5 Thoughts: Clark leads Seton Hall past Providence

Budd Clark took over in second half, scoring 21 of his 31 points after halftime as Seton Hall capped off season sweep of Providence. (Photo by Seton Hall Athletics)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — After stumbling down the stretch in Omaha on Saturday and letting a big opportunity slip away, Seton Hall was in need of a bounce back as the Providence Friars came to town for a Wednesday night tipoff in Newark. It essentially amounted to a must-win situation for The Hall’s tournament hopes.

Luckily, the Pirates have Budd Clark, and the Friars don’t.

The junior point guard from Philadelphia dominated, scoring 21 of his 31 points in the second half to power Seton Hall to an 87-80 win at Prudential Center, leveling its Big East record at 7-7.

Here are the 5 Thoughts:

1. Triple Trouble

Creighton’s comeback on Saturday to stun the Pirates was achieved in large part due to the three-point line, as the Bluejays went 3-for-5 down the stretch, plus started their comeback out of the final media timeout by hitting all three shots afforded to them at the free throw line on a cardinal sin (fouling of a three-point shooter, for those not in the know).

That trend unfortunately continued for the Hall in the first half against the Friars, who nailed five of their first six attempts from deep, and proceeded to keep on hitting to the tune of a 9-for-17 mark to lead by four at the break. More than half their shots were from distance in the first 20 minutes, and six different players hit at least one, including recently-converted walk-on Nilavan Daniels.

“We did our job hitting our short roll,” Friars head coach Kim English said after the game. “We sprayed it to our guys, our shooters, and they took and made good shots.”

The second half started the same way, as Providence hit two of its first four shots from distance to up its total to 11-for-21 for the game. The Friars would also hit their final two three-point attempts in the game, but in between those two spurts, the outside makes dried up for the visitors, who went just 1-for-11 from the 17:46 mark of the second half until the 1:54 mark on the clock.

Credit a much-needed adjustment from Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway for some of what tilted the numbers in Seton Hall's favor.

“(In) the first half, we were hard hedging way too high, and they were short rolling and the big guy was catching and just throwing it out for threes,” Holloway said. “The second half, I pushed the big guy back a little bit more, we made the guards get over the screen. I thought that was the big difference.”

The Pirates have been one of the better teams in the Big East at limiting opponents from the three-point line. Like all teams, they have had bad stretches in that regard, but they have usually contained the damage from those spurts, and tonight, being able to thwart the Friars’ deep shooting was one of the key cogs to finally being able to break through after being kept at arm’s length for the majority of the game.

The other reason? Well, he wears 0 on his back.

2. Out..of..this..Woooooooorld

After Providence wrapped him up in the first meeting back in December, allowing the talented point to score just nine points in the game (albeit including the two that sealed the game), Budd Clark potted 10 points before halftime this evening, including a step-back three-pointer that made everyone watching wish he could add to his arsenal on a regular basis.

In the second half, he took over, scoring 21 points in the final 20 minutes to finish with an eye-popping 31 for the game, a total that was one point off his overall career-high of 32 (set at Merrimack) and was also the first 30-point game by any Seton Hall player since Jared Rhoden dropped 30 on Xavier in February of 2022.

It was a sensational performance: Efficient, deadly, and multi-faceted, as Clark also added eight assists to the mix to will his team to victory. It evoked a certain future hall of Famer in English’s eyes.

“Early in the game, we wanted to go under his ball screens,” the Providence skipper said. “(We) did it some early in the game, (but) didn’t do a great job of it in the second half. Late in the game, we tried to blitz him, get the ball out of his hands, (and) did a really poor job of that as well. He was spectacular. I mean, he looked like Chris Paul.”

“I think he’s understanding the mission, understanding what I’ve been preaching to him about making people follow you,” Holloway added. “He’s not vocal, he’s more follow by his actions, but I’ve been on him to be aggressive and don’t let the game come to you. I think he’s doing a better job of that now, understanding that as he goes, we go.”

