4 Thoughts: Seton Hall tops Drexel

Kadary Richmond put together well-rounded offensive game Wednesday as Seton Hall defeated Drexel in non-conference finale. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — For the first 30 minutes of Wednesday night's game between Seton Hall and Drexel, things could not have been more one-sided. The Pirates built a 30-point lead, a rarity, and while Drexel heated up from the outside down the stretch and went on a 26-6 run to make it an 11-point game late, it was not enough as the Pirates came away with a 66-49 victory in the first meeting between the two teams since 2004.

Here are the Thoughts:

1. Kooks and the Gang

Seton Hall's defense came out excellently in this game (more on that in a second), but once its offense got going, it was Kadary Richmond leading the charge, and he did so with a pretty good dose of flair. The Pirates' point guard, whose play was one of the biggest cogs in Seton Hall's win on Sunday at Rutgers, was especially shifty. On one possession, he euro-stepped to the basket for a layup, and on other occasions, he went behind his back for a couple of Tray Jackson triples.

It was clear by about the midway point of the half that he was really feeling himself out there, finishing with eight points, a team-best nine rebounds, and four assists against only two turnovers. In order to be successful this season, Seton Hall needs him to be the best version of himself, and tonight was another well-rounded effort, though he acknowledged after the game that he had a few defensive lapses in the second half that his coach would like him to clean up.

2. Slaying The Dragons

So, about that Seton Hall defense? It was outstanding again, limiting the Dragons to just 21 percent shooting for the first half and 27 percent overall. Only two Dragons players — the terrifically-named Coletrane Washington and the 6'10" Amari Williams — scored any points at all for the first 27:36 of the game, and Seton Hall allowed just 18 total points in the first 27 minutes of the contest.

The Pirates had the overall size edge in this game as you'd expect, so hitting outside shots would be an obvious way for Drexel to equalize that deficit. But the Dragons were ice-ice cold from deep for the majority of the night, as Seton Hall's excellent perimeter defense, one of the best in the nation at defending the three, harassed Drexel into just 8-of-34 (24 percent) from beyond the arc.

After the Rutgers game, Shaheen Holloway said that the Pirates were beginning to know who they were on the floor as a team, and tonight reinforced that they lead with their defense. According to their head coach, it's come in spurts.

"I think we came out in the second half and I don’t think they scored in the first eight minutes," Holloway said. "And then we kind of get lazy and we kind of think the game is out of hand. Everybody who knows college basketball knows if you make some threes, you’re right back in the game and the momentum could swing really, really quick."

"That’s what happened tonight, and that’s what I was afraid was going to happen. But yeah, spurts. You see Sunday, I thought we had a good game plan, we locked in and I thought we came out being aggressive this game, and then the second half, I thought the first eight minutes were unbelievable and we saw the last eight minutes were not really good at all.”

While I wouldn't expect too many more games in the forties like the Rutgers game, I would expect to see a lot more low-scoring wins for this team going forward.

3. Second Half Stumbles

Neither Holloway nor any of the players were happy in the least with their performance in the last 10 minutes of the game. If I were to bet, the Pirates' head coach had a lot to go over in the locker room after the game, with the press conference not beginning for a little while longer after the end of the game than usual.

"I’m not very happy," Holloway said. "If you want to be a good team, you can’t finish games like that, you’ve got to be able to take the next step. I’m disappointed because we’ve got a bunch of older guys, but we’re still very immature. We’ve got to grow, we’ve got to watch this and grow from it, and get ready for Saturday."

Now, it says a lot about just how dominant the Pirates' defense was that Drexel could go on the run it went on (26-6) and still lose by 20 points. It wasn't ideal for Seton Hall fans to watch the lead shrink by so much, but things never got to the point where you'd really be worried about winning the game.

Nevertheless, it was clear that the Pirates don't want that to happen again.

4. Injury Issues

Seton Hall has had to deal with injuries seemingly ever since the ink was dry on Holloway's contract, and in this game, both Femi Odukale and Jaquan Sanders left the game with lower body injuries and were unable to return. 

Sanders apparently suffered a groin injury, per Holloway. Odukale, meanwhile, was spotted with a boot on his left ankle upon returning to the Pirates' bench, and he had to depart after he was knocked to the floor not once, but twice in the first half, with the first instance being a blow below the belt.

It goes without saying (but we'll say it anyway) that Odukale is a really big piece of Seton Hall's team. Arguably the toughest Pirate on the floor at any given time, he also can initiate offense from the point when Richmond's not out there, not to mention his big frame allows him to defend multiple positions in the Pirates' pressure-heavy system.

It's a shame that this injury comes now because Dre Davis, an equally important player who also dabbles in a lot of different areas on the floor, just returned from an injury for the shorthanded Hall, who is still without Alexis Yetna down low. All fans can do is hope that the injury isn't too serious with Big East play looming large in the windshield.

Seton Hall will host the Providence Friars at the Rock on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., kicking off conference play on its home floor.