5 Thoughts: Seton Hall beats Butler in instant classic

Sandro Mamukelashvili celebrates with Myles Cale and Seton Hall fans after tip-in at buzzer lifted Pirates past Butler. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — Instant Classic.

That's what it was at Prudential Center between No. 16 Seton Hall and No. 21 Butler, in yet another example of the Big East being one heck of a league, and this matchup in particular being one heck of a matchup.

In the end, it was the Pirates coming away with a much-needed 74-72 victory, courtesy of a buzzer-beating basket with 0.6 seconds to play from Sandro Mamukelashvili, capping off a phenomenal, team-wide second half performance.

Here are the Five Thoughts:

1. SuperSandro

First things first: It wasn't just the buzzer-beater that made Mamukelashvili's night. The junior scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half on nearly-perfect shooting (5-of-6), as he was a factor throughout the stanza. When it comes to the play he got drawn up for him with just 0.6 seconds left in a tied game, head coach Kevin Willard said he had put it in a while ago after watching, of all things, an NBA team out west.

“The Sacramento Kings ran that play about two months ago,” Willard said. “I watch a lot of Synergy at night and I’m always looking for ways to get Myles shots, late-clock situations, and they ran a really good — they brought Buddy Hield off a triple just like we brought Myles off, and they stepped him out and they lobbed it, and they got a really good late clock. That’s kind of where I saw it, and we put it in about a month ago. I put it in because it’s a good play to get him an easy bucket — to try to get us an easy bucket at times — and I thought we just, at that point, you still have enough time to catch it and chuck it, but all you really have time for is to chuck it up at the rim and just tap it in. I thought Q threw a good pass, and I thought they executed it great, I thought the timing was really good. We waited for Myles to come off, everybody kind of turned their head looking at Myles, and then it executed really well.”

Give credit to Willard for being a major hoops junkie and trying to help his team any way he can. They also prepared it this week to be ready to use in the game.

 "We ran that play a couple days ago in practice," Mamukelashvili said. "It worked out really good (then), so it was in the back of my mind and coach's mind that if we ran it right, it would work out. Quincy threw a great pass, so I just caught it, threw it up, and it went in."

But the second part of the game-winner is that it ended up being a storybook ending for Mamu on a very personally significant night for him. It was the game that the Pirates wore pink shooting shirts and pink sneakers to honor those who are victims of, or those continuing to fight, cancer. It just so happened that Sandro's father, Zurab, was at the game tonight. Zurab himself is a survivor of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

“I think it’s huge,” Willard said. “I know his father was happy, he came over and gave me a hug. Whenever you play well — and again, it’s really tough for guys like Tyrese, Ikey, Ro and Sandro, whose families aren’t able to be here — all these other guys get to see their families every night, so when you have a chance to play in front of your family, it’s a little more special.”

Sandro said that he last saw his father in Georgia (the republic in Europe, not the state, for those unaware) back in May, and that it was also just the second time he had been to one of his son's games. 

"He came my freshman year," Mamukelashvili said. "But I didn't play that much. My freshman year was kind of a learning year, so this was the first time that he really got to see me play a lot. It was an unbelievable experience."

Sometimes, the basketball gods just have a way of making things happen.

2. The First (Half) Thanksgiving

Butler came out fantastically in this game, shooting the lights out, defending with its usual vigor, and leading by as many as 10. The Bulldogs assisted on eight of their first 11 baskets, and an unsung hero (Bryce Golden, 12 points), stepped up big.

But the reason it was the Pirates being thankful was that they only trailed by six at the break despite the Bulldogs' exceptional half. Seton Hall made its bones at the free throw line, getting there 12 times and converting on 10 of the free throws. Butler fouled two three-point shooters, and that resulted in a perfect 6-for-6 at the charity stripe, keeping the Hall in the game. There's a reason that fouling a three-point shooter is known as the Cardinal Sin in basketball, and Butler needed to go to confession at the half.

Kevin Willard echoed the sentiment in the Pirates' locker room.

“I went in at halftime and told them this is the first time we haven’t been down double digits in like, six games at halftime,” he said. “To me, I felt like we were winning, and I said, ‘Guys, we’re only down six, this is great, so everybody relax and just go out and play.’ We haven’t played well here, so I think there was a little tension early in the game trying to get off to a good start to get our fans into the game. I know our guys, once we started scoring and our fans got into it, I think our fans really relaxed our guys.”

3. The Butler Does It

This was the 16th all-time meeting between Seton Hall and Butler, all since the Bulldogs joined the Big East. The Pirates are now 7-9 against them, and despite the fact that the Pirates have won six of the last eight meetings, it's never easy for them against their conference rivals from Indiana.

After tonight's two-point margin, a whopping 14 of the 16 games between the two programs have been decided by eight points or fewer, and seven of those contests (HALF of the 14 close ones) have been decided by four points or fewer. 

I asked LaVall Jordan about it after the game: Why do the programs tend to have such close, entertaining ballgames against each other?

"It's respect," the Butler head coach said. "We have a ton of respect for their program, they play the right way. They're a tough team, and have good leadership. They've got veteran players. I think the feeling is mutual, you know what you're getting when you get out there. If we don't play our brand of basketball, if we're not tough enough, it won't even be close."

I think fans in general would sign up for Round 3 at Madison Square Garden next month. Just be sure to remember the nitroglycerin pills along with the popcorn.

4. The Q-Factor

Before Mamu's heroics, the game ball was going to Quincy McKnight if the Pirates pulled it out. The senior guard was fantastic in the second half, and especially down the stretch. Of his 18 points, 14 came after halftime, and he also had nine points in the final 3:15 of the game. With the score tied at 63, McKnight stepped up and knocked down a 3-pointer when his defender went under a screen. He then came up with a steal on the other end, and while he didn't finish in transition, it was Quincy again who stepped up and proceeded to hit big pairs of free throws inside of one minute to play.

And, of course, he made the pass that Mamukelashvili finished to win the game. He may not get the publicity that others get, but he has got to be a first team, all-underrated Big East selection.

5. Stabilizing The Ship

The Providence and Creighton defeats — more so the latter, but both as you'll see in a second — had dwindled the Pirates' lead atop the Big East standings from three games down to just one with the Jays now nipping at their heels for second place in the league. Willard publicly called out his team after the loss in Providence on Saturday in which the Pirates fell into a canyon in the first half and weren't able to recover, and the team did some soul searching this week.

“I thought our practice on Thursday was way too loose after the Creighton game,” Willard commented. “I thought Friday’s film session was way too lackadaisical to play a road game against a really good Providence team, so my anger and my frustration, everybody got it. It wasn’t one person, I started with Powell, McKnight and Gill, then I went to the juniors. The only guy that didn’t get it was Tyrese because he’s a freshman, but everybody got it. The staff got it, I got it — I yelled at myself, I did — I was just not happy with the opportunity that we had. We were down 27 and we cut it to two twice, so the effort was there. I thought the way we came into the game, accepting the loss — I don’t mind losing at all, if we lost tonight, I thought the way we came in Monday morning at 7 a.m. showed me they understood what I was talking about.”

Fast forward to tonight, and with such a dramatic win in front of the home crowd, this result tonight could be a spark for this Pirates team. While it wasn't a must-must-win on paper, it felt like one based on the goals this team still has to win the Big East regular season crown and end up in Albany for the NCAA Tournament’s first round, and the Pirates were able to get it. A feisty St. John's team comes to town on Sunday, and it should be yet another exciting day in the always-exciting Big East.