PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By JP Pelzman
In praise of Mamu.
Star stretch four Sandro Mamukelashvili has had an occasional lull in his play this season, but he had one of his best games Wednesday night against visiting DePaul, and the Pirates needed almost every bit of it to avoid a damaging loss to the perennially woeful Blue Demons.
Mamukelashvili posted a double-double with 25 points and 11 boards, and had five points and an assist during a game-changing 9-0 run in the second half. The senior also topped the 1,000-point mark for his college career.
“He’s a high-level player,” coach Kevin Willard said, “and he’s turned himself into that with a lot of hard work.”
Of his game Wednesday, Mamukelashvili said, “I was feeling confident. I was feeling relaxed. I just went out there and hooped and the guys (teammates) backed me up as always. … Thank you to my teammates for helping me to be confident out there.”
As usual, the modest Mamu deflected the praise, saying there will be nights on which his teammates will have to pick him up. But make no mistake--for this team to maximize its potential, he will have to have more games similar to this one.
Shooting slump worsens.
The Hall’s shooting woes continued against DePaul, as the Pirates shot 37.3% from the field. That came on the heels of a 37% performance versus Marquette three days earlier. Counting a victory at Providence, The Hall has hit less than 40% from the floor in three of its last four games. However, mixed in there was a 22-for-44 shooting day in a win at Connecticut.
Still, it was obvious afterward that Willard is concerned. Much like many coaches, Willard always has stressed defense first, but he knows all that good defense can be wasted if you can’t put the ball in the hoop yourself. Of course, Seton Hall cannot go out and make a deadline-day trade or sign someone to a 10-day contract.
The only remedies are to try to get better ball movement for open shots and to get the ball to the right shooters. Again, I don’t mean to harp on this, but Takal Molson’ 0-for-2 from long distance against the Blue Demons lowered his percentage beyond the arc this season to 19.4, 7-for-36. He has made only two of his last 23 attempts and played a season-low 10 minutes in this game. It's the old axiom--there's a reason why opposing teams are leaving him wide-open from three.
Reynolds wasn’t his usual self.
Senior point guard Shavar Reynolds’ lack of aggressiveness was noticeable, although he still had a decent floor game against DePaul. He posted five assists and two turnovers while logging a yeoman 36 minutes in the continuing absence of Bryce Aiken (knee).
However, he shot 0-for-7 and was held scoreless for only the second time this season, the other one being the blowout loss at Creighton last month. It was clear he was altering his style of play to compensate for Aiken not being available, as Reynolds was afraid to pick up cheap fouls that might send him to the bench and force Willard to give major minutes to unproven freshman Jahari Long.
Reynolds’ quandary is understandable. There are no easy answers for his situation. Yet, his scrappiness and desire to push the envelope sometimes are the exact traits that got him this far. If he didn’t have those, the former walk-on wouldn’t be playing at this level. Reynolds and Willard have to figure out a way to harness that energy, perhaps at a little lower dosage, to where he still can be as effective while remaining on the court and out of foul trouble.
Who's left?
OK, fingers crossed, Seton Hall’s remaining regular-season schedule looks like this, with KenPom ranking in parentheses: Saturday at Georgetown (98), 5:30. Feb. 24 at Butler (125), 7. March 3 Connecticut (36) 6:30. March 6 at St. John’s (64) time TBA. Seton Hall entered Friday rated 34th.
The Pirates (13-8, 10-5 Big East) will be trying for season sweeps of all four of those teams. St. John’s looks like a much different team than the one the Pirates beat on Dec. 11 in the conference opener for both teams, and that game will be played at Carnesecca Arena in Jamaica, not Madison Square Garden.
Scouting Georgetown.
The Hoyas (6-10, 4-7) haven’t played since a 78-63 win over fading Butler last Saturday. Georgetown has played much better since returning from a three-week COVID pause, winning three of five games, including an upset victory at Creighton.
The Hoyas had four double-figure scorers in the victory over the Bulldogs, including senior guard Jahvon Blair with 17 points. He averages 17.0 points and 4.4 assists. Down low, The Hall must be wary of both Jamorko Pickett (12.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg) and Qudus Wahab (11.8, 7.9).
