JP Pelzman
Trove correspondent
PROVIDENCE – Seton Hall now has lost two straight games and three of its last four after a very lackluster 72-63 defeat to a desperate Providence team on Tuesday night. Some thoughts on what feels like a bit of a crossroads for the Pirates.
The schedule matters. No, there are no excuses for how the Pirates played, but this was the final game in a stretch of four out of five on the road, and Providence was playing its third home game in four. And the Friars were playing with extra juice to avoid an 0-4 Big East start. Remember, this is a PC team that has made the NCAA tournament each of the past five seasons. “I thought our guys played with a little desperation today,” coach Ed Cooley said after the game. “You don’t want to use that word too early but we were in a state where you can only go down so far in this league and try to climb back out.”
Seton Hall didn’t quite match that desperate intensity, especially early in the second half.
They didn’t play smart. Senior leader Mike Nzei said afterward he thought the Pirates played hard. Again, I would say maybe they played too hard at times. There was too much one-on-one shake-and-bake ball, especially at key moments in the second half when the game was slipping away. At times, it looked like a highlight (or more appropriately, lowlight) reel of the Bobby Gonzalez era. Nobody was able to pick up the slack once the Friars shut down Myles Powell (4-for-15 from the floor). Sandro Mamukelashvili was limited to 18 minutes because of foul trouble and he posted four turnovers while he was on the floor, perhaps again a case of the Pirates trying too hard. Point guard Quincy McKnight (team-high 16 points) tied a personal season high (low) with six turnovers, and has 15 in the last three games after limiting such mistakes for most of the season.
The Friars took away Powell. Powell picked up a technical as part of some extracurricular activities in the final minute, and the frustration of the game was evident on his face as he and his teammates left the arena. As Willard said afterward, Powell certainly is getting grabbed and held by opponents, who apparently are doing it subtly enough to not get called. Or maybe it’s just the usual tough road whistle in the Big East, which has had more than its share of poor officiating this season. Still, with a bye week coming after Saturday night’s game against visiting DePaul, Willard, his staff and Powell will need to get back into the lab and figure out some countermoves. Powell is shooting only 28.6 percent from long distance in conference play, and that is making the driving aspect of his game much less effective.
They shouldn’t panic. The Big East is as balanced as it’s been in a long time. As both Seton Hall and St. John’s both discovered last week, DePaul isn’t a gimme anymore, even without a discernible home-court advantage. Big East teams likely will take turns picking each other off and we’ll all see who survives the gauntlet and makes it to the NCAA tournament. That said, being swept by the Blue Demons still would be a blight on The Hall’s resume and the Pirates must figure out a way to contain Max Strus, who scored 21 points and was a matchup nightmare for Seton Hall 10 days ago.
The Thompson enigma continues. Taurean Thompson made three of four shots and scored eight points but also committed three turnovers and helped botch another offensive set that resulted in a turnover, although he wasn’t charged with it. The flashes of his obvious talent, seemingly always offset by his own unforced errors, must be maddening for Willard. Thompson’s season-high 15 points almost helped the Pirates get a come-from-behind win at DePaul in the first meeting, and it will be interesting to see if he can come close to that in the rematch. If he can ever harness his offensive talent and play well enough defensively to stay on the floor, he could be the missing ingredient for the Pirates. But that still hasn’t happened a third of the way into The Hall’s Big East schedule.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS
Trove correspondent
PROVIDENCE – Seton Hall now has lost two straight games and three of its last four after a very lackluster 72-63 defeat to a desperate Providence team on Tuesday night. Some thoughts on what feels like a bit of a crossroads for the Pirates.
The schedule matters. No, there are no excuses for how the Pirates played, but this was the final game in a stretch of four out of five on the road, and Providence was playing its third home game in four. And the Friars were playing with extra juice to avoid an 0-4 Big East start. Remember, this is a PC team that has made the NCAA tournament each of the past five seasons. “I thought our guys played with a little desperation today,” coach Ed Cooley said after the game. “You don’t want to use that word too early but we were in a state where you can only go down so far in this league and try to climb back out.”
Seton Hall didn’t quite match that desperate intensity, especially early in the second half.
They didn’t play smart. Senior leader Mike Nzei said afterward he thought the Pirates played hard. Again, I would say maybe they played too hard at times. There was too much one-on-one shake-and-bake ball, especially at key moments in the second half when the game was slipping away. At times, it looked like a highlight (or more appropriately, lowlight) reel of the Bobby Gonzalez era. Nobody was able to pick up the slack once the Friars shut down Myles Powell (4-for-15 from the floor). Sandro Mamukelashvili was limited to 18 minutes because of foul trouble and he posted four turnovers while he was on the floor, perhaps again a case of the Pirates trying too hard. Point guard Quincy McKnight (team-high 16 points) tied a personal season high (low) with six turnovers, and has 15 in the last three games after limiting such mistakes for most of the season.
The Friars took away Powell. Powell picked up a technical as part of some extracurricular activities in the final minute, and the frustration of the game was evident on his face as he and his teammates left the arena. As Willard said afterward, Powell certainly is getting grabbed and held by opponents, who apparently are doing it subtly enough to not get called. Or maybe it’s just the usual tough road whistle in the Big East, which has had more than its share of poor officiating this season. Still, with a bye week coming after Saturday night’s game against visiting DePaul, Willard, his staff and Powell will need to get back into the lab and figure out some countermoves. Powell is shooting only 28.6 percent from long distance in conference play, and that is making the driving aspect of his game much less effective.
They shouldn’t panic. The Big East is as balanced as it’s been in a long time. As both Seton Hall and St. John’s both discovered last week, DePaul isn’t a gimme anymore, even without a discernible home-court advantage. Big East teams likely will take turns picking each other off and we’ll all see who survives the gauntlet and makes it to the NCAA tournament. That said, being swept by the Blue Demons still would be a blight on The Hall’s resume and the Pirates must figure out a way to contain Max Strus, who scored 21 points and was a matchup nightmare for Seton Hall 10 days ago.
The Thompson enigma continues. Taurean Thompson made three of four shots and scored eight points but also committed three turnovers and helped botch another offensive set that resulted in a turnover, although he wasn’t charged with it. The flashes of his obvious talent, seemingly always offset by his own unforced errors, must be maddening for Willard. Thompson’s season-high 15 points almost helped the Pirates get a come-from-behind win at DePaul in the first meeting, and it will be interesting to see if he can come close to that in the rematch. If he can ever harness his offensive talent and play well enough defensively to stay on the floor, he could be the missing ingredient for the Pirates. But that still hasn’t happened a third of the way into The Hall’s Big East schedule.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS
