PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By Zack Cziryak
Good defense beats good offense, until it doesn’t. It also helps to have an NBA prospect in the house.
In a battle of contrasting styles, the Iowa Hawkeyes came to Newark, N.J. and dispatched the Seton Hall Pirates in a game that was almost always closer than the final score, but conversely felt out of reach most of the time for the home team.
Each squad posted convincing 2-0 records built on wins against lesser opponents, but it was the more polished Hawkeyes and forward Kris Murray, who led all players in points and tied for rebounds, finishing with 29 and 11 in 37 minutes of an 83-67 Iowa win on Wednesday night.
Murray, whose brother Keegan was a top 5 NBA draft pick out of Iowa five months ago, put on a performance for the many reported NBA scouts in attendance, Hall alum and Chicago Bulls Executive V.P. of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas among the spectators.
“He played well, he played really well. He’s good,” Seton Hall Head Coach Shaheen Holloway said of Murray. “I thought we made him look a little better than what he is, but he’s good. He’s long, he’s athletic, can shoot it, obviously he played multiple spots. He just embraced playing basketball. I think some of the guys on our team can learn from that.”
Murray was joined by starting guard Tony Perkins’ 18 points and five rebounds, and forward Filip Rebraca, who finished with a double-double of his own with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The trio of Murray, Perkins and Rebraca each played at least 34 minutes, accounting for 68.7% of the Hawkeyes scoring for a squad that essentially went seven players, handling the defensive pressure of the Pirates and Holloway’s style of going deep into the bench to keep legs fresh.
“As good as Murray played, I thought the point guard was the key to the game for them, Perkins. We knew he’s a good solid player, but he was driving the basketball and nobody had good step-ups,” Holloway said.
The Pirates saw six players log at least 22 minutes, led by Al-Amir Dawes’ 31, while Tray Jackson, Femi Odukale and Tyrese Samuel rounded out the night’s regular rotation players with 18, 15 and 14, respectively.
The aggressive style of Holloway’s Pirates ultimately led to 25 fouls compared to 15 and put Iowa to the line 20 more times than Seton Hall, where they finished 28 of 33 for 84.8% compared to 11 of 13 for the home team.
Iowa recorded five blocks to Seton Hall’s two in addition to eight steals compared to five from the Pirates. In total, the Hawkeyes forced 16 Pirate turnovers while only coughing up the ball eight times themselves.
The Pirates were able to get to the rim with relative consistency, but as in more recent Pirates squads of years past, had trouble finishing at the rim, particularly in the first half.
“I thought we got there, we’ve got to finish. I thought for them to not be having a shot blocker, I think Kadary [Richmond] had a stretch in the second half where he drilled the ball three straight times. He’s got to do that a lot. There’s no reason for him not doing that all the time, he’s supposed to be the guy on our team. Second team all-Big East, he’s got to learn to take the game over. And I think this is us learning each other. I don’t like the difference in free throws, but that’s part of the game,” Holloway said.
Samuel finished with nine points and eight rebounds for Seton Hall in only 14 minutes, notching his only assist in the first four minutes of play on a heady kickout to Jamir Harris for three. Dre Davis, Richmond and Harris rounded out the Pirates’ double-digit scorers with 13, 11 and 11 apiece.
Samuel’s absence after picking up his third foul at the 18:32 minute mark of the second half proved pivotal overall, according to Holloway.
“I thought Rese being in foul trouble really hurt us, because I had some guys in there that are still trying to embrace that role of playing at the five, and Rese was playing good. He had nine points and eight rebounds at the time, and I should have got him back in a little earlier, but the game was kind of moving so fast. You’ve got to learn from it,” he said.
Not all was negative for the Pirates in a 16-point loss as the Hall pulled down 40 rebounds compared to Iowa’s 38, despite an 8-1 advantage to start the game, and held the Hawkeyes to just 31.3% from beyond the arc. The Pirates also appeared to find their offensive footing as they put up 45 points compared to 24 in the first and assisted on 14 of 24 made baskets.
Holloway is ready to look at the tape and prepare for the Pirates next tilt at home on Sunday against Wagner, led by former Seton Hall standout guard Donald Copeland, the first-year Seahawks head coach in his first year after spending last year on Kevin Willard’s bench for the Pirates.
“I’m just worried about Wagner right now. I’m not looking ahead to any of the other teams. Wagner’s good, they just beat Temple and Temple just beat Villanova. We’ve got to worry about Wagner and after that, kind of focus on that. I think it’s us, we’ve got to work on our offense. I think our defense is pretty good. The game kind of got out of hand, but this team was averaging 110 points a game. We took away what I thought was their strength in their 3-pointers, and then they started dropping it. So, we’ve gotta make some adjustments, we’ve gotta watch film, make a few adjustments and kind of go from there,” he said.
