PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By JP Pelzman
No Seton Hall Pirates were harmed in the making of Saturday’s 113-67 blowout of Division II Nyack at Walsh Gym in South Orange.
That was the most important thing. Nobody got hurt, and although backup point guard and sparkplug extraordinaire Bryce Aiken sat out with a non-COVID illness, the No. 25 Pirates (7-1) actually regained one of their key cogs just in time for the showdown against No. 7 Texas (6-1) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Prudential Center.
Myles Cale returned after missing three games with a sprained ankle and scored 12 points in exactly 21 minutes. Just as important, he showed his trademark defensive energy and afterward pronounced himself good to go for the Longhorns.
“It felt really good to be back,” the super senior guard said. “It felt like a normal game.
“I wasn’t really thinking about the injury a lot, so it felt good,” Cale added. “I felt like I really needed this game just to get my feet wet again.”
Cale said it was good to be back, “even in the timeouts, just to see how we talk in the huddles. It felt good to be out there with my teammates, so I was really happy.”
Coach Kevin Willard said, “I think it was good for him to get a game in. If he didn’t play today, he wasn’t going to play against Texas.
“We didn’t want his first game back to be where he’s so jacked up he goes out and reinjures himself,” the coach added, “so it was important for him to just go out there and go through warmups, go through sitting out and coming back in. But he felt great. He looked great. It was good to have him back.”
Willard, of course, was asked about the Longhorns, but indicated he hasn’t broken down tape of them yet. But he does know what his team needs to do heading into a contest against a Texas team that limited its most recent opponent, Texas-Rio Grande Valley, to 17 second-half points in an 88-58 Longhorns’ victory on Friday night.
Willard said, “I know what we need to work on. We had two good practices this week. We really need to improve offensively. We just have to. We're really struggling offensively.
“We've just got to keep working on that,” he repeated.
As for Texas, under new coach Chris Beard, Willard said “All I know is they’re really good and they play really good defense. Chris is one of the best coaches in the game. How they defend is unique. You don’t see it at all. The way they deny, the way they’re up the line, how they switch.”
The Pirates beat Beard’s previous team, Texas Tech, 89-79 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 30, 2017.
Willard and his players are happy this game will be in Newark.
“Our fans are going to be huge,” Willard said, and he also noted, “You don’t have to travel, which is big. The travel from Michigan hurt us. We didn’t get home until 3:30 in the morning and then we had two bad days of practice.
“I think being at home is really important,” he added. “It gives you a chance to get into a really, really good rhythm.”
“We need every single person we can get,” Jared Rhoden said, asking for a big turnout. “We need the Pru rocking, man. We haven’t had it yet where the atmosphere is extremely high this year and I think if everyone comes out and shows support...I'm looking forward to coming out and seeing people everywhere.”
“It's almost like perfect timing,” Cale said. “We're going to have three good practices going into this week. We'll have enough time to really prepare for Texas.”
As for what a victory would do for The Hall’s national profile, Cale said, “I think it’s a great opportunity for all of us. There's probably going to be a lot of people watching it, it’s nationally televised, two ranked teams going against each other.”
Rhoden said, “We have to show everybody what we’re capable of.”
