by JP Pelzman
South Orange – Seton Hall’s 73-62 exhibition victory over Division II New Haven on Friday afternoon had more drama than the Pirates would have liked.
Not in the score itself. The Hall had opened a 23-point lead before New Haven’s game-closing 17-5 run in garbage time made the game cosmetically closer.
The unwanted drama occurred with 3:58 to go in the first half when designated star Myles Powell went down hard to the floor after committing an offensive foul. He came up rubbing the right side of his lower back and briefly went to the locker room to get treatment. When he returned to the bench shortly afterward, he appeared to be icing his left wrist.
Powell came out for second-half warm ups with his left wrist taped, and checked into the game 1:08 into the half, replacing freshman Anthony Nelson. Not surprisingly, he stayed away from any aggressive drives to the basket, but he later drained a crowd-pleasing trey from the left wing on his only shot attempt of the second half.
There was no post game availability with either the players or coach Kevin Willard, so it’s unclear how Powell was feeling afterward although he seemed not to be in too much pain during his 11 minutes and five seconds on the floor after halftime. (Yes, college basketball now has exact playing-time totals. Say goodbye to the old zero-plus time played for a sub who checks in once with four seconds left in the half or game.)
Senior forward Mike Nzei left the game briefly in the first half after a flagrant foul, an elbow to the throat by New Haven’s Elijah Bailey, but returned shortly afterward.
Sophomore Shavar Reynolds and freshman Jared Rhoden didn’t dress for the Pirates. Myles Cale, who is transitioning into a bigger role after the departure of the Hall's four seniors, had 20 points and eight rebounds. Syracuse transfer Taurean Thompson added 13 points.
J.P.’s Takeaways
1-Willard started Thompson, Nzei, Cale, Nelson and Sacred Heart transfer Quincy McKnight. Willard said before the season began he wanted to play Nelson and McKnight together some of the time. The Hall led 12-7 after five minutes with those two both in the game. Nelson and McKnight each had five assists, but Nelson had four turnovers and McKnight committed three. That was a problem on this day, with the Pirates compiling 16 assists and 17 turnovers.
2--Thompson showed off his game, with 13 points and three blocked shots in just over 20 minutes. He still is having problems with consistency, but when he makes the extra pass, he has good court vision. On one play, he drew a defender in the paint and then passed to Nzei for an easy layup. It was the kind of interior passing that former SHU coach Louis Orr referred to as “buddy ball,” and something the Pirates need as the season progresses.
3--Cale played 30:17 and finished with a plus/minus of zero after being plus-9 in the first half. He had 11 points in the first half, which ended with the Pirates ahead 40-25. The fact that Seton Hall only broke even while he was on the floor had a lot to do with the fact he still was playing during garbage time when the game was decided. So even though plus/minus is a solid metric type of stat, it sometimes can be misleading. Of course, that’s true of many statistics.
4--Speaking of plus/minus, Sandro Mamukelashvili fell to minus-2 after posting a team-high plus-32 in the season-opening 89-49 rout of Wagner. Mamukelashvili had an impressive five blocked shots. Perhaps the most interesting one occurred when Quashawn Lane blew past him on a drive, but Mamukelashvili showed the closing speed of a good cornerback in football and blocked the shot from behind without fouling. The 6-10 Mamukelashvili, who is from Georgia (and not the one next to Florida), has all the earmarks of a typical European player in that he can do a little bit of everything.
5--Seton Hall scheduled this exhibition after its regular-season opener because otherwise the Pirates would’ve had a seven-day break without a game before playing Nebraska on the road in the Gavitt Games on Wednesday. But other than a good workout, it’s hard to determine exactly what the Pirates got out of this one. At least Nelson and McKnight got a lot of time on the floor, a good portion of it together, as Willard experimented with different combinations. And Powell doesn’t seem to be seriously injured. Pirate fans will hold their breath throughout this season whenever he hits the deck as he did Friday.
