NEWARK – Shortly after the playing of the Seton Hall alma mater Saturday afternoon, a man who has made The Hall his home for the last five years posed with the flag of his native home, Nigeria. His pride in both places was unmistakable on the beaming face of postgrad big Mike Nzei.
Nzei flew the flag of his home country and soon will carry the Seton Hall banner into the NCAA tournament again, with a 79-75 Senior Day victory over visiting Villanova providing the final impetus of an incredible week in which the Pirates (18-12, 9-9 Big East) shook off a devastating three-game skid and upended two ranked opponents on their home court.
“The boys told me before the game,” Nzei said afterward, referring to his teammates, “they were going to get it done for me. I believe in them like I’ve always believed in them all season. We came out strong, everybody did what they had to do and we got it done."
If Seton Hall makes it, and it seems a cinch now, Nzei will join Brian Caver and Arturas Karnishovas as the only Pirates to be on four NCAA tournament squads.
“So I’ve got to give credit and a shout out to my teammates for doing it for me and I appreciate it,” added Nzei, who still had the Nigerian flag with him in the interview room. “I didn’t want to go away with a loss.”
Of course, nobody in Pirate blue wanted that, particularly on this day. The remarkable comeback win over a fast-fading Marquette team three days earlier had thrust Seton Hall back onto the good side of the NCAA fence, according to the bracketologists. But the Pirates wanted one more win to put on the resume to go with December victories at Maryland and over Kentucky at Madison Square Garden.
When asked if this win punched Seton Hall’s at-large NCAA ticket, star guard Myles Powell said, “it should.
“We could play with anybody in the country,” said Powell, who had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but for a change, wasn’t required to score 30 or more. “We just beat two ranked teams. We beat Kentucky. We beat Maryland. The list goes on. We can play with anybody in the country when we’re playing our (style of) basketball.”
And on Saturday, that included plenty of help for Powell. Remarkably, five Pirates scored in double figures, accounting for all but three of the 79 points. Myles Cale added 19, Sandro Mamukelashvili 12, Nzei had 10 and Jared Rhoden came off the bench to pour in 15 much-needed points in only 13:22 of playing time.
Cale, who was 6-for-8 from long distance, perhaps rediscovered his three-point stroke just in time for the post-season, which begins Thursday night for The Hall with a quarterfinal game against sixth-seeded Georgetown at Madison Square Garden.
Since going a nearly unconscious 12-for-17 (70.6 percent) from beyond the arc in a three-game span in late January, Cale had been 12-for-37 from distance.
“I felt good,” Cale said, adding that his coaches and teammates told him, “keep shooting, keep shooting” despite his slump. “I listened to them.”
And how were the Pirates able to flip the script after a double-OT loss to the Hoyas the week before?
“After the Georgetown loss, we kind of went down and a lot of people doubted us,” Cale said. “We knew these last two (regular-season) games were really big and we put on our hard hats and went to work. … Everyone knew these two games could put us right back where we were” in the NCAA tournament conversation.
Perhaps that’s why, unlike in the Marquette win, The Hall jumped Villanova immediately. Maybe the Wildcats were rusty from their bye week, but the Pirates scored the first five points. Villanova (22-9, 13-5) never led and the contest never was tied.
The only other time that happened to the defending national champions this year was in a blowout loss to visiting Michigan in the Gavitt Games.
“Seton Hall played really well right from the start, very locked in, very ready to play,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “For whatever reason, a number of little reasons, we just didn't have our guys ready to play at the start. They just jumped us early and it took us until the second half to really get going, which is disappointing.”
One has to understand that Wright takes the Big East tournament seriously, no matter what his team’s NCAA tournament projections appear to be. Unlike the pro team currently playing at MSG, Wright and the Wildcats never tank any games there, and enjoy being the top-seeded team in the Big East tourney. So don’t think for a moment that there wasn’t plenty at stake for them Saturday.
Yet Seton Hall outplayed them from the start.
“That's what happened, and I was proud of our guys” for rallying, Wright said. “We actually started competing in the second half and it just wasn't enough.”
However, Villanova backed into the outright title and top seed when Marquette was upset by visiting Georgetown later that afternoon. The Golden Eagles will face the Georgetown-Seton Hall winner in the late semifinal on Friday night.
Villanova trimmed a 16-point second-half deficit to one on two occasions but never had a chance to take the lead. The Hall survived some shaky foul shooting in the final minute--including both Powell and Shavar Reynolds going a shocking 2-for-4--but had enough to hold on.
“We’re not always pretty, but these kids play hard,” coach Kevin Willard said. “They never give up, they’re a great group of young men, and I’m glad our fans have gotten behind them and supported them because I think they deserve it.”
