PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By JP Pelzman
This game was at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday, not noon on a Sunday as was the previous one. But the halftime scenario was much the same, anyway.
No. 25 Seton Hall needed a wakeup call.
The Pirates led Wagner by only two points at halftime after trailing Bethune-Cookman by one at intermission. Once again, the ship was righted in the second half against an overmatched opponent, as this time senior wing Jared Rhoden provided some inspirational words at halftime plus 15 points and 11 rebounds overall as Seton Hall routed game but undermanned Wagner, 85-63 at the Prudential Center.
Tyrese Samuel scored 15 points and Kadary Richmond had nine assists for The Hall (6-1).
Wagner (2-1), one of only two Division 1 teams struggling mightily with COVID issues at the moment--Georgia State is the other--hadn’t played since upsetting VCU on Nov. 13. Worse yet, the Seahawks were missing coach Bashir Mason and leading scorers Alex Morales and Will Martinez.
No matter. Despite trailing 33-25 after Bryce Aiken’s basket with 3:22 left in the half, Wagner was down only 35-33 at intermission thanks to a shot by Raekwon Rogers with two seconds left after Ike Obiagu missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Including the consolation of the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament against lowly California, picked last in the Pac-12 pre-season poll, this marked the third consecutive game in which Seton Hall has struggled in the first half as a heavy favorite.
“We have to pick up the pace because these games matter,” Rhoden said of the Wagner and Bethune-Cookman contests. “We can’t be losing games like this because in the long run it’s going to hurt us.”
So Rhoden said something about it.
"After Coach (Kevin) Willard speaks, Jared brings us all together and says, ‘We can’t be doing this,'" Samuel said. "We’re too good of a team to just be laid back and think everyone is going to give us games.”
Rhoden said, “So I think everyone came out with a little chip on their shoulder, a little bit more edgy, and I think we picked up the intensity.”
By the time Kadary Richmond picked off an errant Ashton Miller pass and went in for a layup and a 64-46 lead with 9:46 left, the threat was over.
“I give credit to Wagner," Rhoden said. "They had a tough last two weeks with people out with COVID. I give credit to those dudes. They played hard and came out and punched us.”
Willard believes the slow starts, and the second-half surges, have more to do with his large rotation and the fact he pares it down after halftime.
"I think the biggest thing is that I shortened the rotation, to be honest with you,” he said when asked about the second half. “I knew we were going to struggle in the first half playing nine guys as many minutes as I’m playing them. ... It’s hard to play that many guys that many minutes and expect them to play and be in rhythm and kind of flow with it, but I’m still trying to figure this out.”
Why didn’t he press more against a short-handed team off such a long shutdown? Because he is working on finding the right combinations.
“We pressed,” Willard said. “I know if we pressed early in the game and got after it, we’d probably end up in a better rhythm offensively, but that’s not what these games are for. I really want to work on stuff. I just want to work on certain defensive concepts.
“(The press) has helped us,” he added, “but especially on a Wednesday night at 7 o’clock versus Wagner, I know how the crowd’s going to be, so it’s always helped us, the press. But at the same time with this team, I need to see lineups, I need to see offensive plays, I need to see stuff. So that’s why I don’t press in the first half. It drives everybody nuts--it drives me nuts--but for the most part, I know what the outcome of the game is going to be. It’s a matter of, are we getting better? Are we helping each other?”
Rhoden's words certainly helped. As did his actions.
