JP's Takeaways: DePaul at Seton Hall
by JP Pelzman
It is more than a day later and many people, including myself, still are trying to make some sense of what happened at The Rock on Saturday night. But here’s an attempt with five takeaways:
It wasn’t a great night for Kevin Willard. Willard has put his name in the conversation for national coach of the year honors by molding this young group into such a cohesive unit, but the decision to start Darnell Brodie instead of Mike Nzei to deal with DePaul’s strong frontcourt backfired. Granted, Willard was missing an important piece in the injured Romaro Gill, who looked smooth in warmups but perhaps still didn’t have his stamina back. Willard said afterward Gill would play next Sunday at Villanova.
It also is curious that Myles Cale only attempted four second-half shots after being a sizzling 6-for-7 from the field in the first half, but a lot of that is on the players, too.
Myles Powell needs to have less of a conscience. Speaking of curious stats, consider the fact Seton Hall’s star didn’t attempt a shot for almost the first nine minutes of the second half. Again, everyone is at fault for that, including Powell. He had a good night by anyone’s standards (4-for-9 from three, 24 points), but The Hall needs even more from him, especially when things aren’t going well. Powell made at least two of those threes with a hand in his face, something he is going to have to continue to do going forward. Every shot opportunity isn’t going to be perfect when you’re circled on everyone’s scouting report.
I asked him about it afterward.
“I’m trying to look at other players, great players around the country and see what they’re doing,” Powell replied. “I know Coach still has faith in me, my teammates still have faith in me. I’m just going to get back, watch film and see how we can get better as a unit, as a team. I don’t want to just focus on myself. It’s a team offense, we’ve got to set screens, I’ve got to do a better job of getting open.”
Everyone needs to rebound. The fact that Sandro Mamukelashvili had over half of The Hall’s puny total of 19 rebounds is absurd. Even without Gill, the other bigs and the guards and wings have to do a much better job of hitting the defensive glass. A good defensive set is negated when the opponent gets put backs and second chances with impunity, and that was how DePaul operated on Saturday. I wouldn’t be surprised if box-out drills are emphasized in practice this coming week.
Seton Hall could’ve opened up the lead in the first half. Lost in the shuffle, and understandably so, The Hall had leads of six and seven points around the middle of the first half, both times with the ball. But the Pirates couldn’t get a score and then couldn’t get a stop. And once Max Strus, whom they had done a good job on early, drained two consecutive threes to tie the score, it was game on. It also didn’t help The Hall that DePaul somehow made 29 of 32 free throws. That display still only raised the Blue Demons’ season average from the stripe to 71 percent.
All is not lost. But yes, Seton Hall made it tougher on itself. In Jerry Palm’s bracketology on cbssports.com, the Pirates dropped from the 7 line to the 10 line after losing to Providence and DePaul. Still, those December wins at Maryland and versus Kentucky at MSG continue to increase in cachet as both of those teams continue to improve. But yeah, losing to DePaul twice is bad for any resume. It would help if the Pirates at least could get a split with Villanova. The St. John’s rematch at the Garden on Feb. 23 could be pivotal for both teams.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS?
by JP Pelzman
It is more than a day later and many people, including myself, still are trying to make some sense of what happened at The Rock on Saturday night. But here’s an attempt with five takeaways:
It wasn’t a great night for Kevin Willard. Willard has put his name in the conversation for national coach of the year honors by molding this young group into such a cohesive unit, but the decision to start Darnell Brodie instead of Mike Nzei to deal with DePaul’s strong frontcourt backfired. Granted, Willard was missing an important piece in the injured Romaro Gill, who looked smooth in warmups but perhaps still didn’t have his stamina back. Willard said afterward Gill would play next Sunday at Villanova.
It also is curious that Myles Cale only attempted four second-half shots after being a sizzling 6-for-7 from the field in the first half, but a lot of that is on the players, too.
Myles Powell needs to have less of a conscience. Speaking of curious stats, consider the fact Seton Hall’s star didn’t attempt a shot for almost the first nine minutes of the second half. Again, everyone is at fault for that, including Powell. He had a good night by anyone’s standards (4-for-9 from three, 24 points), but The Hall needs even more from him, especially when things aren’t going well. Powell made at least two of those threes with a hand in his face, something he is going to have to continue to do going forward. Every shot opportunity isn’t going to be perfect when you’re circled on everyone’s scouting report.
I asked him about it afterward.
“I’m trying to look at other players, great players around the country and see what they’re doing,” Powell replied. “I know Coach still has faith in me, my teammates still have faith in me. I’m just going to get back, watch film and see how we can get better as a unit, as a team. I don’t want to just focus on myself. It’s a team offense, we’ve got to set screens, I’ve got to do a better job of getting open.”
Everyone needs to rebound. The fact that Sandro Mamukelashvili had over half of The Hall’s puny total of 19 rebounds is absurd. Even without Gill, the other bigs and the guards and wings have to do a much better job of hitting the defensive glass. A good defensive set is negated when the opponent gets put backs and second chances with impunity, and that was how DePaul operated on Saturday. I wouldn’t be surprised if box-out drills are emphasized in practice this coming week.
Seton Hall could’ve opened up the lead in the first half. Lost in the shuffle, and understandably so, The Hall had leads of six and seven points around the middle of the first half, both times with the ball. But the Pirates couldn’t get a score and then couldn’t get a stop. And once Max Strus, whom they had done a good job on early, drained two consecutive threes to tie the score, it was game on. It also didn’t help The Hall that DePaul somehow made 29 of 32 free throws. That display still only raised the Blue Demons’ season average from the stripe to 71 percent.
All is not lost. But yes, Seton Hall made it tougher on itself. In Jerry Palm’s bracketology on cbssports.com, the Pirates dropped from the 7 line to the 10 line after losing to Providence and DePaul. Still, those December wins at Maryland and versus Kentucky at MSG continue to increase in cachet as both of those teams continue to improve. But yeah, losing to DePaul twice is bad for any resume. It would help if the Pirates at least could get a split with Villanova. The St. John’s rematch at the Garden on Feb. 23 could be pivotal for both teams.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS?
