by JP Pelzman
Perhaps the late, great Yogi Berra said it best in terms of describing Seton Hall basketball these past few weeks.
It’s déjà vu all over again.
Last season, the Pirates lost three of four games during one January stretch, and actually doubled down to some extent by dropping four in a row in February. In 2016-17, Seton Hall lost four of five games from Jan. 11 to Feb. 1. In 2015-16, The Hall also had a period in which it lost four of five Big East games.
The month? You guessed it--January.
So it’s not as if this is uncharted territory for the Pirates. How they and coach Kevin Willard navigate it will determine if they can rebound and make the NCAA tournament, as they did in each of those three seasons.
Seton Hall (12-8, 3-5 Big East) has lost four straight and five of its last six games and the Pirates reached rock bottom--they surely hope--with an 80-52 blowout loss to Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.
Is the season slipping away? Not yet, but it’s in danger. A sense of urgency permeated the post-game interviews, as Myles Cale told reporters a players-only meeting had been scheduled for Monday.
Willard said, “You have a bunch of guys out there that are experiencing this (kind of adversity) for the first time. And they have to decide whether they’re going to keep fighting, or are they going to show up and keep getting smacked around?”
The game didn’t start out as a disaster, at least defensively for Seton Hall. Yes, the Pirates trailed 30-20 at halftime, largely as a result of 14 turnovers, but they held Villanova (16-4, 7-0) to 31.6 percent shooting from behind the arc. But the dam burst after intermission, with ’Nova canning 11 of 23 shots from long distance as the margin expanded almost exponentially.
Just as he did in the DePaul game, when he started Darnell Brodie, Willard did some experimenting. But again, the Bunsen burner blew up. This time, he had Myles Powell handling the ball more often in the first half, likely in the hope that he could generate his own shots. Instead, he went 1-for-4 with five turnovers in the first 20 minutes and finished with a season-high seven.
Quincy McKnight also fared badly, with five turnovers. With that in mind, Willard said afterward he intended to give freshman point guard Anthony Nelson more playing time going forward.
Perhaps the most déjà vu-ish thing about Sunday’s game was that with 15:45 to go and The Hall trailing 45-26, Willard made a mass substitution, putting in five reserves at the same time. He went with that lineup for almost four minutes, but said afterward he just wanted to give the starters a rest with games coming up Wednesday (against Providence) and Saturday (at Butler).
Powell (six) and McKnight totaled 10 second-half minutes.
If all that sounds familiar, it should. During an 82-67 loss to Creighton that was part of the Pirates’ January 2016 swoon, he sat Isaiah Whitehead, Angel Delgado and Desi Rodriguez for the final 13:04. Afterward, Willard said “they weren’t benched” and noted they had played a lot of minutes in the previous game, a loss to Villanova.
Want another similarity? Grad transfer Derrick Gordon said afterward he was planning on having a players-only meeting. The Hall won its next game but then lost two straight before winning 12 of the next 14 games en route to its first Big East tournament title since 1993.
The keys to that turnaround were Whitehead’s phenomenal play down the stretch and Gordon’s steady leadership. Powell, Mike Nzei and Cale all are candidates to accomplish the leadership part of the equation, perhaps by committee, but there is no question about which Pirate must emulate Whitehead.
Powell, who was named to the Wooden Award Mid-season Watch List earlier this month, had only 12 points in the loss to Providence on Jan. 15, and only three in Philly. He is circled atop every team’s scouting report and has the ability and determination to resume his role as an elite scorer down the stretch.
But he needs to do a better job of finding shots, his teammates need to do a better job of finding him and Willard needs to draw up some special plays for him. Maybe Willard could call predecessor Bobby Gonzalez, who had in his man bag a pet inbounds play in which Jeremy Hazell would come off a curl and be open for a jumper.
It’s time to try something different. The season is at stake.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS?
Perhaps the late, great Yogi Berra said it best in terms of describing Seton Hall basketball these past few weeks.
It’s déjà vu all over again.
Last season, the Pirates lost three of four games during one January stretch, and actually doubled down to some extent by dropping four in a row in February. In 2016-17, Seton Hall lost four of five games from Jan. 11 to Feb. 1. In 2015-16, The Hall also had a period in which it lost four of five Big East games.
The month? You guessed it--January.
So it’s not as if this is uncharted territory for the Pirates. How they and coach Kevin Willard navigate it will determine if they can rebound and make the NCAA tournament, as they did in each of those three seasons.
Seton Hall (12-8, 3-5 Big East) has lost four straight and five of its last six games and the Pirates reached rock bottom--they surely hope--with an 80-52 blowout loss to Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.
Is the season slipping away? Not yet, but it’s in danger. A sense of urgency permeated the post-game interviews, as Myles Cale told reporters a players-only meeting had been scheduled for Monday.
Willard said, “You have a bunch of guys out there that are experiencing this (kind of adversity) for the first time. And they have to decide whether they’re going to keep fighting, or are they going to show up and keep getting smacked around?”
The game didn’t start out as a disaster, at least defensively for Seton Hall. Yes, the Pirates trailed 30-20 at halftime, largely as a result of 14 turnovers, but they held Villanova (16-4, 7-0) to 31.6 percent shooting from behind the arc. But the dam burst after intermission, with ’Nova canning 11 of 23 shots from long distance as the margin expanded almost exponentially.
Just as he did in the DePaul game, when he started Darnell Brodie, Willard did some experimenting. But again, the Bunsen burner blew up. This time, he had Myles Powell handling the ball more often in the first half, likely in the hope that he could generate his own shots. Instead, he went 1-for-4 with five turnovers in the first 20 minutes and finished with a season-high seven.
Quincy McKnight also fared badly, with five turnovers. With that in mind, Willard said afterward he intended to give freshman point guard Anthony Nelson more playing time going forward.
Perhaps the most déjà vu-ish thing about Sunday’s game was that with 15:45 to go and The Hall trailing 45-26, Willard made a mass substitution, putting in five reserves at the same time. He went with that lineup for almost four minutes, but said afterward he just wanted to give the starters a rest with games coming up Wednesday (against Providence) and Saturday (at Butler).
Powell (six) and McKnight totaled 10 second-half minutes.
If all that sounds familiar, it should. During an 82-67 loss to Creighton that was part of the Pirates’ January 2016 swoon, he sat Isaiah Whitehead, Angel Delgado and Desi Rodriguez for the final 13:04. Afterward, Willard said “they weren’t benched” and noted they had played a lot of minutes in the previous game, a loss to Villanova.
Want another similarity? Grad transfer Derrick Gordon said afterward he was planning on having a players-only meeting. The Hall won its next game but then lost two straight before winning 12 of the next 14 games en route to its first Big East tournament title since 1993.
The keys to that turnaround were Whitehead’s phenomenal play down the stretch and Gordon’s steady leadership. Powell, Mike Nzei and Cale all are candidates to accomplish the leadership part of the equation, perhaps by committee, but there is no question about which Pirate must emulate Whitehead.
Powell, who was named to the Wooden Award Mid-season Watch List earlier this month, had only 12 points in the loss to Providence on Jan. 15, and only three in Philly. He is circled atop every team’s scouting report and has the ability and determination to resume his role as an elite scorer down the stretch.
But he needs to do a better job of finding shots, his teammates need to do a better job of finding him and Willard needs to draw up some special plays for him. Maybe Willard could call predecessor Bobby Gonzalez, who had in his man bag a pet inbounds play in which Jeremy Hazell would come off a curl and be open for a jumper.
It’s time to try something different. The season is at stake.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS?
