NEWARK, NJ -- The Seton Hall Pirates came home for the Never Forget Tribute Classic on Saturday at Prudential Center and easily handled the VCU Rams by a final score of 90-67. Let's jump right into the thoughts- it's been a while!
1. You Don’t Want To Go To War… With The Pirates
VCU came in known for a number of things, including their pep band (which was outstanding) and their HAVOC pressure defense (more on that in a second). Well, in this game, the Pirates were the team that set the tone with their defense, holding the Rams to 33 percent shooting in the first half. They were good in their rotations, and their energy. Of particular note was how they defended Justin Tillman, VCU’s senior post player and the team’s leading scorer and rebounder. They fronted him on most possessions, and through his first nine minutes on the floor had just one point and two rebounds, and had only attempted one shot. It was certainly part of the Pirates’ game plan.
“Even though Tillman ended up with 20, he got a lot late,” said head coach Kevin Willard. “We wanted to, early in the game, make him uncomfortable -- make him take tough shots, not give him an easy look from three. We really wanted to limit (De’Riante Jenkins) as well…limit those two guys and make everyone else score.”
They even scored 43 points in the first half, so the offense wasn’t terrible by any means. But in the second half, Seton Hall’s offense was so good it didn’t matter what the Rams did. The Hall just scored, and scored, and scored, doing it in every way you can think of. They nailed 21 of 33 field goals for a 64 percent clip, and did so almost entirely inside, with just one three-point field goal. For the game? Seton Hall wrecked the Rams with 50 (!) points in the paint.
2. Desi Developed
Desi Rodriguez had yet another outstanding game today with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists, and several excellent decisions and passes on top of that. Coming off a well-deserved Big East Player of the Week nod after outstanding games against ranked opponents Texas Tech and Louisville, it’s pretty safe to say that he’s the Pirates’ MVP so far. Delgado has been Delgado, and Powell’s come far over the last offseason, but night in and night out, it’s Rodriguez that has given opposing teams nightmares.
Think about where he’s come from: He was regarded as the fourth-best guy in his recruiting class after Isaiah Whitehead, Delgado and Khadeen Carrington coming in as a freshman. He was a center at Lincoln High School. And over the last four years, he’s developed into a force both on the wing and inside.
The biggest key? Maturity. He’s no longer a kid out there on the floor, and it shows. Take one particular instance: He forced a three-pointer that missed badly, and on the ensuing defensive trip, he played excellent defense on Mike’l Simms and stayed vertical on the floor, resulting in a blocked shot. He didn’t let the lapse on offense affect his defense, and those are the kind of plays that mature players make.
3. Ball Control
Remember VCU’s HAVOC defense? It didn’t have much bite today. Seton Hall’s ball control was outstanding, with Carrington and Eron Gordon really making good decisions bringing the ball up the floor. As a result, the Pirates committed only 12 turnovers against 20 assists, and took the Rams out of their identity. There were several instances I noticed where the HAVOC was called off, with just token pressure in the backcourt after a score was made, and that’s something I didn’t expect to see.
“We experimented with, like, four different press offenses during the week,” Willard said. “It just wasn’t natural. After watching them on film we said ‘let’s just do what we do’ and have the four-man take it out… space them out as much as possible. And I wanted Desi and Myles up the floor, so that when we did break it, we had guys that could hurt them.”
4. Unselfishness
Seton Hall finished with 20 assists on 35 baskets for the game, a great rate no matter what. But it was how they moved the ball that was impressive tonight. Of the 20 assists, four players had three or more, led by Powell’s five. The shots that the Pirates generated with that unselfishness were quality shots, and the scorers converted those into points. If you like “old-school,” unselfish, team basketball, this was the game for you. Everyone was in on the act, and when Seton Hall moves the ball like they did tonight, and makes the ensuing shots, their defense and individual skill makes them damn near impossible to beat.
5. Things Given And Things Earned
What a couple of weeks this was for the Pirates. This was the toughest portion of their schedule, and although they stumbled against Rhode Island on Thanksgiving, they rebounded immediately by beating Vanderbilt the next night, then beat two ranked teams in a row, including at Willard’s old stomping grounds in Louisville, to regain a national ranking. Seton Hall is now 8-1 on the year, and the schedule has done just what it was intended to do: Toughen the Pirates’ resume up for the long run. Willard had some comments on that, as you might have guessed.
“The schedule’s been tough, it really has,” he said. “The team’s we’re playing are all a lot like us -- they’re tough, hard-nosed… even our two games this week (Saint Peter’s and Rutgers) just because I feel like every team we’ve played has been a tough defensive team. We haven’t played anyone that just lets you run up and down and shoot, and have fun and dunk… it’s been a lot for us to just try and keep our momentum going. I’m really pleased where we are because I think the schedule has tested us, and each game emotionally, we’re there.”
But the most telling quote from Willard came regarding the Hall’s newfound national ranking, as their monster week put them back in the Top 25, and they may be ranked higher than they’ve been in nearly 20 years come Monday thanks to this shellacking. In regards to how the Pirates handled the ranking this time around, Willard had an insightful response.
“We talked about protecting it, and how much it’s important,” Willard said. “I talked to them yesterday for about an hour about things given and things earned, and in life, you’re going to appreciate things that are earned more than things that are given. What I talked to them about is that they’ve earned this ranking, it wasn’t given to them.”
“When you earn something, you want to take care of it,” the Pirates’ skipper added. “I always try to teach my guys that in life, people are going to give you stuff, and you’re going to take that, chuck it in the back of the closet, but the things that you’ve earned with your paycheck that you go out and buy, you’re really going to appreciate (those things), and I think that these guys appreciate that they’ve worked hard, they’ve sacrificed a lot to get this and they don’t now want to give it away.”
Seton Hall welcomes Saint Peter’s to South Orange on Tuesday night in their next contest at Walsh Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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