Iona fights back, grounds Peacocks to clinch MAAC tourney berth

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Iona walked away from its first meeting with Saint Peter’s a month ago learning about the Peacocks’ physicality the hard way.

When getting a second chance to assert themselves Friday, the Gaels simply beat Saint Peter’s at its own game.

Outscoring the Peacocks by a 38-20 margin in the paint, Iona steeled itself after losing a double-digit lead, regrouped after a game-winning shot at the end of regulation fell off the mark, and then left no doubt who the better team was after needing overtime to emerge with a 72-64 victory.

The win secures the final spot in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament for the Gaels, who were buoyed by 18 points each from CJ Anthony and Kosy Akametu, as well as a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double from Lamin Sabally, the seventh of the year for the senior.

“It’s been urgency for us since day one, you know what I mean?” Anthony said of what it took to defeat Saint Peter’s. “We went through a couple lumps, a couple bruises going through this season, but every time we come in here, it’s just urgency.”

“We all know how the season’s been going,” Akametu added. “But we just found a way to stay together. We trust each other on the court and we preach intensity every single day, so when we’re on that court, we know that we’re together. Whatever we gotta do to win, that’s what we gotta do.”

Iona (16-12, 8-9 MAAC) allowed Saint Peter’s to jump out of the gates quickly as the Peacocks opened an 8-2 head start in the initial minutes. The Gaels soon flexed their defensive muscle along with establishing their presence on the interior to fuel a 14-2 run that flipped momentum right back to the hosts.

“We took a different identity with the aggressiveness and our paint production,” head coach Dan Geriot said. “Lamin’s always a big part of that, but I loved Kosy’s downhill mindset. Even in this lull when we’ve lost a little bit here, (Akametu’s) been playing so well for us and really responded to a challenge. I love that about him, and I think that was a big piece of it.”

The Iona lead eventually reached 27-17 before Saint Peter’s (15-10, 12-5 MAAC) used a four-guard lineup to close the opening stanza on a 14-2 run. Behind the heady playmaking of Bryce Eaton and shooting of Brent Bland, head coach Bashir Mason utilized a combination of E.J. Morgan, Toks Bakare and Jahki Gupton alongside Eaton and Bland that was created largely due to a short rotation, but worked nonetheless.

“We’re dropping like flies right now at the worst time, so it wasn’t ideal,” Mason said on a night where both Lucas Scroggins and TJ Robinson were unavailable. “That’s not something we actually practiced. Just kind of the way Iona plays allowed us to just put four guys out there, and I was confident that we could guard them. We just weren’t able to really run the offense that we’re used to.”

Saint Peter’s would stretch its cushion to six points early in the second half, but a 15-2 Iona spurt tipped the scales back the way of the Gaels, where they would stay for a majority of the half before the Peacocks slowly whittled away, taking a two-point lead before Akametu tied the game at the free throw line, a possession followed by Anthony and Bland trading trifectas. From there, each side answered the other down the stretch, with Anthony’s three for the win falling off the mark at the horn and necessitating an extra five minutes.

“I think our coaches taught us to be very composed,” Anthony said of his mindset following the miss. “We’ve been in this situation too many times this season. We’ve got a lot of older guys on our team, so we just stayed poised and composed and calm. That’s what helped us get that win.”

Anthony and Akametu atoned for the squandered regulation win, scoring the first six points in overtime to put Iona ahead for good. A three-point play by Alliou Fall and driving layup by Denver Anglin serving as the de facto backbreakers that allowed the Gaels to book their postseason plans after Niagara lost to Mount St. Mary’s earlier in the night, eliminating the Purple Eagles from MAAC tournament contention.

“We’ve lost a lot of different ways this year, and all those experiences have kind of calloused us up,” Geriot assessed. “They’ve kind of made us fall back on what we believe in our foundations and our approach. We’re at that time of the year where we want uptick to happen, so we’re talking about it a lot and trying to make it so we’re in that environment and really confident in our aggressiveness and our style. I think we’re feeling that and understanding what’s in front of us, and I think we’ll keep building off it.”

Iona’s postseason appearance is secure, but as the Gaels head into a road showdown with conference leader Merrimack Sunday, there is no complacency within the locker room. Rather, there is an urge to be even more emboldened and committed to the standard of excellence in the program.

“I don’t think none of the guys are happy to be here,” Anthony said. “None of the guys are just coasting on this team. I feel like we all understand where we’re at. We understand what we gotta do to be a great team, we understand what we gotta do to honor the Iona legacy.”

One game at a time, NJIT has transformed from outside looking in to America East frontrunner

Grant Billmeier and NJIT are in midst of one of greatest turnarounds in program history, sitting just outside America East lead as March approaches. (Photo by NJIT Athletics)

NEWARK, N.J. — At 6-foot-10, Grant Billmeier is almost impossible not to recognize as he patrols the sideline at the Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center.

One of the tallest head coaches in the country has had an order nearly as large as his stature the past two seasons at NJIT, attempting to recreate the upward mobility the Highlanders enjoyed in the MacGyvered Great West Conference and as an independent. Now in the America East, NJIT has seen tough sledding since Billmeier replaced Brian Kennedy in 2023, twice finishing last of nine in the conference standings and thus the odd man out of the eight-team league tournament.

This year has gone far different to date, as NJIT stands 15-13 overall, but more importantly, 10-3 in conference play and just a half-game back of league leader UMBC with three games remaining in the regular season. An influx of new talent and cornerstone veterans is perhaps the biggest reason why the improvement on the corner of Warren and Lock has been so noticeable.

“It’s a really connected group,” Billmeier said even after NJIT’s six-game win streak was halted Thursday by Albany. “I think we have a lot of balance. Teams had to game plan in the past (for) maybe one or two players, and I think this year, you really have to game plan for everyone in our starting lineup. Everyone’s an offensive threat, and we’ve been really good defensively and rebounding.”

Three months ago, one could hardly have deduced such a possibility considering NJIT opened its campaign at Fordham without the services of arguably two of its more important players in senior forward Melvyn Ebonkoli and junior guard Sebastian Robinson. The absences mattered little for the Highlanders, who methodically carved up the host Rams and spoiled head coach Mike Magpayo’s Rose Hill debut with a 72-61 upset win.

