By Zach Braziller
Derrick Gordon Photo: Bill Kostroun
Seton Hall’s New Year’s resolution should be simple:
Don’t change a thing.
The Pirates couldn’t have asked for a better finish to 2015. They won their past six games, including the impressive Big East opener, an 83-63 shellacking of Marquette in Milwaukee. Everything has begun to click for the Hall (11-2, 1-0 Big East), which starts 2016 against DePaul on Saturday morning in its Big East home opener, in what has been a second straight strong start to the season.
Leading scorer Isaiah Whitehead has begun to find himself in his move to point guard, tallying 17 assists and just six turnovers in the Pirates’ past two games, forward Angel Delgado is working on six straight double-doubles and Desi Rodriguez has made a major leap as one of their go-to players, finding his niche at small forward after improving his jump shot. Graduate transfer Derrick Gordon has made a difference off the bench, averaging 7.8 points per game.
Now comes the hard part: Building on that early success. Seton Hall was unable to handle prosperity last year, turning a 12-2 start into a dismal 16-15 season. There are differences this time, though. The chemistry issues that hampered last year’s team don’t seem to be a problem. Last year’s team was led by freshmen, and they hit the wall. Whitehead never regained his rhythm and confidence after missing so much time with a stress fracture in his foot.
The starting five of sophomores Whitehead, Delgado, Rodriguez, Khadeen Carrington and Ismael Sanogo seem to have learned a lot from that experience, as much physically as mentally. We’ll find how much as the Big East season heats up.
http://nypost.com/2016/01/01/seton-halls-next-challenge-keep-evolving-into-a-winner/
Derrick Gordon Photo: Bill Kostroun
Seton Hall’s New Year’s resolution should be simple:
Don’t change a thing.
The Pirates couldn’t have asked for a better finish to 2015. They won their past six games, including the impressive Big East opener, an 83-63 shellacking of Marquette in Milwaukee. Everything has begun to click for the Hall (11-2, 1-0 Big East), which starts 2016 against DePaul on Saturday morning in its Big East home opener, in what has been a second straight strong start to the season.
Leading scorer Isaiah Whitehead has begun to find himself in his move to point guard, tallying 17 assists and just six turnovers in the Pirates’ past two games, forward Angel Delgado is working on six straight double-doubles and Desi Rodriguez has made a major leap as one of their go-to players, finding his niche at small forward after improving his jump shot. Graduate transfer Derrick Gordon has made a difference off the bench, averaging 7.8 points per game.
Now comes the hard part: Building on that early success. Seton Hall was unable to handle prosperity last year, turning a 12-2 start into a dismal 16-15 season. There are differences this time, though. The chemistry issues that hampered last year’s team don’t seem to be a problem. Last year’s team was led by freshmen, and they hit the wall. Whitehead never regained his rhythm and confidence after missing so much time with a stress fracture in his foot.
The starting five of sophomores Whitehead, Delgado, Rodriguez, Khadeen Carrington and Ismael Sanogo seem to have learned a lot from that experience, as much physically as mentally. We’ll find how much as the Big East season heats up.
http://nypost.com/2016/01/01/seton-halls-next-challenge-keep-evolving-into-a-winner/
