JP’s 5 Thoughts: Shorthanded Seton Hall pulls upset over Maryland

Quincy McKnight exults after second-half dunk as Seton Hall upset No. 7 Maryland. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — To say I didn't see this one coming would be quite an understatement.

Without its two best players, All-American guard Myles Powell (concussion) and versatile big man Sandro Mamukelashvili (fractured wrist), Seton Hall used exceptional defense, punctuated by a virtuoso shot-blocking performance inside, to stifle the seventh-ranked Maryland Terrapins and sweep the home-and-home series with a 52-48 victory at Prudential Center on a frigid Thursday night.

Here are the Thoughts from a truly impressive Pirate win, one of the best in the Kevin Willard era in this scribe's opinion:

1. Frost- 'D' the Snowman

There is no replacing the offensive production of Powell or Mamukelashvili. Seton Hall just does not have the horses to hang with teams into the 70-point range as long as those two are out. So what do you do against a team with Anthony Cowan, Jalen Smith, etc?

You defend your rear end off, and that's what the Pirates did. 

Seton Hall came in focused and intense on that side of the ball, and ended up slowly, but surely, building a lead that was 15 points at its greatest late in the first half. The Pirates held the Terps without a single point for over eight minutes in the first stanza, and without a single field goal for over ten minutes in a truly inspired performance. It was an effort that was born out of the last few days, as it turned out.

"I didn't know if we could win because we were going to struggle to score sometimes, but I knew on Monday after practice that this team was going to be as good as I thought they were going to be," head coach Kevin Willard said. "We watched film for two-and-a-half hours, and practiced for an hour. I was looking to see how they would bounce back. They were honest on the film and talked about things that were going on in the film. Then we had three days of our best practice we had all year.”

"They proved to me they weren't going to hang their heads or worry about anything," he added. "And they showed up great defensively."

Maryland eventually was able to knock down some shots, but the Pirates' effort on defense was there all game long. The final tallies: a shade under 30 percent shooting allowed for the game, 10 steals, 17 turnovers forced (including five from star point guard Cowan, who was again held in check by Quincy McKnight, more on him in a second).

Oh, and one more thing...

2. Blocking Around The Christmas Tree

Fifteen blocked shots. FIFTEEN. Let that sink in for a moment.

I don't think I've witnessed a more impressive display of shot-blocking at the collegiate level, let alone from Seton Hall. Romaro Gill and Ike Obiagu were absolute terrors against the Terrapins tonight, taking turns rejecting anything that dared venture too close to the hoop.

In the first half, it was starting center Gill who took center stage, with five blocked shots, most of which came in that long shutout stretch for the Pirates' defense. It was fitting that he had another monster game against Maryland, as last year's meeting in College Park was his coming-out party.

But when he picked up some foul trouble in the second half, Obiagu picked up right where he left off, swatting five shots of his own after halftime. Both men ended up with six blocks on the night, tying an individual record for blocks in a game by a Pirate at the Rock (2007-present).

"It was great because we were able to be much more aggressive full-court," Willard said. "Obviously, not having Myles changes what you can do offensively, but we were able to be more aggressive defensively than we have in the past. I thought Ro was fantastic in the first half, and Ike was great in the second half."

I asked McKnight if he'd ever experienced such a productive shot-blocking performance after the game as well.

"No, not since my AAU days," McKnight responded. "It's been a while since I saw guys blocking shots like that, and that's what they do, they bang each other up in practice every day."

Regrettably, we could not find out whether the 15 swats were a record or not, but if it was not, it had to have been close.

3. All I Want For Christmas Is 'Q'

Okay, now to the other big reason the Pirates were able to escape with the win: Quincy McKnight was outstanding. 

In his first game playing a true, scoring guard role since his Sacred Heart days, McKnight did it all. He poured in 17 points (12 in the second half), grabbed eight rebounds, dished out six assists and turned the ball over just twice, all while playing his usual perimeter defense. His perfect 6-for-6 mark from the charity stripe also salted the game away late when the Pirates were struggling to make their free throws.

Kevin Willard said that part of the reason they went so long in practice on Monday was to allow McKnight and Jared Rhoden (8 points, 12 rebounds) to essentially get used to things they had not been used to doing. For Rhoden, that was playing big minutes and also battling guys bigger than his size, but for McKnight, it was essentially a refresher course in taking the lead role in the offense. He did, of course, and his transition seemed smooth. Look for more of that in the coming weeks as Powell's timetable to return is still up in the air.

Not to be left out was Anthony Nelson, who stepped into the starting lineup for the first time and contributed 10 points and four assists to the cause. Willard was also quite pleased with him.

"Off misses, I thought he was great with the tempo," the skipper said. "And I thought he was very good with the fact that we wanted to use a lot of the clock. I wasn't going to be worried if we had three or four shot clock violations. We couldn't get into a ping-pong match with them, they're too good. So he understood we were going to start our offense with 18 seconds left on the shot clock and get a lot of shots with two or three seconds left. I thought he managed that tremendously.”

4. There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays

The double-gut punch of losing Mamukelashvili and Powell obviously rattled the fan base and it must have been felt by the team as well. But Willard kept things in perspective after the rivalry loss in Piscataway on Saturday. 

“We played at Iowa State in front of 15,000 people and lost our second-best player three minutes into the game, and then we went and played our rival game without our second-best player and lost an All-American technically three minutes into the game and played four-on-five for about 12 of those minutes," Willard said. "I said the reality of the situation is we’ve had a brutal schedule, we haven’t had time, we haven’t had a whole lot of home games, and I said where we are and who we are, we’re still that team at the beginning of the season. We’ve just played a lot harder schedule than everybody else.” 

"It was great being at home because we played great defense at Iowa State," Willard added. "But when you’re on the road, eventually if you’re not scoring and you’re playing great defense, eventually a guy like (Tyrese) Haliburton or Geo Baker’s going to make shots and they’re going to break your back, and that’s kind of what happened. I thought the crowd kind of helped us overcome some of our offensive struggles.”

They will have to scrap a little more and play defense akin to what they did tonight in order, but as the Pirates showed, they can adapt. They'll have to adapt as long as they remain short-handed.

5. Powell Update

As to how long they will remain short-handed, Willard said it will be a while, and you can't blame the Pirates for taking it slow. Head injuries are no joke, and Powell was not at the arena tonight due to him needing to stay away from bright lights and loud noises. But he was paying attention to the game, as the team FaceTimed him afterwards.

“I told him to turn off the lights," Willard said. "He was jumping all around- he’s not supposed to be jumping around. He did most of the talking, he just said how proud he was and how much he missed us, and then I yelled at him because he’s supposed to be in a dark room not doing anything, and he’s not doing it.”  

Willard did say he would be out on Sunday against Prairie View A&M and likely the Big East opener against DePaul, too. So, essentially, for the time being, these are the Pirates, and a performance like tonight, where so many guys stepped up in their own way, has to give confidence to a fan base that definitely needed a dose of it after the events of the past week.

Consider it an early Christmas present.