3 Thoughts: Seton Hall trails early, gains control late to ground Saint Peter’s in opener

Al-Amir Dawes (2) was once again Seton Hall’s catalyst, igniting second-half runs that pushed Pirates past Saint Peter’s. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEWARK, N.J. — In many ways, Seton Hall’s season opener Monday night followed a tenor similar to its lone test run nine days prior.

Just as they did in last week’s exhibition against NJIT, the Pirates struggled to solve a Saint Peter’s team projected near the bottom of its conference, trailing the Peacocks at halftime Monday much like they did against the Highlanders on October 28. Also comparable to the preseason skirmish was the second-half deficit Seton Hall faced with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation.

Finally, the last mirror image came when Kadary Richmond, already attacking the basket aggressively throughout the second half, shifted into pure point guard mode just as he did in the NJIT game to let Al-Amir Dawes handle the offensive load. Dawes, whose run down the stretch in the exhibition swung the pendulum toward the Pirates for good, reprised his assassin role with three 3-pointers that punctuated separate 13-3 and 12-2 runs as Seton Hall opened the regular season with a 70-59 victory over Saint Peter’s inside the Prudential Center.

“When Al’s going, we’re a different team,” head coach Shaheen Holloway remarked. “We start making shots (and) we’re a different team.”

“My teammates put me in a position to do it,” Dawes added after his 14-point effort. “Obviously I didn’t have the best game, but they were cheering me on and they stuck with me, so I think that’s what led to me having a better second half.”

Seton Hall struggled with Saint Peter’s fierce defense in the first half and early stages after the intermission, as the Peacocks forced the Pirates into contested shots and dictated tempo by luring the hosts into the tug-of-war style head coach Bashir Mason made famous in his previous stop at Wagner.

“We had to pick it up, obviously,” Dawes said of Seton Hall’s approach coming out of the intermission. “We had to just warm up as a team, regroup, see what we weren’t doing out there and just come back with a better mindset.”

Holloway echoed his senior guard’s assessment, lamenting his team’s lack of energy and selflessness before Dylan Addae-Wusu became the second-half spark the Pirates needed to reverse course and restore order.

“I told our guys they were gonna scrap and claw and fight, and they did,” the coach said of his former program. “They outhustled us, they got all the 50-50 balls, they got all the loose balls. I think the game changed when Dylan finally started playing like Dylan, when he dove on the floor for that loose ball, he went down and scored and started playing. I need that from him. He’s gotta be our energy guy. He got going and that’s how we got going, to tell you the truth.”

Seton Hall’s next contest comes on campus Saturday against another New Jersey Cinderella, as FDU visits Walsh Gymnasium. Until then, we leave you with some musings and observations from Monday’s lid-lifter:

1) Kooks Opens the Dawes

Through two games, one of which counts while the second was an effective litmus test for what Seton Hall will ultimately be as the year progresses, the biggest takeaway is that as Kadary Richmond goes, so too do the Pirates. And while the point guard stuffed the stat sheet (18 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 6 steals), it was his work as a distributor that was perhaps his strongest suit Monday, as his vision and real-time adjustments allowed Dawes to capitalize on openings in the Saint Peter’s defense entering crunch time.

“Kadary’s a good facilitator and a good playmaker,” Dawes said, praising his backcourt cohort. “So whenever he’s doing his thing, I could easily just fall right behind him and be there if he needs. That’s just how it is, you’ve got two good guards that are able to make plays and hit shots.”

Revisiting his statement about the Pirates needing to find a clearer mindset, the Newark native credited his coach — the bond between the two has been forged and solidified for over a decade — with giving him the confidence to just be him and let everything else flow naturally.

“(Holloway) was telling me, ‘just do you, just go out there and do what you do,’” Dawes recalled. “I was able to get my mind right and hit those couple of shots, and I was able to lead my team into having that free mind and then doing what they had to do as well, and just contribute. (It was) just Sha telling me to get my head right and play my game.”

2) Big Trouble?

Seton Hall’s remodeled front line was a source of consternation again on Monday, as Jaden Bediako, Elijah Hutchins-Everett and Sada NgaNga combined for just eight points and five rebounds, with Bediako accounting for all of the boards. It was a welcome change from the NJIT exhibition, where foul trouble hindered their ability to assert their impact on the game, but still a cause for concern. Nevertheless, Holloway found the positive in their effort, reassuring the best is yet to come before Big East play, when the Pirates will face the likes of all-conference bigs Donovan Clingan, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Joel Soriano.

“We asked our big guys the last couple games to play against 6’6 guys, guys who are 6’6, 6’7,” he cautioned. “When they play against guys who are 6’10, 6’11, I think you’ll see the type of guys that they are. I think they’re gonna be okay, they’re gonna go in there and do what they do. The last couple games, you didn’t get a chance to see what Elijah could do. He’s a skilled big guy who could shoot the basketball, Jaden needs to play hard. Once they get in shape and learn our concepts, they’re gonna be better.”

“They’re gonna get better as time comes and they begin to slow down and see the game,” Richmond reiterated. “We’re not too worried about them.”

3) Peacocks Taking Flight?

Picked next-to-last among the 11 teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Saint Peter’s was thought to be enduring a second straight transitional year under Mason, who replaced Holloway in Jersey City on the heels of the Peacocks’ historic Elite 8 appearance. But if the product Saint Peter’s put on the floor for 35 minutes on Monday is any indication, the 10th-place prognostication could prove to be a gross underestimation by the MAAC’s coaches.

Junior college transfer Michael Houge (11 points) has the tools to be an all-conference player by the end of the season, a walking matchup problem at the four and five spots, while freshman Armoni Zeigler — the half-brother of Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler — turned heads with a vicious poster dunk late in the second half that showcased his immense talent. The biggest cog in the Peacock engine, however, is Latrell Reid, one of the holdovers from Holloway’s Elite 8 team that is leading by example and setting the tone as a floor general, something his former coach was not surprised by in the least.

“He played his butt off,” Holloway conceded. “I’m proud of him. He played well, he’s always been a tough guy, a tough, gritty kid — excuse me, young man — that plays his butt off. He played well tonight.”