Dre Davis’ 28 points led Seton Hall to runaway win over DePaul in regular season finale. (Photo by The Associated Press)
NEWARK, N.J. — Coming off a win over Villanova in its most important game of the season Wednesday, Seton Hall entered a loaded senior night against lowly DePaul in a must-win situation.
And after a first half that was up-and-down, the Pirates ripped off 51 second-half points, and by the end of an 86-62 result, made the Blue Demons look every bit like the first Big East team to ever go 0-20 in league play.
Here are the 4 Thoughts from the Rock as Seton Hall secured the #4 seed in the Big East Tournament:
This game was “must-win,” but a more accurate description would be “must not lose.” DePaul came in at 3-27, and 0-19 in the Big East, maybe one of the worst high-major teams in the history of the sport. The Blue Demons fired head coach Tony Stubblefield a few weeks back, and have been languishing at or very close to the bottom of the conference for nearly two decades.
A loss to such a team would have most definitely knocked Seton Hall out of the NCAA Tournament picture. I can recall my senior year at the Hall when a 30-point blowout loss in Chicago was the final nail in said coffin.
Luckily, it didn’t happen. The first 10 minutes were a bit up-and-down, something head coach Shaheen Holloway chalked up to residual emotion from senior night, but despite not playing anywhere close to its best, Seton Hall still led the game. Then in the second half, the Pirates blew the Blue Demons’ doors off.
As the hashtag says, the No. 1 rule for Big East basketball teams has been “Don’t Lose To DePaul.” The Pirates fulfilled their duties, and stayed on the right side of the bubble.
2. Found Money
Seton Hall has been among the very bottom teams in the Big East when it comes to shooting the three all season, and a good chunk of that as the worst three-point shooting team in the conference at around 31 percent entering this week. Only Al-Amir Dawes displayed any sort of consistent threat from deep, allowing teams to pack in their defense and force Seton Hall to score over them.
Well, this week, the Pirates have thrived behind the arc, hitting nine threes in the huge win over Villanova, and canning a season-high 12 threes tonight. The most-important part, however, is that Dawes was responsible for only THREE of those 21 combined triples. Tonight alone, Dre Davis hit four, Dylan Addae-Wusu hit three, and four other players hit one apiece. Dawes can heat up at a moment’s notice, and his shots tend to be big ones, but when all the Pirates get in on the act, it makes the team very hard to beat given its defensive acumen.
“We’ve been working really hard on it,” Holloway said of the shooting. “I’m glad that guys are making shots because we come in the morning, guys come before practice, guys stay after practice. So it’s good to see that happen, especially at a time like this, when it’s tournament time and you need to start making shots.”
You have to hope that the Pirates love the rims at Madison Square Garden as much as they have loved them in Newark. If they do, it could be a long day for St. John’s.
3. WonDreFull
At halftime, Dre Davis had to change uniforms, donning No. 27 for the second half after wearing his customary No. 14. But it didn’t matter what jersey he was wearing tonight. The Pirates’ senior forward was nigh unstoppable, putting up 24 points in the first 25 minutes he was on the floor, and finishing with a career-high 28 points on 10-for-15 shooting, 4-for-6 from downtown, seven rebounds, and three assists.
He’s averaging over 20 points per game in his last five contests on over 57 percent shooting from the floor (47 percent from three-point range), and is playing the best basketball of his career, just in time for the postseason. Kadary Richmond is Seton Hall’s best player, but the consistency of Davis, particularly down the stretch, has been an engine for the Pirates. It very well may win him the Big East's Most Improved Player award next week.
“If you guys get to know him off the court, you’ll understand that his motivation is through the roof,” Holloway said of Davis. “Obviously, he has a kid, but he takes the game so (seriously). Him and Al-Amir Dawes are the two guys that never, ever, ever has a bad practice from the standpoint of they're not giving me everything they’ve got. And when you have guys like that, I’m not surprised that this is happening. He works so hard on his game. He works out with the bigs, he works out with the guards. To see this happen for him, I’m so happy for him, and so proud of him.”
4. Tournament Time
With Marquette beating Xavier today, it locked the Pirates into the No. 4 seed, and with UConn demolishing Providence, that also locked them into a rematch with St. John’s in the quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon at 2:30.
It's certainly going to be an interesting tilt. The Red Storm experienced a resurgence of sorts after Rick Pitino’s (tactical??) comments following the Pirates’ 19-point at UBS Arena on Long Island to beat St. John’s a couple weeks ago. In both of the first two meetings, the Pirates were clearly the tougher team, and the atmosphere in the Garden (with UConn versus either Butler or Xavier in the other afternoon quarterfinal) should be about as good as it gets for the early session.
Most believe that the Pirates taking care of business this week against Villanova and DePaul will get them in the Big Dance. According to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, the Hall is one of the last four byes, meaning they would be a No. 10 seed and avoid the First Four in Dayton. He has the Red Storm among his last four in, meaning St. John’s would get sent to Dayton. So this game is going to mean a lot for both teams, particularly the Red Storm on its home court.
It’s always wise to err on the side of caution, and Seton Hall would be best off by following that maxim and beating St. John’s at the Garden. Doing so would be another Quad 1 win, and more impressively, it would be on the road, as despite the neutral-site feel of the game itself, the committee considers MSG a home court for St. John’s.
Regardless, to win 20 games (13 in the Big East) and finish inside the league's top five after being picked ninth in the preseason polls behind even Georgetown is a huge accomplishment. Both Davis and Addae-Wusu (who also had a huge week, scoring 19 points tonight) said that Seton Hall has larger goals. That’s the right mentality to have for the players, but for us media members, it’s extremely notable the job Holloway has done this year.
He won't win the award (it’s going to be Dan Hurley, who just finished with the most wins in a Big East season — 18 — of any program ever), but Sha would get my vote for Big East Coach of the Year.
We’ll see you all at Championship Week.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.