PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By Tyler Calvaruso
New day, same results for a Seton Hall team that has officially gone off the rails.
Seton Hall got off to a red-hot start against UConn on Wednesday, only to get blitzed in the second half in a crushing double-digit loss. The Pirates came out of the gates even stronger against St. John’s on Sunday night, opening on an 18-0 tear in a game they had to have to keep their already slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
Instead of stepping on St. John’s throat and notching a statement win before the Big East Tournament, Seton Hall did what it has done best in recent weeks – it collapsed. St. John’s outscored Seton Hall by 28 points after spotting it an 18-point cushion and dominated the second half in a 81-71 win that all but saps the Pirates of any opportunity to make their sixth straight NCAA Tournament as an at-large participant.
“I thought we came out with great energy,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “I thought our ball movement was as good as it’s been in our last four games. The ball was going side to side, it touched all five guys’ hands, I thought the ball movement was really good. We knew they were going to make a run. That’s what Mike [Anderson]’s teams do. They came out in the second half and they really got after us.”
St. John’s shot a torrid 67% from the field in the second half, while Seton Hall couldn’t hit water if it fell out of a boat, going 11-31 and 3-12 from the arc. The Pirates held a 38-28 lead at halftime, but St. John’s came out of the locker room with a purpose and quickly cut the lead down to two. The Red Storm took their first lead of the game on a Marcellus Earlington 3-pointer at the 14:03 mark and it was all St. John’s from there, as it opened a lead as large as 12 before the final buzzer.
“Unfortunately, over these last four games, we’ve let our offense dictate our defense,” Willard said. “We struggled on offense and we’ve really struggled on defense.”
Seton Hall cut St. John’s lead to 67-61 with 3:51 remaining in a last-ditch effort, but St. John’s quickly settled back in after a Mike Anderson timeout and buried the Pirates on an Earlington three from the wing to push its lead back to nine with two and a half minutes.
Sandro Mamukelashvili paced Seton Hall with 15 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Shavar Reynolds also turned in a quality performance in the loss, registering just two turnovers to go along with 13 points on 5-8 shooting, four steals and three assists in 34 minutes of action.
“I can’t ask for Shavar to do anything more than he’s doing,” Willard said. “He’s been a workhorse. He’s a big reason why we winded up 10-9 in Big East play. Obviously, we’re disappointed where we are in these last four games and how the season ended, but so many positives. I’m really proud of how hard these guys worked, how hard they’ve played. We just haven’t played hard over the last four games.”
Seton Hall finishes 13-12 and just one game above .500 in conference play in its first season not finishing third or tied for first in the Big East since the infamous 2014-15 season. Despite their recent struggles, the opportunity for a deep Big East Tournament run still remains if the Pirates can somehow find their way by next week.
If that does not happen, Seton Hall will have no choice but to reintroduce itself to the NIT – a disappointing outcome for a season that was filled with hope just a month ago.
“I’m always excited about the Big East Tournament,” Willard said. “We’ve been very successful there. I have a lot of confidence in this team, we’re just not playing 40 minutes right now, and that’s really hurting us.”
Quick Thoughts
- Seton Hall has endured some brutal losses over the last two weeks, but this one is the worst of the bunch and it is not even close. Opening on an 18-0 run only to lose by double digits is almost unfathomable, but this team somehow managed to pull it off. Embarrassing effort, one that lacked any sort of grit.
-What is it going to take for Seton Hall to get back on track for the Big East Tournament other than a miracle? A change to the starting lineup or rotation as Willard suggested postgame might be too little, too late, but maybe it can create some sort of much-needed jolt with Seton Hall’s NCAA Tournament hopes on life support.
“Certain matchups or lineups we have out there aren’t working well,” Willard said. “That’s something I’m going to look at. Maybe tweak it a little bit or tweak what we’re doing with our bench minutes to get a little bit more continuity.”
One of those changes might be featuring a bit more of Bryce Aiken, who provided 18 minutes off the bench. Willard is pleased with where Aiken is at right now and his presence lightens the burden Reynolds had to carry while he was out.
Regardless of what Willard ultimately decides, the fact remains Seton Hall has not been able to string together a consistent performance in nearly a month. Even in wins over DePaul and Marquette, the Pirates struggled mightily and were simply the beneficiaries of DePaul and Marquette being Big East bottom feeders.
No matter how you slice it, it’s tough to see Seton Hall turning it around this season given its recent stretch of incompetence
