5 Thoughts: Seton Hall stumbles in home loss to Creighton

Quincy McKnight’s 20 points led Seton Hall, but Pirates fell short to Creighton Wednesday. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — Coming off the thrilling high of their first win at Villanova in 26 years, the 10th-ranked Seton Hall Pirates dropped their second straight contest at home to a No. 23 Creighton team by a final score of 87-82. It was a tough matchup for the Pirates in more ways than one, as it turns out.

Here are the Thoughts:

1. Spreading The Wealth

First things first: Creighton is a tough matchup for anyone. The Bluejays have averaged 77 points per game in Big East play, and boast the conference's top offense in shooting the 3-pointer as well, with three different players that hit at 37 percent or better on the year.

But for Seton Hall, they're an even tougher matchup. The Pirates are one of the tallest teams in the nation, and the base of their defense, which rates as one of the best in the country, is their size. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the two rosters and playing styles don't really mix, and for the Pirates tonight, they just got caught up in it. That's not to say the Pirates can't play small, too. They did against Villanova, and it worked like a charm. However, tonight...

"We had no choice," head coach Kevin Willard said of going small to match up with Creighton. "Once (Christian) Bishop got his third foul, he went with (Denzel) Mahoney and (Damien) Jefferson, and that's a hard matchup for Ike (Obiagu) and (Romaro Gill). They just put so much pressure on you with pick-and-rolls. We tried to go small and switch some stuff, but we didn't do a very good job of keeping guys in front of us."

Sandro Mamukelashvili, who had a virtuoso performance against the Wildcats to help lead the Pirates to that win at Villanova, was very good again tonight with 13 points and six rebounds in just 15 minutes. The problem was the 15-minute total. He was in foul trouble all game long, picking up three fouls in the first half, and then fouling out with five minutes to play. Once Mamukelashvili could no longer continue, the Pirates were forced to try and defend the Bluejays with a lineup that didn't really match up well.

"Obviously, the way he's been playing, he helps us tremendously running the offense," Willard said of Mamukelashvili. "I wanted to play Tyrese (Samuel) more, but he didn't practice the last two days because he's been battling the flu, so I was a little hesitant putting him in there."

2. Defensive Miscues

Willard (and also Quincy McKnight) shed some light on what was perhaps one of the reasons the Pirates did struggle at times to keep up defensively in the pace of the game. Samuel was one of several players, along with Mamukelashvili and Jared Rhoden most notably, that missed practice time this week due to illness. Going up against a tough matchup at less than 100 percent physically can't be an ideal thing.

That being said, the Pirates' defense still wasn't where it normally was, and on the possession that decided the game, it was a defensive miscommunication that cost the Pirates. Up 75-74 with 1:18 to play, Creighton inbounded to Mahoney in the backcourt. He then gave up the ball, and Seton Hall tried to switch who was on whom in its man-to-man defense, leaving Mahoney wide open trailing the play for what turned out to be a dagger 3-pointer. 

Give credit to Creighton for some of this. On the occasion that Gill was out of the game tonight, the Bluejays attacked the paint relentlessly, getting a bunch of baskets inside. In fact, at the end of the game, the taller Pirates were only plus-2 in the paint and plus-1 on the glass.

"They were so locked onto Mitch Ballock and trying to take Marcus (Zegarowski) away on the perimeter that it opened up cutting lanes and driving lanes," Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. "The first half we shot some threes, and the second half, we made a lot of layups because of the way we were spread out. I'm blessed with guys that really know how to play, and we played a pretty good basketball game today."

3. Myles Muted

Of course, even with all the above that I've mentioned, Seton Hall likely still walks away with a win if not for Myles Powell having maybe his roughest night in the last two years offensively. He ended up with 12 points, but missed his first seven shots overall and his first TEN 3-pointers, ending up 3-for-16 overall and 1-for-11 from 3-point range. A bunch of these threes were his patented looks from straight away while coming off screens, shots he normally makes. He also forced a few shots tonight in trying to get himself on track, including a couple late in the game.

Again, give Creighton credit. Ty-Shon Alexander was in Powell's shorts for most of the night, and when it wasn't him, it was someone else. The All-American just flat-out didn't have the airspace to get any truly open looks all game.

"Ty-Shon Alexander has been terrific all year," McDermott said. "He's guarded the other team's best player all season, and he's been there on the catch. Let's be honest, Myles missed a couple that he had good looks at. I thought we made him work for them, and I thought the pace that we were able to play with offensively was to our advantage."

4. Shot Selection

One of the things I tweeted about in my Thoughts on the Villanova win on Saturday was the fact that everything the Pirates did offensively to get off to such a good start on the road was aimed at the basket. Seton Hall attacked the paint, getting the ball inside to establish its  rhythm, which paid big dividends.

Tonight, I thought they settled too much. Of the Pirates' 69 shot attempts, 31 of them were from the outside, and for most of the game, they were taking about half their shots from 3-point range. They finished 7-for-31 for the game, so the looks weren't falling at all, and Willard also said that he thought his team took too many threes tonight. 

With the size advantage they have, I think that the Pirates are best served by playing more of an inside-out game rather than half-and-half. There are so many ball screens in their normal offensive set designed to get players open shots, either from three-point range or inside near the rim, but the Pirates are at their best when they're driving to the basket and not settling so much from deep.

5. The Sky Is Falling?

Absolutely not. This game, while you could argue it was one Seton Hall probably should win at home, was a game between two ranked teams. Fans have a right to be disappointed, as with any loss, but tonight I think was more about Creighton showing how good it can be rather than the Pirates playing badly. I was impressed with the Bluejays' composure, as well as their execution of the fundamentals. Coach McDermott pushed all the right buttons. When the Jays did need a timeout, they executed their next play almost every single time. Pirate fans should recognize that, of course, as their own team also does it well.

And at the end of the day, Seton Hall still has a two-game lead atop the Big East standings, and is still one of the best teams in the country. In a different season, perhaps this would be a bigger loss, but no one who spoke to the media after the game was heartbroken about it, though of course they were disappointed in the defeat as you'd expect.

Tonight, tip your cap to a very good Creighton team that could certainly make some noise in March, and move on to the next one. That happens to be Saturday at Providence, Seton Hall’s second meeting with the Friars this season, and a game in which the Pirates will look to bounce back.