PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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setonhall.rivals.com
By JP Pelzman
Tray Jackson? More like Trey Jackson, amirite?
OK, I'll show myself out now.
But, yes, Jackson scored 21 points and hit two crucial three-pointers as Seton Hall avoided a potentially damaging loss and defeated Georgetown, 70-63 in a Big East game Tuesday in Washington.
“I knew this was going to be a tough, tough game,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said.
Jared Rhoden added 14 points and Kadary Richmond had 12 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and only two turnovers for the Pirates (13-7, 4-6), who broke a two-game losing streak. A defeat could have been extremely costly for Seton Hall’s hopes of an NCAA tournament at-large bid.
Jackson, who shot 5-for-9 from long distance, was making his first start since the Pirates’ controversial 73-72 loss at Marquette on Jan. 15.
“Tray’s been shooting the basketball really well and I needed somebody to make a shot,” Willard explained in the postgame radio show on 970 AM with broadcasters Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin. “We were getting off to terrible starts by not making shots.”
But in this case, the Pirates almost found themselves stuck with another bad finish. A rare seven-point halftime lead and an 11-point advantage early in the second half had melted away.
“I thought we took some tough shots to start the second half,” Willard said. “We took some shots that were a little quick, a little rushed.”
First, with the Pirates ahead 39-28, back-to-back three-pointers by Donald Carey (team-high 15 points) and Kaiden Rice cut Georgetown’s deficit to 39-34 with 14:32 left.
“They ran a really good slip play for Carey and he drilled it,” Willard said, “and then we lost Rice and he banged one.”
Georgetown later scored 10 straight points for a 49-44 lead on Dante Harris’ jumper with 8:59 left.
Georgetown led 53-49 with 7:10 left after Carey’s three-pointer. But Jackson, who went 5-for-9 from beyond the arc, drained two consecutive treys to put the Pirates ahead, 55-53, with 6:11 left, and another three by Myles Cale made it 58-53.
The clincher came when Rhoden beat Aminu Mohammed off the dribble for a layup with 1:01 to go for a 66-61 lead.
“Unfortunately, we're 4-6” in the conference, Willard said. “The way I look at it, we're 4-4.”
Willard, of course, is referring of to The Hall's COVID-shorthanded losses to Providence and Villanova.
“I know the world doesn't it look at it that way,” he added, “but that's kind of the way I've been explaining it to the guys. I think that’s why their attitude has been real good.”
Another key to the game was the play of Richmond. Not only did he fill up the stat sheet, but he played in control in his fourth straight game of being the primary ballhandler in the absence of Bryce Aiken, still in the concussion protocol.
Willard said, “I’ll get killed for this, but I really don’t care anymore,” before again noting that Richmond had to play pressing teams St. John’s and Marquette a total of three times in five days without Aiken to share the ballhandling load.
“He was gassed,” Willard said of Richmond. “I gave him three days off. I said ‘my man, just reset. Take a deep breath. I love your effort. You're trying to do the right things. You're trying to make plays.’ He had missed a lot of shots around the rim, that I think had him frustrated and really affected how he played as the game went on. We didn’t change anything. He was gassed. The whole team was.”
Willard added, “Kooks (Richmond) played one of his better games.”
