JP's 5 Thoughts: Guards, Gill shine as Seton Hall takes down Maryland

Myles Cale's latest clutch performance included 23 points from sophomore guard as Seton Hall came away with emphatic win at Maryland to conclude non-conference season. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Where do I begin with this one?

In one of the biggest non-conference wins in recent memory, the Seton Hall Pirates went down to College Park and took down a Maryland team that was just outside the Top 25 by a final score of 78-74, using another big game from Myles Powell, but also enormous efforts from a few others.

Let's get into the Thoughts from the road:

1. Guards

It may be a little over 200 miles from South Orange to the Xfinity Center, but for Seton Hall tonight, they needed only two.

If you look at the box score from this one, the instant thing that will pop out to you is 50 combined points from the Myleses. Powell was his usual self, hitting shots that made the Terps fans gasp and shout out to "guard No. 13" in exasperation. His nightly brilliance should never go unnoticed, and it won't here tonight, as he finished with 27 points on only 14 shots, along with eight free throws.

But the Pirates got an equally impressive game from Myles Cale. The sophomore guard, whose mom brought about 20 fans to the game (she's from the Washington, D.C. area), dropped a career-high 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a trio of triples. Of those 23, 18 came in the second half, which would have set a career high on its own.

"He's starting to get comfortable," Powell said of his fellow Myles. "He's taking the strides that I took (last year). He knows that we need him to win, and he came out and did what he needed to do today."

There was also one particular sequence with just over three minutes left in a tie game that turned the tide for the Pirates. Cale began it by giving the Hall the lead -- for good, as it turned out -- with a tough long jumper. On the next possession, he stole the ball from Anthony Cowan when he was a bit preoccupied with Quincy McKnight (more on him in a second), and drove to the basket to score in transition. That took a little bit of the air out of the Xfinity Center and put the Pirates on the path to victory.

By the way, McKnight was amazing on defense yet again. One week after harassing Rutgers' Geo Baker into a difficult night, he did the same to Cowan, holding Maryland's star guard and speedy preseason All-Big Ten point man to 5-for-13 shooting. McKnight was glued to Cowan's hip for basically the entire last part of the game, and while the Terrapins got plenty from big man Bruno Fernando inside (19 points, 10 rebounds), they were left wanting more from Cowan.

"Quincy's one of the best defenders in the country," Powell added. "Whoever their best player is, right off the bat, he says, 'Coach, I got him.' He guards me in practice, so I know how much defense he plays."

Fernando wasn't the only big man on Maryland's campus tonight, either.

2. Gill

Boy, does Kevin Willard look like a genius.

Seton Hall's head coach gave 7'2" junior Romaro Gill the start for established vet Michael Nzei, and it paid off like he got a flush on the river card at the poker table. Gill responded with a tremendous game, scoring six points along with eight rebounds and three blocked shots. No, that's not an eye-popping stat line, but it was Gill's presence inside that altered a bunch of shots and really gave the Pirates a huge lift in a tough environment.

"The reason I started him is that we've been getting killed on the boards," Willard said. "We've got Sandro (Mamukelashvili) trying to guard seven-footers, and Fernando's a beast. He's not just out there setting screens. I wanted to give Ro a chance, but also to give Sandro a chance to not have to start the game and get beaten up."

"We believe in him," Powell said. "We told him that it was going to be a big game from him, just to play his game, be ready to block some shots and rebound. That's all we need you to do, and you're going to do great, and I think he did a great job today."

Nzei, to his credit, handled it well, according to Willard, which comes as no surprise. And the faith that was shown in the shot-blocker paid off huge. That also wasn't the only thing Willard touched that turned to gold in this game.

3. Gamesmanship

Seton Hall got off to really good starts in both the first and second halves. They opened up the game in a 2-3 zone, and the young Terps took a while to get into their offensive flow as a result. Meanwhile, on the other end, the Pirates built an 11-2 lead, then a 16-5 advantage before Maryland crawled back into the game and took a 34-30 lead at the break.

"They had eleven days off to get ready for us," Willard said. "We hadn't played a whole lot of zone, so we wanted to try and get them off kilter a little bit, try and make them adjust to us rather than us adjust to them."

But in the second half, the Hall did it again, outscoring Maryland 9-3 in the first three minutes, thanks in part to five points from Powell. When the Pirates found themselves down 61-57 after a dunk by Jalen Smith with 5:30 to go in regulation, Willard called timeout, which, combined with a Powell and-one driving layup out of the break, stemmed the momentum when it was squarely in Maryland's favor. His substitutions were also sound, rotating guys in and out so that aside from Gill's three first-half fouls, no one was caught in major trouble, which allowed him to keep the guys the Pirates needed on the floor down the stretch.

Whenever I hear the phrase "we got out-coached," I take it with a grain of salt because you don't truly know whether it was the plans going awry, or the lack of a plan, only the latter of which you can blame on the coach. But tonight, Willard pressed all the right buttons, and out-coached Mark Turgeon.

4. Graceful Charity

Of course, even when so many things go right for you, in any big game, it often comes down to free throw shooting, and the Pirates took full advantage of their opportunities. Lots of fans were griping during the game about the foul disparity in the first half, and some of it is warranted. Maryland wasn't whistled for its first foul until the 7:57 mark of the first half, and that's something you rarely see, even accounting for the home court whistle.

But as it happened, both teams got to the line 20 times in the game. Seton Hall shot 17-of-20, including a perfect 16-for-16 from Powell and Cale. Maryland shot just 12-of-20. There's your ballgame right there. Kudos to the Hall for staying focused.

5. Growth

It wasn't a long time ago the Pirates went into another Big Ten building -- November 14 at Nebraska -- and got soundly beaten, 80-57, in a tough environment.

Fast forward a month and a week, and one thing is clear: This team has gelled and grown by leaps and bounds. Would anyone have predicted back then that Gill would have the impact he had tonight against a legit front line, or that McKnight would shut down several outstanding guards with regularity, or that Mamukelashvili (tonight notwithstanding) and Cale would each step up big in big spots when they were needed?

"We're getting better, and we're listening," Powell said. "Our freshmen, our sophomores, they want to get better and listen. That's the best part of this group. We have one of the best coaches and his game plans are working, so we're going to continue doing that, and hopefully continue down the right path."

Looking at the larger picture, this was the toughest non-conference schedule the Hall had faced in years, and they finished 9-3 in the 12 contests. They could have easily been 11-1 as they dropped two home games (Saint Louis and Louisville) in the final minute. Now that it's over with, aside from an ironclad March resume outside of their league, what have the Pirates gained?

"Confidence throughout the whole roster," Cale said. "We're not scared of anyone just because they have a name on their jersey. That doesn't mean anything."

Next up is the gauntlet that is the Big East, and who better to start off with in Newark than an unbeaten, but rather untested St. John's team next Saturday? You can bet that the Pirates won't be scared of a record with a zero in the loss column, either.