Al-Amir Dawes exhorts Walsh Gym crowd as Seton Hall moved into NIT quarterfinals Saturday with win over North Texas. (Photo by Seton Hall Athletics)
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — After squeaking by Saint Joseph’s in the first round, Seton Hall welcomed the reigning NIT champion North Texas Mean Green to Walsh Gymnasium.
And just like the weather outside, the Pirates drowned the visitors with several big runs, putting them under a deluge of noise from the home faithful and rolling to a 72-58 victory to move on to the quarterfinals.
Here are the thoughts from South Orange:
Facing an early tip time is never an easy thing, especially on a miserably rainy day like today. But Seton Hall fans clearly had their morning coffee. They filled Walsh, particularly the upper levels, and they were into the game from the tip, cheering everything the Pirates did well, roaring during a pair of 10-0 runs that staked the Hall to a 33-24 halftime lead, and even hounding the referees for every call. It got so loud in the first half that the North Texas players had trouble communicating on the floor after their solid start.
“I thought it was huge,” Dre Davis said. “I can only speak for myself, but it provided me with a lot of energy. I thought the atmosphere was great, you could feel the energy. It’s a lot different from the (Prudential Center). You can really feel (the fans) on top of us. We really appreciate the fans.”
“To pick up what Dre said, when I see a big crowd, the energy just pours down,” Isaiah Coleman added. “When they’re in it, we're in it.”
In the NIT, players and teams can take one of two tacks: One, be sorry for yourselves that you didn’t make the NCAA Tournament, or two, come out with a chip on your shoulder the size of North Texas.
It's the same for fans. I can recall when the Pirates ended up in the NIT in 2010 (my sophomore year at the Hall). They had their first-round game against Texas Tech at the Prudential Center, and the energy was never there (we’re not going to discuss what also happened in that game that led to Bobby Gonzalez’s ouster shortly thereafter).
In 2012, my senior year, the games were at Walsh, and the atmosphere was a total 180. The first two rounds of this year’s tournament have been the same, and you hope that it keeps up as long as Seton Hall advances.
“After the timeout (when) we were down 14-8, and I got the five guys together at halfcourt,” head coach Shaheen Holloway said. “Some things were said — some good things — and I thought after that moment, I thought we came back out and started doing what we do. But I thought it was a big thing that the crowd got these guys up, got them going, and stayed with us the whole game, so I want to thank everybody for that, for coming out, especially on a rainy day like this.”
2. Bench Mob?!
Seton Hall’s bench has been maligned at times for not giving enough production to the veteran starting five. The Pirate reserves rank near the bottom of the nation on KenPom in minutes played as a unit as a result. This afternoon, they brought it. It was the freshman Coleman who led Seton Hall with nine points in the first half, including five in a 10-0 run to close the half and a three-pointer at the buzzer.
He wasn't alone. Elijah Hutchins-Everett also played well with Jaden Bediako in foul trouble, scoring four points with a pair of boards and solid interior defense before having to leave the game after a second-half rebound battle, and Jaquan Sanders also had one of his better games lately.
“We’ve got a lot of our main guys banged up, so I knew I had to get some guys in there,” Holloway said. “Jaquan Sanders — I’m going to give him a lot of credit. He’s been out the last two days sick. He didn't practice yesterday, we just did individual (work). I wasn’t sure if he would be able to play, but he came in and gave us some big minutes in the first half and made a big shot.”
“(Isaiah) and I had a good talk this week about a couple things,” the skipper added. “I thought he came out and stepped up to the challenge, and so did Elijah before he got hurt, so it was good to see guys get in there, because we needed it.”
The Pirates’ starting five is tough enough to go against with their experience at this time of year, but when they get effort off the bench as well, it takes a huge weight off the starters’ shoulders, and at a time of year when, as Sha said, everyone’s dinged up at least a little bit.
3. Kooks Makes Lunch
Kadary Richmond had a slow game against St. Joe’s on Wednesday night in the first round, but after an extended rest in the first half today, he looked like he was back to his normal self. The first team all-Big East guard put up a huge double-double of 11 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, adding six assists. He used his size to bully the smaller North Texas backcourt on several occasions, and his efforts on the glass led the Pirates.
“I used him today a little differently,” Holloway said. “I used him more as a post-up (player). They were doubling, so we could get some movement off of it. He made the right plays. He impacted the game differently, which is what good players do. Whether it's rebounding, assists, scoring, he impacted the game differently. And I thought everybody did. We had really good balance. The last couple of days, I didn't know what was going to happen. We were only able to go 3-on-3 or 4-on-4, but I’m proud of them. I thought it was a gutty performance.”
In March, you need your best players to be your best players, and Richmond was certainly one of the Pirates’ best today on a day where everyone ate offensively. Davis finished with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, Al-Amir Dawes came alive in the second half to put up 14 points, five boards and five assists, while Coleman ended up with 14 points in one of his best games as a Pirate.
4. Three-ton Hall
It’s been one of the Thoughts before, but down the stretch of the season, the Pirates were successful the final week in particular because they shot the ball well. They did that again today, knocking down nine threes and shooting 45 percent from there (9-for-20). It opens up the floor for players like Richmond and Davis to drive the basketball, get inside, and do their thing.
It was especially notable today, however, because North Texas came in as one of the top 15 teams in the nation shooting the basketball from deep, at 38 percent overall with a couple players over the 40 percent mark. The Mean Green was limited to 32 percent in the game (8-for-25) by the Seton Hall defense.
If you would have told me coming into the game that Seton Hall would outscore North Texas from three given their profiles this season, I probably wouldn’t have believed you, but also would have figured it would end up as an easy victory for the Hall, which it was. The visitors had to finish the game on a 12-2 run to even get to the final margin of 14 points.
“That’s been one of our Achilles’ heels,” Holloway said of the three-point line. “Especially early in the season. I thought in Big East play, we got better with it. But personnel is important when it comes to this time of year, understanding who does what and trying to take it away, but also contain it because you're not going to take it away (all the time), especially when they have a guy like (Jason) Edwards. He’s really good, he takes a lot of shots. So you have to make sure you contain his shots, and make him take tough ones, and I thought we did that.”
5. Next Up
Seton Hall has advanced to the NIT quarterfinals for the first time since 1956, and the first time playing a third-round game in the tournament since winning it all in 1953 (there were fewer rounds back then, so the third game in ’53 was actually the final, while the quarterfinal in ’56 was the second game of that postseason). It's the Pirates’ first time playing in the third round of any postseason tournament since the Sweet 16 in 2000, Holloway’s senior season as a player.
The Pirates will now host either Boston College or UNLV on Wednesday night at Walsh Gym. The former matchup would be a juicy one, an old-school Big East battle with lots of history to speak of, while the latter would pit two of the most successful teams from the late ’80s and early ’90s against one another for the first time since both of their heydays, not to mention a rematch at Walsh from a game earlier this year when the Pirates women’s team trounced the Runnin’ Rebels.
Regardless of who they play, if Seton Hall brings it like it did today, the Pirates will be in great shape. Holloway and his team appear to be fully invested now into continuing their season after the sting of Selection Sunday.
“They were all still in their feelings, their emotions, about what happened last Sunday,” Holloway said of the Pirates’ first game against the Hawks in the NIT. “So we kind of got that out of the way. It still stings, but now we understand there's something bigger there. It’s still basketball, it’s still March, this is a major tournament, there are a lot of good teams in this tournament. But what I’ve told these guys is it's a different audience. It’s ESPN, not Fox, so now a different audience gets a chance to see you. It gives a chance to help us as a school and them as individuals, and that’s kind of been my message to them.”
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