhoden, Aiken, Alexis Yetna or Tyrese Samuel.
“We're a very talented team and we’ve got a lot of depth and we used that to our advantage,” said Aiken, who scored 22 points in 7-for-12 shooting and was named the Joe Calabrese MVP.
“My teammates were big for me,” said Rhoden, who scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half. “They always knew I was going to come back in the second half strong.”
Willard said, “Jared wanted to win this game. … Sometimes when Jared starts off a little too amped, he plays a little crazy. I always say, ‘You’re going a little crazy,’ and he says, ‘Yeah, I know.’ Once he kind of calms down, he’s a tough guy to stop, and to just kind of get him in a rhythm, we called a couple of isos for him, we called a couple of pin-downs for him, and I just thought he got into a good rhythm.”
Aiken said of Rhoden, “He wasn’t knocking down shots in the first half, but a player as talented as him, he’s going to come around. So, we were not worried about that.”
The Pirates credited the crowd of 11,606 for giving The Hall an added lift.
“They changed the momentum of the game with the runs,” Rhoden said, adding it was “probably one of the loudest” crowds he could recall in his college career.
“I know how much these types of games mean to them,” he added. “I know how much these types of games mean to Seton Hall fans and to the alumni specifically.”
Willard said, "I thought the crowd was phenomenal again, and it was a huge factor in our defensive energy.”
Richmond said, “It was a fun experience.”
For everyone in blue and white. For those in scarlet, not so much.