“You go on the road, opening night of the season, and you’re starting Malachi Arrington, who’s a sophomore,” Billmeier recalled. “Jordan Rogers is a sophomore, Ari Fulton’s a sophomore. Jeremy Clayville, sophomore, Dave Bolden’s a freshman. And they go in an Atlantic 10 (venue) with a new coach, and go in there and win easily without two of your horses. That obviously gives a coach a lot of confidence.”

“Melvyn was dealing with a foot thing, Sebastian was dealing with the shoulder thing early in the season, but to win that game with such youth on the court, it really just showed you when you get your horses back along with what those guys did, you’re gonna have a chance to have a really competitive season.”

Ebonkoli and Robinson soon made their returns to the lineup, each providing a piece to the puzzle that was not constant in either of the past two seasons. The former shoots 54 percent from the floor and his 5.6 rebounds per game are second only to Ari Fulton for the team lead, while Robinson, the former Roselle Catholic standout, is the Highlanders’ leading scorer at 14.4 points per clip.

“Melvyn just gives us something we haven’t had here,” Billmeier said of Ebonkoli. “He’s a physical low-post presence, terrific defender, great rebounder, excellent passer. Guys have to game plan for him. Do they double him? Do they play him single coverage? And then Sebastian’s a physical downhill guard that’s had an unbelievable season for us.”

Then, there is David Bolden. The freshman from Milwaukee flew somewhat under the radar when recruited last summer, and has blossomed into Billmeier’s point guard of the present and future. His 80 assists and 52 steals pace the Highlanders in both categories, and to the casual fan, his game may rekindle memories of Tariq Francis, who led NJIT’s attack the past two seasons before transferring to Rutgers. However, the two are different even if the expectations for each were moderately similar.

David Bolden has evolved into steady point guard for NJIT, leading team in assists and steals while being Highlanders’ second-leading scorer. (Photo by NJIT Athletics)

“When we recruited Dave, he was a really confident kid and he played at his pace,” Billmeier said. “He didn’t get rattled up. I thought Dave was gonna be a big-time player. I think him and Tariq are very different. Dave’s more a natural point guard where Tariq’s a really high-level scorer, he scored a lot of points here (and) he’s scoring a lot of points in the Big Ten. I kind of saw them being two different players, but we expected big things when we recruited Dave.”

At a mid-major like NJIT, the transfer portal is almost a fact of life for better or worse, a specter made more imposing by the rigorous academic requirements of the school, which precludes Billmeier from luring most upperclassmen who transfer. However, the Highlanders have been fortuitous in retaining a large part of their core in each of the past two seasons, something Billmeier hopes will again be the case even if he still has to play the remainder of this season out with much more at stake this time around.

“Every year is a challenge,” he admitted. “You hope to retain them, and we’re fortunate to be able to retain the majority of our roster from last season. When things shake out in the spring, you hope to not be like Will Smith when he comes in the living room and there’s no furniture there, and you’re just coming home to an empty home. I hope that’s not me come the spring, but we’ll deal with that one come April.”

NJIT can clinch a home quarterfinal matchup in the America East tournament with a win Saturday against a Vermont team it already beat on the road earlier this season, or with an Albany loss. But a seasoned veteran like Billmeier knows far too well the peril of looking too far out onto the horizon so late in the season, and has emphasized the right-here, right-now approach as the Highlanders look to carve out a slice of history.

“We just try to talk about the next opponent,” he reiterated. “We don’t look far. I don’t talk to them about standings. I know they do, I know they know what’s going on throughout the league. That doesn’t get brought up by our staff because we’re so young, and if you start looking to the future, you can kind of get caught up in what’s in front of you.”

“I think it’s about telling our guys, reminding them why we’ve had success. Our ability to be a connected group and to play extremely hard, that’s a constant reinforcement for us. We show it to our guys on film. When we play at the level we play at, we show them why they’re winning.”

Winthrop outlasts Upstate in Thursday Big South battle

 

Winthrop center Logan Duncomb booked a 24-point, 16-board double-double in a Thursday win over Upstate.  (Photo:  Winthrop Athletics)

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ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Big South has discovered in 2025-26 that there isn’t much Logan Duncomb can’t do.

The likely Player of the Year in the league, Duncomb has logged double-figure games with double-doubles. He is nearing the Winthrop season records for free throws attempted and made.

Thursday night, he proved himself capable of being a decent analyst, as well.

“It was physical, but you’ve got to expect that,” Duncomb said. “I thought we knew coming in that they were going to be physical, and I thought we didn’t respond the best way. I’m not sure what we did wrong. I’d have to go watch the film and watch the game back, but it just wasn’t clicking.”

“That was the wrong response for today, before High Point (Saturday afternoon).”

Following a 71-50 Winthrop decision in Spartanburg earlier this season in which the Eagles controlled the game almost the entire way, USC Upstate came to the Winthrop Coliseum Thursday and – even on a night when the Spartans did not shoot their best or play their best – almost escaped with a win in a hostile environment.

When the horn sounded, Winthrop escaped with a 68-64 win.

You know what happened – now, let’s go…Inside the Numbers!

• Duncomb recorded his 11th double-double on the season, scoring 24 points and hauling in 16 boards. The Cincinnati native was the focus of much of the post-game review – on both sides. Duncomb himself also offered a bit more analysis.

“I love when our guys do well. I love when our guys get going,” Duncomb said. “I just wish we had gotten a little more energy from the start. I mean, we got the (win), so we figured it out, but it was like we were trying to lose it there at the end.”

“Logan got us. He got us down low a little bit,” Upstate coach Marty Richter said. “He got us on the offensive rebounds. I think he had 12 of their 21 second-chance points. All of his offensive rebounds turned into points for himself. He got 12 on post-ups on (us). You can live with that.”

“He’s a really good player. I mean, he hit 24 and 16 – he’s a really good player. A lot of people are undisciplined, and we had some undisciplined plays where we swiped him down. If you stay vertical and make him go over you on those, your chances (of stopping him) go up.”

• Upstate limited Winthrop from the perimeter Thursday, holding the Eagles to just 7-for-23 (30.4 percent) from beyond the arc. The Eagles got four of those triples from Kody Clouet. Richter was mostly happy with how the Spartans ran the Eagle shooters off their lines.

