3 Thoughts: Seton Hall waxed in Richmond’s return to Rock

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — It was the most anticipated game of the season at Prudential Center for Seton Hall fans.

The Pirates welcoming St. John’s to the Rock on a Saturday night with Kadary Richmond returning to the arena after choosing to transfer to not just a Big East rival, but a local Big East rival at that, jilting the fanbase that watched him grow from a talented but inconsistent transfer to a legitimate star at the point.

The crowd was charged up and ready to go. The student section was well-stocked, and brought flyers with the snake emoji to taunt the former Pirate star. They booed Richmond during warmups, during lineup introductions, and every single time he touched the ball.

And then Seton Hall laid an egg of epic proportions. 

The Pirates made just one of their first 21 field goal attempts, and got roasted on the backboards right out of the gate, as the Red Storm built a 26-7 lead and never looked back from there, walloping Seton Hall, 79-51. It is the Pirates’ largest margin of defeat ever in a home Big East game at the Rock, and their most lopsided home conference defeat overall since 2006.

Here are the Thoughts:

1. Stormy Weather

Seton Hall was down a pair of players for this game, as forward Yacine Toumi missed the contest due to illness, and former Red Storm guard Dylan Addae-Wusu missed his second straight game with a foot injury. It was the latter of the two absences that was really key, as not only is Addae-Wusu one of the leaders on the team, but he would have also drawn an important defensive assignment, most likely on his former teammate Richmond.

But that doesn't excuse the fact that St. John’s was by far the more energetic team out of the gate. The Red Storm’s effort on the glass in particular, grabbing 17 of 23 available rebounds to begin the game, showed it.  There weren't many open looks to be had for The Hall, either, as the Johnnies handled whatever the Pirates threw at them on the defensive end. 

“I thought we got punked tonight,” head coach Shaheen Holloway said. “One hundred percent punked. We got embarrassed. It’s embarrassing, I feel awful for the program, I feel awful for everything that took place tonight.”

It should be noted this wasn't exactly unfamiliar territory for the visitors. St. John's came into the game second in the Big East in scoring defense and is also the top rebounding offense in the conference, so both of the above things are strengths for Rick Pitino’s team.

But while the Pirates had started cold before, they hadn’t started *this* cold. The play that encapsulated the struggles offensively? At one point, Gus Yalden had the good fortune to have a loose ball come right to him near the basket, and he missed a point-blank open layup. He got the rebound and was fouled on the putback attempt, but then missed one of the two free throws he was awarded. 

In the end, they were down 39-16 at the half, Seton Hall’s fewest points in a half since January of 2013, and the game felt elementary from there. The energy from the crowd dissipated, as even the boos for Richmond were basically eliminated after halftime. There was a 6-0 spurt that featured a couple of turnovers from Richmond that got the crowd active for a moment, but it was too little and too late to alter the course of the evening. 

2. Kooksing the Books

As for Richmond? Well, trying to get in his head is kind of a moot point. He has long been a player who keeps his pulse steady, and he displayed the vision and passing skills that we were used to seeing on the other side of the Hudson for so many years. The Brooklyn native finished with 12 points, five rebounds, six assists, and two steals on 5-for-7 shooting, and seems content on this Red Storm team, where he isn’t nearly the alpha dog that he had to be for Seton Hall to be successful.

In a different world, a world perhaps without NIL, he’d likely still be a Pirate, at least according to Pitino.

“Believe me, if the money was the same, he would be playing for Shaheen,” the hall of famer said after the game. “If the money was close, he would be playing for Shaheen. He’s a free agent, just like all free agents. He loves Seton Hall, he loves Shaheen, playing for Shaheen, loved his teammates here.”

“But it’s not a level playing field,” he added. “I'm hoping revenue comes in for Seton Hall and everybody basically gets the same, and then you’ll see Seton Hall just as good as any team in the league. Right now, they don’t have the revenue that most of the other teams have.”

There is probably a segment of Pirate fans that will take those comments and interpret them as Pitino twisting the knife in their backs, but everything that’s been reported about that subject would indicate that there is some truth to those words. I know for a fact it’s certainly something that the school is trying to address, but as Holloway said in his postgame press conference when asked about it, he’s trying his best in the moment.

“I’m just playing the hand I was dealt,” he said. “I can’t get into that. This is the hand I was dealt, I’m playing it, I’m not going to complain or argue. I’m going to keep coaching and fighting and trying to get better. What we have is what we have. That’s what I gotta deal with, I deal with it and try to make the best of it.”

3. Uphill Battles

Speaking of making the best of it, where can Seton Hall go from here? The easy answer is nowhere but up, as the Pirates are now 1-6 in the Big East and have lost eight of their last nine. On paper, their losses in conference play haven’t been blowouts, by and large, with the exceptions being at Xavier and this game. 

But they have already dropped games to middle-of-the-pack teams like Providence, Butler, and Georgetown, and have yet to play the other programs at the top of the table: Marquette, UConn, and Creighton. The Top 10 Golden Eagles come to the Rock next on Tuesday, and will be coming off a loss to Xavier, hence highly motivated to get back in the win column.

Even fully healthy and defensively connected, that’ a very tall task, let alone for a team that hasn’t held an opponent under 70 points since before Christmas, and who lost Chaunce Jenkins to a leg injury late in the first half tonight.

To me, it all starts on the defensive end. Getting Addae-Wusu back will really help in that regard, but it's a full team effort that is needed, and that includes being able to rebound the ball after forcing a miss. A full stop, if you will. 

If I were to guess, Holloway would probably agree. But for now, the Pirates have to lick their wounds from a loss that should sting their pride, especially given the fact that down the stretch, as the Red Storm was getting dunks and pushing the margin out to 30 points, its fans whooped it up and delighted in finally winning a game at their own personal house of horrors.

“I told them I wanted them to have this feeling that we all have,” Holloway said. “They gotta feel it tonight, they gotta feel it tomorrow, they gotta feel it Monday. I don’t want them to have this feeling again. We got embarrassed at home, we got outplayed, out-everything, and it’s a terrible feeling. But we gotta bounce back, we got the No. 7 team in the country coming in on Tuesday. We can’t have another repeat play like this.”

Indeed. Full stop.