PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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By JP Pelzman
Seton Hall hit the re-set button Thursday.
Twice. Once at the beginning of the game, trying to reverse a debilitating four-game slide, and then again when overtime started.
And finally, for the first time in three weeks, the Pirates could exhale. But only for about 24 hours.
Myles Cale’s driving layup with 53 seconds to go accounted for the final points of regulation, and Seton Hall never trailed in overtime on its way to a 77-69 victory over fourth-seeded St. John’s in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
The fifth-seeded Pirates (14-12) will face eighth-seeded Georgetown (11-12) on Friday at 6 p.m. with a spot in the championship game on the line.
“This is March,” said Sandro Mamukelashvili, who had 20 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and a thunderous slam. “In March, everybody is 0-0 and you go out there and play your hardest. Doesn't matter what happened before. And it's like starting with a clean slate.
“We came out here and our only mission was to win today and move to the second round. That's what we did. I feel that was the biggest change. Everybody came together and said it doesn't matter what happened before; let's take it game by game and just get a (W). I feel our mentality was different. We were just prepared and ready to go out and win it.”
Coach Kevin Willard said, “My main goal coming into this tournament was to let our guys understand that although (the regular season) didn't end the way we wanted it to, we've been pretty good all year and we’ve just got to come out better in the second half. That was my only message.”
Seton Hall had blitzed St. John’s (16-11) with an 18-0 run to start the previous game five days earlier, but eventually flamed out and lost, 81-71.
And although The Hall squandered a nine-point first-half lead before regaining a one-point halftime advantage, St. John’s coach Mike Anderson could sense the Pirates’ intensity.
“You could just tell how they came out,” he said, “the sense of urgency you've got to play with this time of year. But they had more of it in the first half than we did. We were fortunate to be down one at halftime. But I thought we gathered ourselves, and the game went back and forth.”
That it did, and even though Seton Hall led by seven in the second half, the Red Storm never led the Pirates get out of reach. Rasheem Dunn’s two foul shots gave St. John’s a 62-60 lead with 1:07 left, but Cale (16 points) answered and the Pirates made enough plays in overtime to hold on, even though center Ike Obiagu fouled out in the extra period. He finished with seven points, seven blocked shots and five rebounds, and Rhoden had 19 points and 16 boards.
Willard praised “the way Ike played in the second half, how active he was, the blocks he had. He gave (us) so much energy in the second half, which he hadn't been doing and I thought it energized our team."
St. John’s shot 24% from three-point range after hitting 45.5% from long distance in the regular-season finale. Point guard Posh Alexander, returning from an ankle injury, had six points and two assists in 33 minutes.
Anderson said, “We didn't shoot the ball particularly well. I just thought we were not quite in sync.”
Willard also praised Mamukelashvili, saying, "I didn't know he played 44 minutes and 16 seconds. I thought he played extraordinary. Handling it. We worked through him through the post and I thought what was really probably his best, what he did better than anything tonight, he just kicked it out of the post, made simple plays. Really, we were able to get some drives on the weak side. And I just think he's a phenomenal player. He backed up Player of the Year tonight, that's for sure."
Rhoden added, "He was phenomenal. We always preach to Sandro you're one of the best ball handlers. We trust him to handle the ball under pressure. He does it all the time in practice. We have the ultimate confidence in him."
The Hall showed toughness.
Unlike during the losing streak, the Pirates were able to summon the strength to make the plays that needed to be made down the stretch Thursday, and that was a major factor in their win. A case in point was the charge Shavar Reynolds drew on Marcellus Earlington late in regulation. Those are the kind of 50-50 calls and 50-50 balls and hustle and desire plays that were not going Seton Hall’s way in recent weeks.
To have a chance to extend their recent run of going to NCAA Tournaments, a streak that dates to 2016, the Pirates will have to continue to do this. More work needs to be done, but this was a start.
Long deserved the praise.
Reserve freshman point guard Jahari Long played 15 minutes in the absence of grad student Bryce Aiken, who was in concussion protocol according to Willard, who told that to FS1’s John Fanta. Long went 1-for-4 with an old-school three-point play and had one assist and no turnovers.
Willard said, "I'll be honest with you, Jahari Long should be up here talking. Jahari played phenomenal. Fifteen minutes. He hadn't played, finds out this morning that he's going to back up against one of the toughest defensive teams. And he came out and I thought his first-half presence was phenomenal. Drove to the basket. Got a layup, got Myles Cale on a kickout. Defensively I thought he was great."
Missed opportunity--already.
Even before they take the court Friday night, the Pirates will have missed out an opportunity to perhaps seal the NCAA deal right then and there. Eighth-seeded Georgetown’s upset of top-seeded Villanova on Thursday took away the chance for the Pirates to grab a Quad 1 win Friday.
Granted, the wounded Wildcats are not the same team right now without the injured Collin Gillespie, but the NET rankings don’t know that. None of us knows the exact secret sauce the selection committee uses, and how much the eye test matters when gauging teams with injured and/or suspended players.
Just win, baby.
Then again, winning two more games would give the Pirates entrance to the NCAAs via an automatic bid. Toward that end, Jared Rhoden had the right idea.
He said afterward, “I think the main thing is to not get too hot on ourselves. Stay humble. Short turnaround. Tomorrow we play at (6:00). We have to get back. Get some good recovery. Get some good meals and mentally get our minds back as if it's 0-0, clean slate.”
Which it will be, just as it was Thursday against the Johnnies after a loss to them only five days earlier.
Scouting Georgetown.
Well, the Hoyas did have a few more hours to recover after their 72-71 triumph over Villanova, but they will be playing their third game in three days, and four players logged 32 or more minutes Thursday as coach Patrick Ewing went mostly with a six-man rotation.
Interestingly, the Hoyas went 23-for-23 at the line, including Dante Harris’ two game-winning foul shots. Villanova, normally impeccable at the stripe, only made 14 of 22, and that was one of the major differences in the game. The Hall and the Hoyas split their two meetings this season, with an 81-75 loss at McDonough Hall on Feb. 20 the one that started the Pirates’ recent tailspin. Georgetown shot 50% in that game, and the Seton Hall defense must rotate better and find the shooters this time to win.