“I thought we got good sticks,” Richter said. “We missed Clouet four times in the first half, which hurt us. (There were) four times where we stuck short. We had a short stick in the first half --  four of them on him, and we had one in the second half on (guard Daylen) Berry. (Forward) Breylin (Garcia) had a short stick on him, and they punished us with those five. Five of those threes were just on short sticks, and you've got to get to the body on the sticks.”

• Upstate struggled from the field (34.5 percent) and deep (22.6 percent) Thursday. Richter was upset with the result but was not at all unhappy with the shot selection from his Spartans.

“I thought they were really good shots,” Richter said of his team’s shooting. “The way they play defense, they’re hard raking in the nail. Now you’re kicking it to open guys.”

“If (guard) Karmani Gregory goes 3-of-11 and gets 11 threes like that up again, he’s going to go 6-of-11 the next time you play him. Then, (guard) Carmelo (Adkins) goes 3-of-13. If he gets those 13 looks again, he’s going to make them. There was a stretch where we were down 55-50 and Karmani had one that just missed. Great look. Then the next possession, it was Carmelo – or vice versa. We missed back-to-back. That’s part of it. I liked our looks tonight.”

• Richter saw a significant difference from the first game in Spartanburg in terms of the effort he got from his team.

“The difference is we competed,” Richter said. "In Spartanburg, we only competed for 20 minutes. Tonight we played hard enough. We didn't play smart enough all game long, but we played hard enough. It's an old saying -- you've got to play together, (4:01) you've got to play smart, and you've got to play hard. We played together. We played hard, but we didn't play smart for the 40. (4:07) We played smart for about probably 25 minutes of the game, and (the other) 15 of them -- against a good team like them, they beat you.”

The Spartans forced 14 Winthrop miscues, just one below its season-high. The Spartans were largely unable to make the Eagles pay for those turnovers, however, turning them into just nine points.

“I thought we did some really good things tonight,” Richter said. “I thought we did some bad things. That’s college basketball – you’re going to make mistakes. I thought what they did better than us tonight is when it came to – that ball was right there and you and I had to make a decision. Who’s going to get their nose dirty first? They got their nose dirty first.”

“I (also) think there were six or eight points in free throw blockouts at the beginning of the (second) half where we didn’t finish the play and they got buckets. Those two things changed the outcome of the game.”

• The Spartans had a late look to tie the game. Upstate trailed by three with 16 seconds remaining, then forced a turnover on an errant Winthrop pass. Adkins worked out of traffic and found Gregory with a pass, setting him up for a wide-open three directly in front of the Upstate bench. The try harmlessly spun away, though, allowing Winthrop to seal the game with a free throw.

“I thought it was in. It hit the back of the rim,” Richter said. “If you take 100 of those shots and it hit like that, you're like, oh, that's going in. We just did our normal press that we do, and we got a steal. They were looking to think we were going to foul right away. They were playing for the foul, and we were playing for the trap first and then get a foul, and they threw it to us.”

“That's part of it. Sometimes you make them, sometimes you miss them. That's the difference between winning and losing.”

• Richter was optimistic about what his team could do if it stays consistent.

“I was really encouraged by -- if they play as hard Saturday as they did today, we're going to have a chance to win. If you play that hard again on Thursday, you're going to have a chance to win. We could get to six wins in conference, which is a really good feat for our program where we're at right now. Then you may be the seven (seed), you may be the six, you may be the five. You know how this league is. Everybody's kind of bunched up.”

“We closed the game out on a 12-3 run. We're getting better because when we're in these games -- we were 5-2 coming into today. The last one against Longwood, we didn't close it. We just missed free throws. If we make our free throws, we're 6-1 in those one-possession games. I think we have gotten better. This is how we’ve played most of the year right here. If we can keep playing this way, we'll keep making teams have to play really well to beat us. If we do that, then anything's possible.”

• Winthrop coach Mark Prosser is now tied with former Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach, Liberty coach Ritchie McKay, former Asheville and current Middle Tennessee coach Nick McDevitt, former Longwood coach Griff Aldrich, and Asheville coach Mike Morrell for sixth all-time with three 20-win seasons. Former Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall has the most 20-win seasons for a Big South coach with six.

“In every one of those games, I didn’t make any baskets. I got no stops. I got no rebounds,” Prosser said. “We’ve had a string of really good players and really good people. They take a lot of pride in representing the institution and representing this area. That stuff is great – and I love it – but I’ve had very little to do with any of that stuff.”

Duncomb’s 24 led Winthrop and all scorers. The senior center hit 8-of-14 from the deck and 8-of-10 from the line to go along with his 16 boards. Clouet added 17 on 5-of-13 from the field (4-of-10 from distance) and 3-of-4 from the line. The Eagles shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field, 30.4 percent (7-of-23) from distance, and 60 percent (15-of-25) from the line.

Adkins booked 21 for the Spartans, hitting 7-of-19 from the field and 3-of-13 from the perimeter to go along with four free throws in four tries. Gregory added 18 on 5-of-18 shooting (3-for-11 from deep) and 5-for-6 from the line. The Spartans shot 34.5 percent (20-for-58) from the field, with 22.6 percent (7-of-31) falling from three. Upstate hit 17-of-22 free throws (77.3 percent).

Next up:  Winthrop hits the road Saturday to take on conference co-leader High Point at the Qubein Center. If Winthrop wins the game, they will take the season sweep of the Panthers and have a magic number of one to win the league. If High Point wins, Winthrop needs to win out, have a High Point loss to Presbyterian, and have Presbyterian finish ahead of Longwood in the conference standings. Tip time from High Point is set for 4:00 (Eastern), with coverage over ESPN+.

Upstate returns to the Hodge Center in Spartanburg, S.C., to take on Presbyterian Saturday afternoon. Game time between the Spartans and Blue Hose is set for 4:30, with ESPN+ handling the streaming.

