Determined win over Providence shows Pirates' toughness

Tony Bozzella exhorts his Seton Hall team during Sunday's win over Providence. (Photo by Ray Floriani/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ -- Recruiting talented players is a given. Having a system capable of putting them into the best places to succeed, on both ends of the floor, is a must. Often forgotten, but vital, is the simple tenet of teaching them how to win.

On Sunday afternoon, Seton Hall coach Tony Bozzella drove that point home with emphasis, as his Pirates defeated, Providence 79-73, in a tough Big East battle at Walsh Gymnasium to finish off an unblemished weekend of conference play that started with a win over Creighton on Friday.

“Give the credit to the girls,” Bozzella said following the victory, which improved Seton Hall to 11-5 on the season, and 3-2 in Big East play. “They showed a lot of toughness and Nicole (Jimenez) did a tremendous job on the defensive end.”  

The game was tied at 60 with just under six minutes to play in regulation. Over the duration of those final minutes, the Pirates showed excellent poise and execution.

“They made plays we didn’t,” said Providence coach Jim Crowley. “I thought a few times, we let (Desiree) Elmore use her left hand and get some big buckets. They did what veteran teams do when the game is on the line.”

Elmore not only hit a few key shots, but was also able to get to the charity stripe as well during that game-clinching sequence.  

“With five minutes to go we knew we had to find a way to win,” Bozzella said. In the waning moments of close games, that is what teams do.”

To Seton Hall it carried added significance. A week ago in contests at Butler and Xavier, there was the opportunity to emerge victorious and leave with a road wins. In both cases the Pirates came up short. The two near-misses weighed on Bozzella and his group, making the manner in which the Pirates got the win over Providence all the more satisfying.

“Today we executed,” Bozzella said. “We made good plays, got stops and most importantly, we found a way to win.”

Bozzella pointed out, with satisfaction, several areas of the game where Seton Hall had an advantage -- forcing the Friars into 20 turnovers -- and the ability to draw fouls was evident, as Seton Hall shot 26 free throws to the 14 that Providence attempted. The Pirates only converting 16 of 26 at the line was a concern, but one that can be corrected, per Bozzella.

“Free throws are something we can work on and address in practice,”  he said.

Getting back to practice, there are many things you can work on. Beside free throws and assorted drills, you can game plan and teach a team how to handle the final minutes of a close game. That inherent toughness of which Bozzella speaks may not always be something that can be taught, but it is definitely something ingrained and part of an individual player’s basketball DNA, which makes Sunday’s win all the more pleasing because it gave Bozzella some proof that his team has that quality in it.