COMMENTS
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
South Orange – Seton Hall’s 73-62 exhibition victory over Division II New Haven on Friday afternoon had more drama than the Pirates would have liked.
Not in the score itself. The Hall had opened a 23-point lead before New Haven’s game-closing 17-5 run in garbage time made the game cosmetically closer.
The unwanted drama occurred with 3:58 to go in the first half when designated star Myles Powell went down hard to the floor after committing an offensive foul. He came up rubbing the right side of his lower back and briefly went to the locker room to get treatment. When he returned to the bench shortly afterward, he appeared to be icing his left wrist.
Powell came out for second-half warm ups with his left wrist taped, and checked into the game 1:08 into the half, replacing freshman Anthony Nelson. Not surprisingly, he stayed away from any aggressive drives to the basket, but he later drained a crowd-pleasing trey from the left wing on his only shot attempt of the second half.
There was no post game availability with either the players or coach Kevin Willard, so it’s unclear how Powell was feeling afterward although he seemed not to be in too much pain during his 11 minutes and five seconds on the floor after halftime. (Yes, college basketball now has exact playing-time totals. Say goodbye to the old zero-plus time played for a sub who checks in once with four seconds left in the half or game.)
Senior forward Mike Nzei left the game briefly in the first half after a flagrant foul, an elbow to the throat by New Haven’s Elijah Bailey, but returned shortly afterward.
Sophomore Shavar Reynolds and freshman Jared Rhoden didn’t dress for the Pirates. Myles Cale, who is transitioning into a bigger role after the departure of the Hall's four seniors, had 20 points and eight rebounds. Syracuse transfer Taurean Thompson added 13 points.
J.P.’s Takeaways
1-Willard started Thompson, Nzei, Cale, Nelson and Sacred Heart transfer Quincy McKnight. Willard said before the season began he wanted to play Nelson and McKnight together some of the time. The Hall led 12-7 after five minutes with those two both in the game. Nelson and McKnight each had five assists, but Nelson had four turnovers and McKnight committed three. That was a problem on this day, with the Pirates compiling 16 assists and 17 turnovers.
2--Thompson showed off his game, with 13 points and three blocked shots in just over 20 minutes. He still is having problems with consistency, but when he makes the extra pass, he has good court vision. On one play, he drew a defender in the paint and then passed to Nzei for an easy layup. It was the kind of interior passing that former SHU coach Louis Orr referred to as “buddy ball,” and something the Pirates need as the season progresses.
3--Cale played 30:17 and finished with a plus/minus of zero after being plus-9 in the first half. He had 11 points in the first half, which ended with the Pirates ahead 40-25. The fact that Seton Hall only broke even while he was on the floor had a lot to do with the fact he still was playing during garbage time when the game was decided. So even though plus/minus is a solid metric type of stat, it sometimes can be misleading. Of course, that’s true of many statistics.
4--Speaking of plus/minus, Sandro Mamukelashvili fell to minus-2 after posting a team-high plus-32 in the season-opening 89-49 rout of Wagner. Mamukelashvili had an impressive five blocked shots. Perhaps the most interesting one occurred when Quashawn Lane blew past him on a drive, but Mamukelashvili showed the closing speed of a good cornerback in football and blocked the shot from behind without fouling. The 6-10 Mamukelashvili, who is from Georgia (and not the one next to Florida), has all the earmarks of a typical European player in that he can do a little bit of everything.
5--Seton Hall scheduled this exhibition after its regular-season opener because otherwise the Pirates would’ve had a seven-day break without a game before playing Nebraska on the road in the Gavitt Games on Wednesday. But other than a good workout, it’s hard to determine exactly what the Pirates got out of this one. At least Nelson and McKnight got a lot of time on the floor, a good portion of it together, as Willard experimented with different combinations. And Powell doesn’t seem to be seriously injured. Pirate fans will hold their breath throughout this season whenever he hits the deck as he did Friday.
COMMENTS
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