Hustle Stats:

Points off turnovers:  Winthrop 14, Upstate 9

Points in the paint:  Winthrop 32, Upstate 24

Second-chance points:  Winthrop 21, Upstate 10

Fast-break points:  Upstate 5, Winthrop 1

Bench points:  Winthrop 9, Upstate 8

WINTHROP 68, UPSTATE 64

UPSTATE (11-17, 3-10 BIG SOUTH)

Martinez 1-2 4-4 6, Gregory 5-18 5-6 18, Skinner 1-5 0-0 2, Adkins 7-19 4-4 21, Bendinger 3-10 2-4 9, Collier 0-0 0-0 0, Garcia 3-4 1-2 7, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 20-58 17-22 64.

WINTHROP (20-8, 12-1)

Kamarad 2-5 1-2 5, Duncomb 8-14 8-10 24, Wilson 2-5 0-0 5, Rozier 3-6 2-5 8, Clouet 5-13 3-4 17, Berry 1-5 1-3 4, Hendawy 1-2 0-1 3, Nnamoko 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 15-25 68.

Halftime:  Winthrop 30-27. 3-Point goals:  Winthrop 7-23 (Kamarad 0-2, Wilson 1-2, Rozier 0-3, Clouet 4-10, Berry 1-3, Hendawy 1-2, Meo 0-1), Upstate 7-31 (Gregory 3-11, Skinner 0-4, Adkins 3-13, Bendinger 1-3). Fouled out:  NA.  Rebounds:  Winthrop 45 (Duncomb 13), Upstate 33 (Garcia 7). Total fouls:  Upstate 23, Winthrop 16. Technicals:  NA.

 

4 Thoughts: Seton Hall suffers damaging loss to DePaul

NJ Benson flushes dunk in first half as DePaul wraps up season sweep of Seton Hall for just third time in program history. (Photo by DePaul Athletics)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — Down by five in the late stages of the first half, the Seton Hall Pirates’ defense showed its teeth, turning the DePaul Blue Demons over four times in the final three minutes en route to a 7-0 run and two-point halftime lead in a nip-and-tuck game.

But in the second half, it was the visitors who were the tougher unit, as the Pirates’ NCAA Tournament hopes were all but extinguished with a 69-57 defeat at Prudential Center.

Here are the Thoughts:

1. Hard Hats Absent

You could have been fooled by watching the first five minutes of this game that it was taking place between two of the top five defensive teams in the Big East per KenPom, with the Pirates placing second and DePaul a respectable fifth (and 56th in the nation), as it was 13-9 in favor of Seton Hall at the first media timeout. The Pirates were 5-for-6 from the field and 3-for-3 from deep, representing a rare good start to a game offensively.

But before too long, it turned into a physical battle like was expected, and after the aforementioned spurt at the end of the first half, plus a couple straight baskets in the second half to extend it to 11-1, it was DePaul that put on the hard hats and got to work. 

The Blue Demons, who went just 1-for-9 in the first half from the three-point line, started off the second half by having their first four made baskets come from deep, and if it wasn’t the threes, DePaul was getting to the free throw line, where they eventually out-attempted the Pirates, 18-9, in the final 20 minutes en route to the comeback win.

“You have to give DePaul credit,” head coach Shaheen Holloway said. “I was really worried about this game, because if you watch them, even in the first game (against us), they just out-toughed us. They did the same thing in this game. I told the guys that this is a game where you have to be aggressive on offense just as much as you’re aggressive on defense because of how they play. They want to take everything away. But we just looked like we were in quicksand. We had no burst, and then we did uncharacteristic things down the stretch that we don’t do."

Indeed if you look at the box score from the first meeting of the season in Chicago, DePaul was the aggressor in that contest also, with 34 attempted free throws to The Hall’s 17, going along with eight made three-pointers to the Pirates’ four. Even without factoring in the minus-13 rebound margin tonight (it was just minus-1 in the first meeting), it was clear who the tougher team was again.

“I thought driving to the basket, we were driving not tough, hoping the referees bail us out with a call, not going with any type of physicality,” Holloway said when asked what happened down the stretch of the game. “And this team’s good, and we couldn’t defend them. They were just getting in the lane any time they wanted.”

It’s not something you typically see from this Pirates team, but there may be another factor at play here than facing a tough-as-nails opponent.

2. Weathered Pirates

In Holloway’s postgame comments on the radio on Sunday after the win at Butler, he alluded to being frustrated by the schedule, as beginning with that game, the Pirates had three games in the span of seven days, meaning back-to-back quick turnarounds. Some of what befell them tonight may fall on that point.

“It’s tough,” he said when asked about potential tired legs. “It’s even going to be tougher on Saturday. Three games in a week is tough, especially in February.”

“I was on the sidelines trying to see what I could do to help them,” he added. “We just didn't have it. And it’s tough to say that for a game like this because it’s such a big game for us. But man, we had no legs. On Monday, we got back late, couldn't do anything, and then yesterday, we were trying to do some stuff, but guys just didn't have it, I’ll be honest with you. I tried everything, and I'm still going to try everything, but we’ve got to learn from it, and bounce back on Saturday."m”

It’s easy to sit there as fans and decry the Pirates for being tired, but Holloway has a point, especially given that Seton Hall generally has been successful this season only when it out-toughs its opponents. The Pirates have to compete, hard, every night to win. Most of the time, that’s not an issue, but these are the college basketball equivalent of the dog days of summer during baseball season. Everyone’s a little tired, everyone’s a little banged up, and DePaul just happened to be the wrong opponent at the wrong time, taking advantage of Seton Hall’s predicament.

3. CJ in NJ

As much as Pirate fans may not want to hear it right now, I have to take a moment and give the Blue Demons some flowers. When DePaul hired former Butler and Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann a couple years ago, I said to myself that it finally hired a coach who could breathe life into the moribund Blue Demons program, having seen firsthand what he was able to do at Butler (namely, give opponents fits on a consistent basis).

What I saw tonight was the best defensive DePaul team I think I’ve ever seen. Just like Seton Hall, the Blue Demons bring their toughness to the gym every night. Three times tonight, they forced the Pirates into shot clock violations, and it wasn’t really Seton Hall’s fault, either. For years now, decades even, DePaul has had nowhere near that consistent a compete level, and its 11-3 record when scoring 70 or more points indicates that when it can put some offense together along with its defense, the Blue Demons have been successful.

