Bryce Aiken comes up big down the stretch as Seton Hall tops Rutgers
This week proved how important Bryce Aiken can be.
nypost.com
By Zach Braziller
Bryce Aiken scored a game-high 22 points in Seton Hall's 77-63 win over Rutgers Sunday.
AP
A healthy Bryce Aiken could’ve made all the difference for Seton Hall last year. This week proved how important he can be.
On Wednesday, he hit clutch shots to knock off No. 7 Texas, and on Sunday he closed out Rutgers in the Garden State Hardwood Classic. The Randolph, N.J. native scored 14 of his 22 points in the final 9:17, helping the 23rd-ranked Pirates add to their already impressive non-conference résumé with a thorough 77-63 victory at a jam-packed Prudential Center.
“Just fun,” Aiken said. “Thankful.”
When Rutgers got within six late in the second half, Aiken took charge. He converted a three-point play, set up Tyrese Samuel for a dunk and drilled a deep 3-pointer with 3:51 left, pushing the lead back to 13 and all but ending the Scarlet Knights’ hopes. For good measure, he added a hanging banker in the lane as Seton Hall defeated it’s fourth high-major opponent this season.
Jared Rhoden holds up the Garden State Hardwood Classic Trophy.
Getty Images
The Harvard transfer appeared in just 14 games a year ago for Seton Hall due to a myriad of injuries. He’s healthy now, and providing a major boost off the bench, working in tandem with Syracuse transfer Kadary Richmond to form a potent 1-2 punch at point guard. That position was a glaring hole last year, as the Pirates (9-1) missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015. Seton Hall certainly looks like a March Madness contender this year, and a team better than its projected fifth-place finish in the Big East.
“I think we’ve proven that we’re one of the best teams in the country,” senior star Jared Rhoden said. “It’s a statement that I [made at] media day a couple of months ago, and I’m going to continue to stand on that. We are one of the best teams in the country and we’re one of the most talented teams, by far.”
Richmond helped Seton Hall build a 10-point lead at halftime with 12 first-half points and Aiken took over after the break. It didn’t matter that Rhoden (16 points, seven rebounds) started 0-for-5 and didn’t find his rhythm until the game was 25 minutes in or that Seton Hall shot just 5 of 21 from the 3-point line. Richmond and Aiken excelled and the Pirates held Rutgers (5-5) stars Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker to 21 points on 7 of 23 shooting.
“We’re 9-1,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard joked, when asked about how much his point guard duo has changed the Pirates’ fortunes. “It’s a big difference.”
Rutgers, coming off of its stunning upset of No. 1 Purdue on Thursday — the first win over a No. 1 in program history — did respond after a few Seton Hall haymakers. It was as close as six with 6:24 left. But it never got closer. Aiken, Rhoden and the Pirates’ defense made sure of that.
Myles Cale celebrates after Seton Hall’s win over Rutgers.
AP
The result really wasn’t in doubt in the final minutes, but that didn’t make the win any less satisfying for Rhoden. He remembers the last Seton Hall-Rutgers game, a 20-point Scarlet Knights’ victory two years ago. In that game, a Rutgers bench player yelled at him after he fell to the floor. He didn’t forget about that — he even saved a photo of it in his phone.
“I had a bad taste in my mouth from two years ago,” Rhoden said. “That’s something that [will] resonate with me forever. Every time I think of Rutgers, I think of that moment … I take everything like that personally.”
He added a new Rutgers memory Sunday night.
