Mamukelashvili and Rhoden Named First-Team All-Met - Seton Hall University Athletics
Mamukelashvili and Rhoden's selection to the All-Met first team now gives the Pirates 11 first-team selections since 2016, most in the area in that span.
shupirates.com
NEW YORK - Seton Hall men's basketball senior Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia) and junior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) were both named to the All-Metropolitan first team, the Met Writers Basketball Association announced Tuesday morning.
The duo's selections mark Seton Hall's 45th and 46th selections to the All-Met first team since 1981. It is the 13th time since 1981 that the Pirates have placed at least two on the All-Met first team, including five times now under head coach Kevin Willard. Since 2016, Seton Hall has accumulated 11 first-team All-Met selections, most in the area in that span.
Mamukelashvili, who also was named the recipient of the 2021 Haggerty Award as the Metropolitan Area's Div. I Men's College Player of the Year, was one of only two players in the BIG EAST Conference to rank in the league's top-5 in both scoring and rebounding and one of only two to rank in the top-15 in scoring, rebounding and assists, both overall and in conference games only. He finished the season second in the conference in scoring at 17.5 points per game, fifth in rebounding at 7.6 per game and 13th in assists at 3.2 per game.
At season's end, Mamukelashvili was also named BIG EAST Player of the Year, Associated Press All-America honorable mention, NABC and USBWA All-District and first-team All-BIG EAST. He also was a finalist for the 2021 Karl Malone National Power Forward of the Year Award.
Rhoden took a large leap during his junior season, going from 9.1 points per game to 14.9 points per game, establishing himself as the primary second scoring option behind Mamukelashvili while also becoming one of college basketball's best mid-range shooters. He scored in double figures in 25 out of 27 contests for the Pirates and eclipsed 15 points on 14 occasions. He ranked in the top 10 in the BIG EAST Conference in both scoring and rebounding (6.7/gm), and he won the league's free throw shooting title by making 90.8 percent of his shots at the line during 19 conference games.
At the end of the year, Rhoden saved some of his best basketball for last at Madison Square Garden, where he helped the Pirates reach the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals for the fourth time in six tries. First, he posted 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, which tied a Seton Hall BIG EAST Tournament record, in the win over St. John's, and then he delivered 22 points in the loss to Georgetown. At the end, he was named to the BIG EAST Championship All-Tournament team
