PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By JP Pelzman
It is still a long way until tip-off (probably after 10 p.m. unless Arizona dispatches Wright State extremely quick without a lot of fouls and stoppages), so let’s look at some keys to Seton Hall-TCU tonight in San Diego:
1--Cleaning the glass. TCU is 10th in the nation in offensive rebounds at 12.97 per game. There is no nice way to say this--Ike Obiagu (4.0 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per game) needs to latch onto some of those boards instead of tipping them out, sometimes to the opposition. Alexis Yetna (7.8) and Jared Rhoden (6.5), who does yeoman’s work on the glass for a 6-6 wing, will have to come up big.
Rhoden said of TCU, “They do a really good job of crashing every time. It's important to box out every time on every player. They do a really good job of cutting, whether it's behind you, whether it's in front of you. They all do a very good job moving without the ball. So I think finding a body when they're all moving around is important.”
2--Myles on Miles? It would not be surprising to see Seton Hall’s best defender, Myles Cale, matched up against TCU’s leading scorer, Mike Miles (15.0 points, 3.9 assists).
“I'm looking forward to that matchup,” Rhoden said. “I'll put him against anyone.”
It will be interesting to see if the taller Cale’s wingspan gives the 6-2 Miles some problems, if, indeed, this is the matchup.
3--More offense needed. It's not a coincidence that Seton Hall averaged 72.9 points overall and 66.8 points in the 15 games since Bryce Aiken was lost for the season. Granted, some of that is due to the fact the injury happened during the grind-it-out Big East portion of the schedule, when points were going to be at a premium anyway.
But Aiken’s scoring (14.5 points) is missed, and coach Kevin Willard has had to slow down the tempo without him. Nonetheless, even against a non-offensive juggernaut such as TCU, one offensive drought can make the difference in a win-or-else setting.
4--Rim protector. Yes, Obiagu has his limitations in rebounding and offense. But as a shot-blocker and shot deterrent, he can be a shock to the system of teams that have not faced him before.
“It's going to be a challenge,” Miles said Thursday. “But that doesn't change the way we play. We're all very capable of getting to the rim and finishing. For me, I'm going there just like I always do. Obviously, I don't want to get my shot blocked, but I'm going to challenge them and just play my game. I don't have to change anything.”
We'll see if that attitude changes if a shot gets sent back in his face.
5--Been there, done that. Cale started and had four points and two assists in 23 minutes in The Hall’s 94-83 win over North Carolina State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2018. He is the only player on either team to participate in an NCAA victory for his current school.
TCU’s Micah Peavy played in two NCAA games for Texas Tech last season before transferring. Obiagu totaled eight points and eight rebounds off the bench in three NCAA Tournament wins for Florida State as a freshman before transferring.
Cale said his advice to his teammates would be, “Just have some fun. Just remember why we all came here. I just look at it as a challenge and I love challenges.”
He added, “Getting there is one thing and winning is the next. … That’s the reason why I came back.”
As for that victory over NC State, Cale said, “It felt so good. That’s the goal--to keep staying” at the venue.
Rhoden said, “You waited your whole life for this opportunity.”
