by JP Plezman
It wasn’t pretty by any means, but Seton Hall got a much-needed victory Saturday night against Creighton. Now the Pirates will face a Georgetown team coming off an upset home loss to Butler. Here's a look back at the Creighton game with an emphasis on what needs to be done against the Hoyas.
The offense continues to struggle.
Seton Hall shot 28 percent from beyond the arc and is ninth in the Big East in that category at 32.6 percent. That’s hard to fathom considering the Pirates have Myles Powell on their roster, and even though he is routinely getting harassed and double-teamed, that should open things up for other players. Instead, Pirates not named Powell are shooting just under 31 percent from long distance. This must improve going down the stretch because even though Mike Nzei is scoring a respectable 9.2 points, there isn’t an Angel Delgado to dump the ball to in the low box.
Mixed results for Willard.
Coach Kevin Willard had an interesting night. Subbing in three reserves within a span of 30 seconds early in the first half sapped some early momentum, and led to the Bluejays erasing a nine-point deficit. But he made two crucial moves in the second half that helped The Hall win. He re-inserted Quincy McKnight into the game with 11:29 left despite him being saddled with four fouls, and he played all but 41 seconds the rest of the way and did not foul out. Also, Willard went against his usual preference of not fouling when up by three points in the final seconds. Davion Mintz, who is a 75 percent foul shooter but was suffering through an 0-for-11 night from the field, bricked the front end of a one-and-one and Creighton was toast.
In-game coaching decisions will continue to be very crucial in such an evenly-matched conference in which there absolutely are no gimmes anymore.
Seton Hall needs more from Mamu.
Sandro Mamukelashvili is multitalented but is averaging 27 minutes and 4.2 points in the last six games. When he drained a three from the left corner to open the scoring Saturday night, it appeared that maybe his slump was over. Instead, he managed only three more points the rest of the game, although he did grab 10 rebounds and had only one turnover. He has the inside and outside games to make opponents pay for doubling Powell on every possession. The Pirates need him to score more down the stretch of the season if they are to make a fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.
Thompson in trouble.
The latest chapter in the strange saga of Syracuse transfer Taurean Thompson occurred when he was spotted on the bench in warmups. He picked up his second DNP of the season and afterward, Willard was asked what had happened.
“Violation of team rules,” the coach replied. “He understands what he did, he apologized, and we've moved on.”
Willard said it was only a one-game suspension. Thompson’s craftiness around the basket on offense and length on defense would be helpful against Georgetown.
The Hoyas can score the ball.
Georgetown leads the conference in scoring average 81.5) and is third in three-point percentage (37.0). Seton Hall limited Creighton, the Big East leader in long-distance accuracy, to 28.6 percent from long range Saturday. “The big thing for us,” McKnight said, “is transition defense and getting back on defense and stopping the ball early enough to not allow them to get transition threes off.” That was the defensive formula versus Creighton and The Hall will need to do it again Wednesday. The Hoyas are the only conference team the Pirates haven’t faced this season.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS?
It wasn’t pretty by any means, but Seton Hall got a much-needed victory Saturday night against Creighton. Now the Pirates will face a Georgetown team coming off an upset home loss to Butler. Here's a look back at the Creighton game with an emphasis on what needs to be done against the Hoyas.
The offense continues to struggle.
Seton Hall shot 28 percent from beyond the arc and is ninth in the Big East in that category at 32.6 percent. That’s hard to fathom considering the Pirates have Myles Powell on their roster, and even though he is routinely getting harassed and double-teamed, that should open things up for other players. Instead, Pirates not named Powell are shooting just under 31 percent from long distance. This must improve going down the stretch because even though Mike Nzei is scoring a respectable 9.2 points, there isn’t an Angel Delgado to dump the ball to in the low box.
Mixed results for Willard.
Coach Kevin Willard had an interesting night. Subbing in three reserves within a span of 30 seconds early in the first half sapped some early momentum, and led to the Bluejays erasing a nine-point deficit. But he made two crucial moves in the second half that helped The Hall win. He re-inserted Quincy McKnight into the game with 11:29 left despite him being saddled with four fouls, and he played all but 41 seconds the rest of the way and did not foul out. Also, Willard went against his usual preference of not fouling when up by three points in the final seconds. Davion Mintz, who is a 75 percent foul shooter but was suffering through an 0-for-11 night from the field, bricked the front end of a one-and-one and Creighton was toast.
In-game coaching decisions will continue to be very crucial in such an evenly-matched conference in which there absolutely are no gimmes anymore.
Seton Hall needs more from Mamu.
Sandro Mamukelashvili is multitalented but is averaging 27 minutes and 4.2 points in the last six games. When he drained a three from the left corner to open the scoring Saturday night, it appeared that maybe his slump was over. Instead, he managed only three more points the rest of the game, although he did grab 10 rebounds and had only one turnover. He has the inside and outside games to make opponents pay for doubling Powell on every possession. The Pirates need him to score more down the stretch of the season if they are to make a fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.
Thompson in trouble.
The latest chapter in the strange saga of Syracuse transfer Taurean Thompson occurred when he was spotted on the bench in warmups. He picked up his second DNP of the season and afterward, Willard was asked what had happened.
“Violation of team rules,” the coach replied. “He understands what he did, he apologized, and we've moved on.”
Willard said it was only a one-game suspension. Thompson’s craftiness around the basket on offense and length on defense would be helpful against Georgetown.
The Hoyas can score the ball.
Georgetown leads the conference in scoring average 81.5) and is third in three-point percentage (37.0). Seton Hall limited Creighton, the Big East leader in long-distance accuracy, to 28.6 percent from long range Saturday. “The big thing for us,” McKnight said, “is transition defense and getting back on defense and stopping the ball early enough to not allow them to get transition threes off.” That was the defensive formula versus Creighton and The Hall will need to do it again Wednesday. The Hoyas are the only conference team the Pirates haven’t faced this season.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS?
