Hines wills Seton Hall to bounce-back win over Georgetown

Najai Hines’ 12 points and 10 rebounds propelled Seton Hall past Georgetown Saturday. (Photo by Gabe Rhodes/Seton Hall Athletics)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — College basketball can be a weird game sometimes.

With 23 seconds to play at Prudential Center between Seton Hall and Georgetown on Saturday night, Hoyas leading scorer K.J. Lewis’ second free throw hit the rim a couple times, then came to a dead stop on the flange that connected it to the backboard. Down by two, Georgetown had the possession arrow, and got a chance to steal a game on the road.

But the basketball gods smiled on an exhausted Pirate team, and thanks to Najai Hines and some stingy defense down the stretch, Seton Hall won the war of attrition, 51-47, getting back in the win column in front of 9,055 fans on its home court.

At a time in the season when everyone in college basketball on every team is at the very least banged up, and at worst, completely drained, this contest was an ultimate exercise in survival. The forecast called for blizzard conditions in the New York area about 24 hours after tipoff, but the opening 10 minutes or so made it feel like the snow was already falling. Neither team could throw the ball into the Hackensack River to begin the game, but it was the Hoyas who found a way to finally get things going, using a 16-1 first half run to take control.

When they finally were able to make shots, as we’ve seen with Seton Hall so many times before, Georgetown threw on a press to slow its opponent down, then fell back into a 2-3 zone defense that stagnated the offense and led to a stretch of over six minutes without a basket for the Pirates. 

“We had a quick practice, but we went through it and we knew they were going to play it,” head coach Shaheen Holloway said of facing the zone. “Give them credit, they did a really good job of keeping our guys out of the lane. They kept going, after the third pass, fourth pass, going to man (defense), and our guys didn’t really make the adjustment like we were supposed to, because we knew they were going to do that. We got complacent, and I thought that was what got us in the first half.”

That complacency led to Seton Hall settling for three-point shots over the zone, and its 0-for-13 showing from three in the first half would have sunk many teams, but given the tenor of this old-time Big East rock fight, the Pirates were only down seven points at the break.

In the second half, Seton Hall began chipping away, thanks in large part to Hines. The freshman big man has struggled down the stretch after a hot start to his career, but he was clearly more adept in the contest than starting center Stephon Payne, who continues to battle through ankle trouble. What resulted was Hines’ biggest game in over a month, as he put up 12 points and 10 rebounds for what amounted to a gigantic double-double. 

Holloway had to manage his minutes carefully after an early third personal foul, but credit Hines for making that process easier by not picking up a fourth. When all was said and done, Hines’ plus-16 rating in the box score was more than double that of the next closest player on either team.

“His spurts were good because it wasn’t a running game,” Holloway said of his freshman big man’s efforts. “It’s different when you play against Creighton, all these teams that want to score 80-90 points. Us and (Georgetown), we just grind it out, so it was good that there wasn’t a lot of running, to be honest with you. I’ve told you guys before: We need him to play like this to be successful. We need this juice.”

While Hines was giving the Pirates plenty of juice to come back in the game, they got to the doorstep of the lead many times after halftime before finally breaking through with just under six minutes to play, at 45-44, on a Hines free throw. The two teams went back and forth for a little bit, with an acrobatic Lewis tip-in followed by a Hines dunk, making the score 49-46 with 4:22 left.

That would be the last basket either team scored, as from there, it was an epic battle of wills. Neither team could hit the big shot it needed despite their best efforts, ultimately leading to the Hoyas receiving that golden opportunity after the stuck free throw by Lewis, after which Ed Cooley called his final timeout. But Georgetown turned it over on a Vince Iwuchukwu drive, and the Pirates were able to salt the game away from there.

“That definitely wasn’t the play,” Cooley said of the crucial possession. “It was designed drive to the basket for Caleb (Williams) on his left hand or a second-side three. So it was designed for either a two, or, if they over-help, a ten-toed three. But that’s not how it ended."

Cooley would sum up the game as one that “made (James) Naismith turn over in his grave.” Holloway echoed those sentiments when asked about how his Pirates came out with the victory as well.

“Just dug deep,” the Seton Hall coach said. “Found a way to win, made some plays when we had to make them. I think what it says about our team is after the disappointing loss we had the other day, guys were just trying to figure out a way, no matter what, to win a game.”

Indeed, to emerge victorious while going 0-for-18 from three-point range as a team takes some doing. The last time Seton Hall failed to make a three in a game was over 17 years ago, on January 25, 2009. Coincidentally, it was also at home against Georgetown, and even more coincidentally, it came in a game the Pirates won, 65-60, over the then-15th-ranked Hoyas. 

Heading into a much-needed bye week in its schedule after playing three games in seven days, that’s the kind of weird history Seton Hall loves to see repeat itself.