But even more than that, Clark demonstrated that he could play through foul trouble tonight. He picked up his second personal foul with a little under eight minutes to play in the first half, and Holloway left him on the floor, something he hasn’t done a ton this year. Clark made him look good by playing the ensuing five or so minutes without picking up a third foul leading into halftime. 

Then, he kept right on doing it in the second half after a semi-early third foul, and then a fourth personal foul with around five minutes to play. 

“It’s money time right now,” Holloway said of trusting Clark tonight. “It’s money time, and this is no disrespect to anybody else on our team because everybody’s all good players, but he has such a rhythm going and the team has such a rhythm going. I went with my gut and it paid off.”

Add it all up, and as another Clark some may remember from local sports reports on Channel 7 back in the day would say, Budd was “Out..of..this..Woooooooorld.”

3. Wingmen

No man is an island, and very few basketball players can do it on their own. Tonight, A.J. Staton-McCray and Tajuan Simpkins took turns complimenting Clark's wizardry. 

For the former, he put up 18 big points, knocking down three of eight from three-point range, and helping to keep Providence’s defense from throwing everyone at Clark. He’s been an impactful shooter and scorer this season, but tonight was his highest-scoring effort since dropping 18 points on Rutgers two months ago.

Simpkins was one of the heroes in the first meeting at Providence, scoring 22 in that game (then the most he’d had as a Pirate). Tonight, he had 13 points off the bench, but nine of those 13 came in the second half, yet another critical element that led to Seton Hall breaking through and finally taking the lead for good.

It can be different guys every night for Seton Hall, but Simpkins and Staton-McCray have proven to be the most consistently able to help Clark shoulder the load on offense.

And sometimes, you can get a boost from the most-unlikely sources...

4. Gift from Godswill

It’s been an odd season for sophomore center Godswill Erheriene. It started late due to injury, and one of the few returning Seton Hall players from last season has not really had a chance to get his feet under him.

Having scored two points all season long, he was called upon at the 12:15 mark in the second half with Stephon Payne a bit banged up and Najai Hines having an off night, and he delivered one of the most unexpected lifts of the season for The Hall, scoring six points with a pair of rebounds in eight minutes.

His points were also impactful, with his first basket making a one-point Seton Hall lead three points, and his second (an and-1 off an offensive rebound) turning a two-point edge into four points. His final two points came at the free throw line, where Erheriene (a 30 percent career shooter from the charity stripe) made both ends of a 1-and-1, making a two-possession game a three-possession game.

“He works hard in practice,” Staton-McCray said after the game. “We just have to keep instilling confidence in him. He came out there, and he did what he had to do today. I’m happy for him, for real."

“When you’ve got good, positive energy, that’s contagious,” Holloway said. “(Godswill)’s such a great young man, everybody’s cheering for him, I’m cheering for him. I thought it was big, but like I said, for me — and you guys are different — I expect him to do this, right? Because he did it at a high level last year, meaning, as a freshman, he played a lot. So I expect him to play, and when he doesn’t, that’s when I get disappointed. Like, I’m disappointed because he doesn’t say, ‘put me in, Coach!’ It’s just more like, ‘Steph’s playing good, Najai’s learning.’ I need him to get that fire, and hopefully tonight starts something good for him, and for us.”

5. Every Game Matters

The loss at Creighton on Saturday essentially eliminated any margin for error Seton Hall had coming down the stretch. The Pirates have two remaining chances for a Quad 1 victory: At UConn, and home against St. John’s. Both will be extremely difficult to get, but they are still there ahead of the Pirates on the schedule.

They also can’t afford slip-ups in games like tonight, nor their remaining home games against DePaul and Georgetown, and not really even against Butler and Xavier on the road. It’s a critical and long stretch run for this Pirates team that came roaring into the new year, and if there’s one lesson to be learned, both Clark and Staton-McCray alluded to it after the game tonight.

“It’s going to be a tough game every night,” Clark said. “Just gotta be ready, and tie our laces tight.”

“Every game matters, so you have to come out with that mentality every game,” Staton-McCray added. “No days off.”

Seton Hall will look to take momentum into the weekend, with a trip to Butler on tap for Saturday and revenge on its mind from a loss to the Bulldogs in Newark a few weeks back.