Kadary Richmond (1) dominated NJIT with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists as Seton Hall defeated Highlanders in charity exhibition Saturday. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)
NEWARK, N.J. — Saturday was the first time that the public could catch Seton Hall in action this season, as the Pirates took on a game NJIT squad in a charity exhibition at the Wellness & Events Center on NJIT’s campus in Newark, just about a five-minute ride from the Prudential Center.
Seton Hall emerged victorious by a final score of 68-60 in front of around 1,000 fans, and here are four thoughts from courtside:
Seton Hall’s starting five of Kadary Richmond, Al-Amir Dawes, Dylan Addae-Wusu, Jaden Bediako, and Dre Davis certainly looked the part. As expected, the Pirates’ first team outpaced that of its mid-major opponents, outscoring NJIT’s starting unit, 67-37, with double-figure games from Richmond (24 points, more on him in a bit), Davis (19 points, 7 rebounds) and Dawes (13 points). Helping that cause was Elijah Buchanan, a Manhattan transfer who NJIT head coach Grant Billmeier said has been his best player in practice, going down early with an undisclosed injury.
As for the reserves, they saw a bunch of time on the floor together in the first half, and the results were not nearly as good. The Pirates’ second unit combined for one point in the game on an Elijah Hutchins-Everett free throw, shooting 0-for-12 from the floor. Isaiah Coleman saw the most time at 19 minutes and 21 seconds on the floor, and showed off his physical gifts, but struggled with his shot.
It was when those players were on the floor together in the first half that the Pirates struggled the most, with NJIT building up a double-digit lead late in the first half before the starters regained control and did their thing. Head coach Shaheen Holloway says that his second unit should improve with good health and more time on the floor.
“We've got to get those guys reps,” Holloway said after the game. “We've got to get Sada (NgaNga) some reps, I think Elijah will be fine once he calms down. We've got to get Jaquan Sanders back healthy, he was playing really well before he had a high ankle sprain. From there, we just have to go back to the drawing board.”
2. Bigs In Flux
As for the depth inside that we've told you about, today's game indicated room to grow. Both Bediako and Hutchins-Everett were limited by foul trouble, and Sadraque NgaNga showed some flashes and grabbed five rebounds, but there just wasn't enough time on the floor from that group to make any judgements.
Thanks to the foul trouble, Seton Hall was forced to go small with Dre Davis at the five, something that we saw a lot of last season. It worked today because Davis played so well, but it's not something that can sustain the Pirates this year.
“Heck no, I don't want to see that,” Holloway said when asked if the smaller lineup is something he might want to try out more this season. “I don't want to play a small ball lineup. Not in our league, no way. But sometimes, you have to adjust to what you've got.”
“They've got to adjust to the referees,” the skipper added about his bigs. “I teach a certain way in practice...in practice, we get after each other. They just have to learn when to turn it off and on. I think today was good, playing in front of the referees, getting used to what's a foul, what's not a foul, so we can go back and learn from it.”
3. Kooks Cookin’
The biggest takeaway from today on the positive side for Seton Hall is that Kadary Richmond looked spectacular. Sporting a slimmed-down physique, the Brooklyn native seemingly did whatever he wanted to do on the floor, displaying an overall smoothness and ease of motion that I hadn't seen before.
NJIT had absolutely no answer for him, as “Kooks” finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-for-10 shooting, nine rebounds, six assists, and two steals while only committing two turnovers. That line alone would be impressive, but it was the way that he got those numbers that really impressed me, how he seemed totally in control, how he slithered through the defense, how he delivered passes to teammates that didn't even seem open at the time.
He's always had the skill, but now he has the physical traits on top of the skill, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that if he stays healthy, Richmond could be a first team all-Big East player this season. He looked that good.
4. High On The Highlanders
For so many of the folks that came out to watch the game in Newark, it was the first time they had seen NJIT's home facility, a state-of-the-art building that has been open for six years, and is one of the nicest gyms in the country that no one really talks about.
Today, the crowd was great, they were into the game, and the teams provided both sides a chance to cheer with some great plays on both ends. I asked Grant Billmeier about what he wants folks to take away from their experience today as he hopes to turn the Highlanders into a winner.
“That this program's on the rise,” the Seton Hall alum and first-year head coach said. “This is an unbelievable facility, we've got a great group of kids, a lot of local kids, and they need to have a crowd like today or better going forward. They give it everything they have. It’s great for them to have support like today."
Having been around NJIT athletics for a number of years as a broadcaster, I can't say I disagree at all with what Billmeier said.
It was the rare game where everybody won. NJIT got to host a Big East program on its home floor, show off its exceptional home arena to more fans, and give those fans a glimpse of a bright future as well as a pretty good present, while Seton Hall got a chance to assist a legend in Jerry Walker to raise money for his foundation, and grind through a victory.
Both teams, of course, also got to get out there against outside competition after several weeks playing mostly against themselves, and Billmeier said that there's a good chance the two programs will see each other on the court in the future in a game that counts.
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