They also have, in my opinion, two of the more underrated players in the Big East in C.J. Gunn and N.J. Benson. The latter controlled the first half, scoring 14 of his 20 points on a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, banging inside for buckets no matter who was guarding him. The former then lit things up in the second half en route to 18 points, using his high release to shoot over the Pirates’ outstretched hands and burn them from the perimeter.

This marks DePaul’s third straight win over Seton Hall for just the second time ever head-to-head (2014-15), and just the third time it has ever swept the home-and-home regular season series (joining the 2014-15 and 2018-19 seasons). The Blue Demons did not accomplish the feat by accident.

4. What Next?

New Jersey-based bracketologist Brad Wachtel did not mince words on Twitter when he said it was a “terrible loss” tonight for the Pirates, adding that they pretty much have to win at UConn next week to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament.

It’s kind of a cliche at this point, but I think the best way forward for the Pirates would be to just focus on what’s in front of them, not that they haven’t already been doing that. Some of the noise of their hopes of making it back to the NCAA Tournament will probably reach the players’ ears, as it’s tough to really shut all of that out in 2026.

But the Pirates still have the look (and the resume) of a team that will be playing in the postseason overall. And to let all the effort they’ve put in to this point evaporate because of a bad loss at a bad time would be unbecoming of a group that has shown much resilience and fight throughout the season.

As the saying goes, just keep swimming. Seton Hall may have lost its chance at the big fish tonight, but there’s still a lot to play for.

Creighton spoils career night for Mullins, stuns No. 5 UConn at Gampel

Braylon Mullins’ 25 points led UConn, but Huskies were unable to stop Creighton in second half as Bluejays avenged last month’s loss in Omaha. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)

STORRS, Conn. — Creighton delivered a clutch road performance on Wednesday night at Gampel Pavilion, knocking off No. 5 UConn, 91-84, in a shocking result that sends ripple effects throughout the Big East and the national landscape.

The Bluejays owned UConn in the paint in the second half, pouring it on down the stretch led by a season-high 21 points from Josh Dix and 18 points from the shifty Nik Graves, while spoiling a career-high 25 points from Braylon Mullins on the other side. 

The Creighton playmaking on display Wednesday night makes most of its body of work feel like an illusion, given the Bluejays are only 14-13 with just a few games remaining in the regular season. The product on the floor in Storrs was one that was incredibly well-balanced and too much for UConn to stop. Head coach Greg McDermott beamed with pride for how his team played in an uber-hostile territory that responded well to Dan Hurley’s message after UConn’s game against Georgetown this past Saturday.

“Our guys were incredibly connected,” McDermott said. “We were able to take a lot of ways of shot-making by Mullins in particular, and we kept on fighting. Our focus was to set the tempo and get downhill, and we were able to do that.” 

Dix brought his A-game when his team needed it the most, and on the heels of the tragic death of his mother two weeks ago. He scored 13 of his 21 points after halftime, and connected on three of four three-pointers. 

“The class of recognizing a moment of silence for Josh’s mom before the game,” McDermott said, praising the UConn program. “It’s one of the best programs in the country, but that speaks to the people in charge of the program. I’ve gotten to know Dan well over the last six years in particular. I know people think he’s crazy for the things he does on the sideline every once in a while, but he’s a wonderful human being.” 

And in giving his own team its flowers, McDermott said, “I’ve been doing this a long time, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been as proud of a team as I am tonight.” 

After a quiet start to the game, Mullins took off at the end of the first half and into the second. Mullins singlehandedly helped erase a late five-point deficit in the first half to knot the score at 45 going into the break. Mullins started the second half with another five points that extended his scoring streak to 11 before Dix and Graves fired back. Much to the chagrin of the Huskies faithful, Tarris Reed, Jr.’s last points of the game came on a free dunk with 15:07 remaining that gave UConn another six-point lead, its largest of the night. Reed was dominant in the first half, with 13 points and six rebounds, but fell off drastically after that. 

Despite being undersized, Creighton did a masterful job taking Reed out of the game, with Jasen Green pretty much sacrificing everything he had to the tune of eight points, 11 rebounds, and six fouls drawn. 

UConn never recovered from a late 11-3 Creighton run that turned a one-point lead into a mind-easing nine-point advantage. A three-pointer from Mullins was UConn’s only points during that devastating stretch. Howard transfer Blake Harper would only make things worse for the Huskies, hitting his second three of the second half a few moments later. Harper scored 12 points in 8:08 of game time after not seeing any action in the first half. 

All in all, UConn was outrebounded by three while watching Creighton go 27-for-32 from the free throw line, including a 17-for-18 mark in the second half. While the UConn defense still left much to be desired after the first half, there were a lot of sequences over the first 20 minutes that ended in tough shot making by Creighton. The same could mostly be said for the Bluejays in the second half, albeit with even more room to operate on the perimeter and inside, with UConn’s second line of defense to blame for letting Creighton finish with 30 paint points. The 91 points scored by the opposition was the most UConn has allowed in a game this season. 

“Our defense has just been so bad these last four games,” a dejected Hurley said. “We’ve been around 165th in the country (per KenPom’s defensive metric), so we’ve been playing with fire.” 

“Besides Braylon in the second half, the shooting was ice cold,” he added. 

And on a night where Solo Ball and Alex Karaban were non-factors due to foul trouble and a nagging injury, respectively, Hurley took aim at the individual defensive deficiencies of some of his players without naming names. 

“Their gameplan was to just go at individuals that they identified can’t guard the ball,” he said of Creighton’s offensive attack. “On 27 field goals, they had 10 assists, so they just went at individuals, and that’s what’s been going on the last few games. Coaches are smart, and they’re targeting our guys that can’t guard. If we can’t fix that, we’re obviously going to have issues moving forward.” 

Yet again, UConn couldn’t fully crack the code on Creighton, as the Huskies remain without a series sweep of the Bluejays in the all-time series.

UConn will now go back to the drawing board ahead of a visit to Villanova on Saturday before coming back home to face No. 17 St. John’s Wednesday in Hartford. Creighton will look to stay hot when it visits the Red Storm on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. 

