PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By JP Pelzman
Looking back at Seton Hall’s 70-63 victory over Georgetown and ahead to its game against visiting Creighton on Friday:
Survive and advance. Style points weren’t the objective, just a W. The Pirates could not afford to be the Hoyas’ first Big East victim, especially in a near-empty arena. Remember, it was a loss in an actual empty on-campus arena to Georgetown last year that began the late-season slide that cost the Pirates a seemingly sure NCAA tournament bid.
Make some bunnies.
While the Pirates shot a solid 12-for-30 (40%) from beyond the arc, they were a woeful 10-for-26 (38.5%) inside it. Much of that was due to missed point-blank attempts and putback tries in the paint. The ball movement and flow of the offense was better than it has been of late, but it wasn’t rewarded with points. That has to change.
Aiken update.
Point guard Bryce Aiken missed his fourth consecutive game as he remains in concussion protocol. Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard told Gannett New Jersey’s Jerry Carino, who was on site, that Aiken is “progressing” and that he was on a 2½-to-3 week timetable when he suffered a concussion last year.
Friday's game against Creighton would come one day short of three weeks. Will Aiken be able to clear protocol? We shall see.
Harris update.
Jamir Harris, the Pirates’ three-point specialist, left the game with 5:02 to go with a shoulder injury after a hard collision while going for a loose ball. Willard said in his postgame radio interview that Harris was OK. Harris scored six points and also helped out as an extra ballhandler in his 22 minutes of action.
Good omen?
Seton Hall’s sports information researched this fact--the Pirates have rallied three times from a 3-6 Big East start to reach the NCAA tourney as an at-large team. It happened in 1988 (to save P.J. Carlesimo’s job), 1994 (his final year) and 2017.
In that 2017 season, under Willard, win No. 4 came at--Georgetown.
Scouting Creighton.
It will be a battle of pace when the Pirates host the Bluejays (13-7, 5-4) on Friday at 7 p.m. Willard already playfully threw down the gauntlet to Creighton coach Greg McDermott, saying in his post-game radio interview, “I know Mac likes to play up and down, but we will walk that thing up on Friday.”
Still, Creighton managed to upend heavily favored UConn, 59-55 in Hartford on Tuesday despite playing at the Huskies’ tempo. Ryan Hawkins, a grad transfer averaging 13.1 points, scored 25 for the winners.
Ike Obiagu had five blocked shots against the Hoyas and discouraged many other potential attempts, but his playing time could be limited against the Bluejays’ “5-out,” perimeter-oriented-offense.
Speaking of blocks, Creighton’s 7-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner, who averages 3.0 per game, rolled his ankle and sat out most of the second half at UConn. His status for Friday is uncertain.