And those fans, barring something shocking, can now start thinking about making a road trip to an NCAA tournament site next week.
“This team has a huge ceiling, and we're going for it,” Nzei said
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Nzei flew the flag of his home country and soon will carry the Seton Hall banner into the NCAA tournament again, with a 79-75 Senior Day victory over visiting Villanova providing the final impetus of an incredible week in which the Pirates (18-12, 9-9 Big East) shook off a devastating three-game skid and upended two ranked opponents on their home court.
“The boys told me before the game,” Nzei said afterward, referring to his teammates, “they were going to get it done for me. I believe in them like I’ve always believed in them all season. We came out strong, everybody did what they had to do and we got it done."
If Seton Hall makes it, and it seems a cinch now, Nzei will join Brian Caver and Arturas Karnishovas as the only Pirates to be on four NCAA tournament squads.
“So I’ve got to give credit and a shout out to my teammates for doing it for me and I appreciate it,” added Nzei, who still had the Nigerian flag with him in the interview room. “I didn’t want to go away with a loss.”
Of course, nobody in Pirate blue wanted that, particularly on this day. The remarkable comeback win over a fast-fading Marquette team three days earlier had thrust Seton Hall back onto the good side of the NCAA fence, according to the bracketologists. But the Pirates wanted one more win to put on the resume to go with December victories at Maryland and over Kentucky at Madison Square Garden.
When asked if this win punched Seton Hall’s at-large NCAA ticket, star guard Myles Powell said, “it should.
“We could play with anybody in the country,” said Powell, who had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but for a change, wasn’t required to score 30 or more. “We just beat two ranked teams. We beat Kentucky. We beat Maryland. The list goes on. We can play with anybody in the country when we’re playing our (style of) basketball.”
And on Saturday, that included plenty of help for Powell. Remarkably, five Pirates scored in double figures, accounting for all but three of the 79 points. Myles Cale added 19, Sandro Mamukelashvili 12, Nzei had 10 and Jared Rhoden came off the bench to pour in 15 much-needed points in only 13:22 of playing time.
Cale, who was 6-for-8 from long distance, perhaps rediscovered his three-point stroke just in time for the post-season, which begins Thursday night for The Hall with a quarterfinal game against sixth-seeded Georgetown at Madison Square Garden.
Since going a nearly unconscious 12-for-17 (70.6 percent) from beyond the arc in a three-game span in late January, Cale had been 12-for-37 from distance.
“I felt good,” Cale said, adding that his coaches and teammates told him, “keep shooting, keep shooting” despite his slump. “I listened to them.”
And how were the Pirates able to flip the script after a double-OT loss to the Hoyas the week before?
“After the Georgetown loss, we kind of went down and a lot of people doubted us,” Cale said. “We knew these last two (regular-season) games were really big and we put on our hard hats and went to work. … Everyone knew these two games could put us right back where we were” in the NCAA tournament conversation.
Perhaps that’s why, unlike in the Marquette win, The Hall jumped Villanova immediately. Maybe the Wildcats were rusty from their bye week, but the Pirates scored the first five points. Villanova (22-9, 13-5) never led and the contest never was tied.
The only other time that happened to the defending national champions this year was in a blowout loss to visiting Michigan in the Gavitt Games.
“Seton Hall played really well right from the start, very locked in, very ready to play,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “For whatever reason, a number of little reasons, we just didn't have our guys ready to play at the start. They just jumped us early and it took us until the second half to really get going, which is disappointing.”
One has to understand that Wright takes the Big East tournament seriously, no matter what his team’s NCAA tournament projections appear to be. Unlike the pro team currently playing at MSG, Wright and the Wildcats never tank any games there, and enjoy being the top-seeded team in the Big East tourney. So don’t think for a moment that there wasn’t plenty at stake for them Saturday.
Yet Seton Hall outplayed them from the start.
“That's what happened, and I was proud of our guys” for rallying, Wright said. “We actually started competing in the second half and it just wasn't enough.”
However, Villanova backed into the outright title and top seed when Marquette was upset by visiting Georgetown later that afternoon. The Golden Eagles will face the Georgetown-Seton Hall winner in the late semifinal on Friday night.
Villanova trimmed a 16-point second-half deficit to one on two occasions but never had a chance to take the lead. The Hall survived some shaky foul shooting in the final minute--including both Powell and Shavar Reynolds going a shocking 2-for-4--but had enough to hold on.
“We’re not always pretty, but these kids play hard,” coach Kevin Willard said. “They never give up, they’re a great group of young men, and I’m glad our fans have gotten behind them and supported them because I think they deserve it.”
And those fans, barring something shocking, can now start thinking about making a road trip to an NCAA tournament site next week.
“This team has a huge ceiling, and we're going for it,” Nzei said
COMMENTS?
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