Sha Sounds Off: DePaul

On Seton Hall’s second half:

“I don’t know. You gotta give DePaul a lot of credit. I was really worried about this game because when you watched them the first game, they just out-toughed us and they did the same thing this game. I told our guys this was one of those games where we gotta be aggressive on offense just as much as we’re aggressive on defense, because the way that they play, they try to take everything away. But we just looked like we didn’t have no thirst for whatever reason, and we just did uncharacteristic things down the stretch that we normally don’t do.”

On turnaround from Sunday’s win at Butler playing a factor:

“A lot of coaches need to talk in their mind. You trying to get me in trouble for it? If I start talking my mind, then the next thing you know, I’ll be in trouble. Yeah, it’s tough. It’s even gonna be tough on Saturday. Three games in a week is tough, especially in February.”

On unforced errors down the stretch:

“I thought driving to the basket, we were just driving not tough, hoping the referees would bail us out with a call and not going with any type of physicality. This team’s good and we couldn’t defend them. They were just getting in the lane anytime they wanted, and when they were getting in the lane, they were scoring or kicking it out for threes. We started the second half really well, we went up six or something like that, then A.J. got his shot blocked and they went down and scored, and then guys got tired, so they asked for subs. I let a couple guys in and they were driving to the basket, made two quick threes, and that was the turnaround right there. Trust me, I was saying the same thing. I’m on the sideline trying to see what I could do, if I could help them. Yeah, we just didn’t have it, and it’s tough to say that for a game like this because it’s such a big game for us. But we didn’t have no legs, and I told these guys yesterday — on Monday, we got back and we couldn’t do nothing — so yesterday, we were trying to do some stuff but the guys just didn’t have it, I’m gonna be honest with you, man. I tried everything and I’m still gonna try everything, but we gotta learn from it and bounce back on Saturday.”

On hitting a physical and/or mental wall:

“I don’t know if it’s a wall, I mean, DePaul is a physical team. They’re No. 2 or No. 3 in defense for a reason. We’re not playing a team that’s not physical or doesn’t defend, they’re pretty good and they’ve got matchups. They’re playing four guards, right? So they’ve got a guard that, when our four man was guarding, he was really good tonight, the kid, number zero (Brandon Maclin). He was really good for them, like, he was just creating a lot of shots for these guys.”

On minutes distribution between Najai Hines and Stephon Payne:

“What’s my process? Who’s playing better at the time, then Najai gets tired quick. I want to have him out there, but he gets tired quick and then you can’t play certain types of defense with him because he’s a freshman. He’s still trying to get in better shape, but it’s a feel.”

On Payne’s health:

“He hurt his ankle at Creighton, but he’s a tough kid. And Godswill couldn’t practice yesterday, and that leaves you with these two guys again. Something with his knee yesterday in practice.”

On moving forward:

“Well, we can’t flush it. It’s gotta sting tonight. And tomorrow, we can’t do too much because we played at 8:00 at night, and then you turn around…this is pretty nice. You gotta learn from it, but you gotta move on, right? It’s gotta be a quick turnaround…did Georgetown win tonight? Now you’ve got another team coming in here that’s hungry and physical and big. We gotta get ready.”

On cold stretches offensively:

“(DePaul) played good defense tonight. They played good D, I mean, we had some chippies. I thought we had some drives to the basket that were right there, but we just didn’t finish.”

On defensive adjustments:

“They did a good job. We gotta do better. What you got, Jerry?”

On his postgame message to the team:

“That’s locker room stuff, but we’re gonna do better. We’ll definitely do better. We can’t really do nothing tomorrow, but we’ll have one day on Friday to chop up here. I gotta get these guys’ juice back and their legs back and come back here and try to get a good win at home. I don’t like losing, I hate to lose, especially at home. It’s not a great feeling, it’s a terrible feeling.”

So, what’s the scenario? Big South tournament edition

High Point has inside track to defending Big South regular season championship if it can defeat Winthrop and avenge its lone conference loss. (Photo by High Point University Athletics)

By Josh Noel (@Josh_DDH)

Less than two weeks from today, the Big South Conference tournament tips off from Johnson City, Tennessee for the second consecutive year. And for the second consecutive year, the Big South standings will be a photo finish. 

High Point (24-4 overall, 12-1 Big South) and Winthrop (19-8 overall, 11-1 Big South) find themselves once again intertwined for a Big South championship. The Panthers aim to capture their third consecutive outright Big South regular season championship, while the Eagles seek a share for the first time since 2022 and first outright since 2021.

It’s not just the top seed that’s too close to call. The current third through sixth-seeded teams are separated by just a game and a half total. Radford (14-13 overall, 7-5 Big South) holds a razor-thin edge over Presbyterian (13-14 overall, 6-6 Big South), UNC Asheville (12-14 overall, 6-6 Big South), and Longwood (14-14 overall 6-7 Big South).

Charleston Southern (13-15 overall, 4-9 Big South) and USC Upstate (11-16 overall, 3-9 Big South) remain within striking distance of that pack, while Gardner-Webb (3-25 overall, 1-12 Big South) can still catch the Buccaneers and Spartans. 

With four Big South gamedays remaining, here are the seeding scenarios for each team as the final quarter of the regular season concludes:

Going for Gold: High Point, Winthrop 

After a classic Big South championship last March, these two programs haven’t missed a beat in the ensuing campaign. 

The Eagles defeated the Panthers, 92-75, in their first matchup back in January, snapping Winthrop’s longest losing streak to High Point (five games) in program history. HPU’s sole conference defeat came at the hands of Winthrop, while the Eagles dropped their conference opener at Longwood. 

All eyes will be on the Qubein Center Saturday afternoon, as the two Big South regular season heavyweights square off in a highly anticipated rematch. Neither team can drop below the two line, so it’s a straightforward calculus for fans of High Point and Winthrop: Win Saturday and gain the inside track for the No. 1 seed. 

Should High Point emerge victorious, it must win out against UNC Asheville this Thursday and next Thursday at Presbyterian to secure the No. 1 seed. A win versus Winthrop, but a defeat in either of the aforementioned two games results in the Eagles taking home the top seed if Winthrop wins the rest of its games and defeats Presbyterian on February 28 due to head-to-head tiebreaker record (WU 4-0, HPU 3-1 in this scenario). 

Winthrop completing the sweep of High Point would put a vise grip on the No. 1 seed for the Eagles. High Point would need to defeat Presbyterian and have Winthrop drop both remaining contests (at Charleston Southern and home versus Presbyterian) to reclaim the regular season crown.

Jockeying for Position: Radford, Presbyterian, UNC Asheville, Longwood

To borrow from Anakin Skywalker, this is where the fun begins. 

Radford currently controls its own destiny for the third seed. The Highlanders can afford to lose at UNC Asheville Saturday and hang onto the No. 3 slot if the Bulldogs lose another game in the regular season. Should Radford lose versus USC Upstate or at Longwood, in addition to losing at UNC Asheville, (who would need to go 3-1 or better to close the season), then the Highlanders drop to the fourth seed. If Radford stumbles down the stretch and goes 1-3, it could wind up as the No. 5 seed. The only way Radford could fall to sixth is if it loses out to close the season. 

Presbyterian set a program record last season, finishing fifth in the Big South regular season. The Blue Hose appears poised to replicate or even improve upon that success. PC owes an 0-2 head-to-head tiebreaker to Radford, but holds the 2-0 head-to-head tiebreaker over UNC Asheville. A third-seed finish is possible, but the Blue Hose will need to go 3-1 and steal a win against either High Point or Winthrop, while having Radford finish 2-2 or worse. An identical 2-2 finish with UNC Asheville maintains Presbyterian as the No. 4 seed and the Bulldogs as the fifth seed. A 1-3 close will drop PC to sixth only if one of those losses includes Longwood. 

As mentioned, UNC Asheville needs to go 3-1 or 4-0 to close the season, and for Radford to take another loss outside of their meeting to finish third. If the Bulldogs finish 3-1, they will likely earn at least the fourth seed. Matching PC at 2-2 won’t do the Bulldogs any favors given their owed tiebreaker. Even a 1-3 finish likely keeps UNC Asheville in fifth, as it owns a 2-0 tiebreaker over Longwood. An 0-4 finish opens the door for a sixth or seventh-seed finish, but those scenarios appear murky and unlikely. 

Longwood is in the unique position of having the conference’s best win, the sole victory over Winthrop to date, yet the Lancers have work to do elsewhere amidst the pack. Longwood owes an 0-2 tiebreaker to UNC Asheville, and dropped its first matchup against Radford. The Lancers did defeat Presbyterian in their first matchup, so Thursday will go a long way in sorting the final standings. The Lancers have a narrow path to the third seed, as it would include a 3-0 finish along with UNC Asheville and Radford going 2-2, with the Bulldogs needing to defeat the Highlanders. A 3-0 finish, combined with a Radford victory over UNC Asheville and a 2-2 Bulldogs finish, gets Longwood to fourth. Another loss caps the Lancers’ ceiling to the fifth seed. A 1-2 finish can secure the No. 5 seed if that one win is over Presbyterian, and the Blue Hose finishes 1-3. The most plausible scenarios will result in Longwood finishing sixth for a second straight year. If the Lancers lose out, the seventh seed is in play but once again unlikely. 

Looking to Play Spoiler: Charleston Southern, USC Upstate, Gardner-Webb

After a 2-0 start, it looked like Charleston Southern was ready to make a serious run at making noise in the top of the table. The Buccaneers since dropped eight of nine contests, including seven straight prior to a win over Presbyterian. CSU can still finish as high as fourth if it wins out and Radford wins out, with some other help. In the more likely realm of possibilities, the Buccaneers must go at least 3-1 to close to escape the seventh seed. They will also need to fend off USC Upstate, who owns a 2-0 tiebreaker. 

Speaking of the Spartans, they can match CSU’s record to end the season and claim the seventh seed. Upstate’s ceiling is the fifth seed, but that requires winning out to close. A minimum of a 3-1 finish will be needed to claim the sixth seed, and would require Presbyterian to lose out as Longwood’s win over Winthrop prevents Upstate from surpassing the Lancers, with whom they split their two regular season meetings. 

Gardner-Webb’s ceiling is definitively capped at the eighth seed, locking Jeremy Luther’s team into the opening-round game on Wednesday, March 4. The Runnin’ Bulldogs can get there by winning their final two games, including over USC Upstate (against whom Gardner-Webb picked up its lone Big South win), and the Spartans losing the rest of the way. 

For simulating all possible scenarios, check out https://bball.notnothing.net/bigsouth.php?sport=mbb

Stony Brook exacts revenge on Drexel, slays Dragons with late comeback

By Kyle Morello (@Kylemorello4)

STONY BROOK, N.Y. — When Stony Brook came to Philadelphia on January 8, it left feeling overmatched by Drexel; so much so that the Seawolves only scored 37 points in a 56-37 loss that helped spark a 7-2 stretch for the Dragons.

And yet, after a 72-69 topsy-turvy win Monday night on Long Island for Stony Brook, it’s the Seawolves that find themselves tied for fourth in CAA play at 8-6 just five weeks later. 

The night-and-day performance from the last meeting was not an accident for Stony Brook. It was all head coach Geno Ford could think about leading up to Monday’s contest.

“How many times have we talked about 37 points?” Ford said. “You guys are tired of hearing me say it, that’s all I’ve talked about.”

“You beat somebody’s ass, 56-37, you can’t possibly as a player have any respect for the other team,” he said to freshman guard Andrej Shoshkikj, who put up 14 points and had three steals, the last of which helped salt the game away from Drexel.

After an unsuccessful challenge on an out-of-bounds call by Ford, Drexel had a baseline inbounds down 70-69 with 21.1 seconds left. The ball went to Eli Beard, who, after a few dribbles, was stripped by Shoshkikj. The freshman was fouled and made the ensuing free throws to put Stony Brook up three. 

“He caught the ball in the dead corner,” Shoshkikj said of Beard’s possession.” “I knew he was trying to get it out. He wasn’t trying to go attack baseline because there’s nothing to do there. And I don’t know, I just saw an opportunity.”

After a Victor Panov miss from three for Drexel and a Richard Goods miss at the line for Stony Brook, the Dragons had one final chance for the tie. Kevon Vanderhorst’s attempt fell short, sealing the game for the Seawolves.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Stony Brook, however. The Seawolves trailed Drexel, 27-16, with 7:47 remaining in the first half. At this point, the Dragons had just three turnovers in the game. They would end the half with nine, including five in a span of five minutes and eight seconds that coincided with a scoring drought of the exact same length. Stony Brook went on a 19-8 scoring run to end the half and take a one-point lead into the break.

The Seawolves would increase their lead from there, getting it up to eight before a 12-4 Drexel run brought things even once again with just under eleven minutes left in regulation. From there, it continued to be a back-and-forth affair, but the Dragons retook a 67-63 lead with 2:33 to play, a lead they would hold until the 1:16 mark.

“You know, you’re down four with 1:10 left, not great odds at winning, statistically,” Ford said. “That ESPN tracker thing, I don’t know what the odds were, but it wasn’t real high. And we found a way.”

And find a way, Stony Brook did. It came through one final run, a 9-2 advantage over those last 76 seconds to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. 

“I’m really proud of the win late because that thing could have gone sideways earlier in the game and late in the game,” Ford confessed.

Stony Brook (16-11, 8-6 CAA)  will look to build off this win with another home game on Saturday against Hampton. As for Drexel (13-14, 7-7 CAA), it will be a bounce-back opportunity for the Dragons on the road at Northeastern on Thursday before welcoming Towson to The DAC on Sunday.

On Valentine’s Day in Connecticut, Karaban’s latest outpouring of love was apropos

Alex Karaban (11) is celebrated by his teammates and UConn fans after Saturday’s win over Georgetown, the 116th of his career, most in program history. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)

For four years, Alex Karaban has found a way to make Husky supporters admire him.

Whether by way of his trademark deep three-pointers, a finesse that is almost impossible to replicate, or through his relentless dedication and hustle, the Massachusetts product has become as treasured to UConn fans as the warm embrace of a loved one.

Karaban provided the latest such unforgettable night in his marriage to the Huskies on Saturday, when after Georgetown threatened to steal a road win after trailing by 12 points earlier in the second half, the senior forward secured the rebound of the Hoyas’ errant go-ahead field goal attempt before sinking two free throws to seal the game and become the winningest UConn player of all time, with 116 victories under his aegis.

What made this latest triumph unique to any of the 115 to come before it was Karaban’s compromised physical state. The veteran was kneed in the thigh during Wednesday’s win at Butler, and was still bearing the effects of that collision Saturday. Still, as he has done countless times prior, he managed to stick it out and deliver a performance his head coach likened to the iconic walkoff home run in the first game of the 1988 World Series.

“He couldn’t really move,” Dan Hurley recounted Saturday. “It was like Kirk fucking Gibson for the Dodgers, he was dragging his leg around basepaths. It obviously wasn’t as dramatic a moment in sports history, but he couldn’t move, really, or he was compromised. But if he doesn’t play, obviously we don’t win the game.”

“It’s just a testament to Alex. He is who he is, the most accomplished player in college basketball, still one of the most unsung great players in college basketball that doesn’t get on lists and different things. (Saturday) was about for me, Alex’s greatness, just his greatness and who he is.”

The love story between Karaban and Connecticut basketball is far from a fairy tale, however. In fact, his first impression when arriving in Storrs was no different than that of most teenagers encountering their first taste of attraction, one of awkwardness and overall uncertainty that — long after a relationship develops — becomes an experience they look back on and laugh about due to its sheer ridiculousness in retrospect.

“We were scared to death of Alex,” Hurley reminisced. “Not the game, not the mind, not the skills, not the work ethic, not the commitment, team-first mentality. He was just a scary introvert. I mean, I thought he was gonna piss his pants when he got on the court. He just was so awkward socially. When he first got here, he was just fucking weird.”

So many years later, player seemed to concur with coach.

“Well, I’m gonna say first, (Hurley’s) right about the awkwardness, he’s right about everything,” Karaban conceded with a sheepish grin that has become commonplace as he winds down his career. “I was super shy coming in, no beard. I think I told him after my redshirt year, too, that my first game that I watched was at Seton Hall and I wasn’t even playing, I wasn’t eligible to play and I told him I was gonna throw up. I was like, so nervous, so I’ve definitely grown a long way as a player.”

“When I first came to UConn, I was worried about playing, just getting out there, just making an impact. To now be the all-time winningest player at a program like UConn, to have my name at the top of that list is special. I’ll forever be blessed for all the teammates that I’ve had, I’ll forever be blessed to play for the best coaching staff that’s made it easier to get those wins.”

Indeed, Karaban has come a long way from the early enrollee in the spring of 2022, watching a Husky team take its first steps toward eventually becoming a juggernaut that produced back-to-back national championships in the next two seasons. Hurley praised his young charge for his maturation, eventually realizing that the timid young man he brought in was a different personality in the heat of battle. But as is oftentimes the case in the most successful and intimate of relationships, persistence prevailed. In this particular courtship, it was Hurley’s faith in the long run that ignited the first sparks that led to an eternal flame.

“I misread the whole situation,” Hurley admitted. “His happy place is on the court. It’s like he’s at his happiest and most confident in front of 20,000 people playing basketball.”

“For him to say all those words is a blessing,” Karaban said. “He’s the first person who believed in me and he’s the first person who really gave me confidence out there as a player. He didn’t have to play me my freshman year. He didn’t have to start me, he didn’t have to do any of that. For him to believe in me and have all that trust in me, and for our relationship to grow this much, he’s been the most influential person in my life. I don’t know how I could repay him. I’ll forever be grateful for him, and he’s always part of my life.”

The compatibility is mutual among those closest to Karaban, who have also fallen for his innate ability to be seemingly perfect and endearing so much for so long to where the dream date, so to speak, becomes reality. Perhaps the closest to Karaban among the locker room spoke to that point, heralding the consummate teammate for the ease with which he approaches his commitment, thereby making the road smoother to travel together.

“Being around him for the past three years, he just makes everything easier for everyone around him,” Solo Ball said. “That’s one thing that you can’t trade for the world. Just being out on the court, you know exactly where you need to be and you could ask him for literally anything. And then off the court, just a great dude, down to earth. I love AK. Everything he’s done for this program is just something you can’t trade for the world.”

So on a night most commonly associated with the celebration of love, it seems only fitting that the longest-tenured object of UConn fans’ affections was able to provide another forever moment in a relationship full of them.