Sandro Mamukelashvili's career-high 18 rebounds supplemented 12 points as Seton Hall got full team effort to upset Villanova and all but secure its fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)
NEWARK, NJ -- What a game.
In front of over 16,000 fans at a rollicking Prudential Center, Seton Hall came out swinging, and warded off a second-half charge from Villanova for a 79-75 win on Mike Nzei's senior night. With the victory, the Pirates took down their second ranked foe in the last four days, all but locked up a fourth-straight trip to the Big Dance, and also clinched a bye into the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.
Here are the 5 Thoughts:
1. Team, Team Team
There have been times this season where Myles Powell was the alpha and omega for the Pirates, as he was Wednesday with 34 points in the comeback win over Marquette. But today, he merely provided the bold accents on what was a truly impressive, full team effort.
It started on the defensive end for Seton Hall, as they came out with energy. They jumped passing lanes, they rotated on penetration, and they took Villanova stars Phil Booth and Eric Paschall out of rhythm. They forced eight turnovers, and held the Wildcats to only 3-for-9 inside the three-point line in the first stanza. Offensively, they turned the defense into balanced offense, as four different players had either eight or nine points each at the break.
The Pirates' lone senior, Nzei, took notice of how the whole team really stepped up.
"The guys, they were hungry," Nzei said after finishing with 10 points on his senior day. "You saw the way everyone came out. I was dealing with all the emotions before the game, and Myles talked to me and said, 'Don't worry, we're going to get it done for you.'"
The final stat sheet doesn't lie. Powell led the Hall with 20, but Myles Cale nailed a career-high six three-pointers and finished with 19, Jared Rhoden came up huge with a career-high-shattering 15 off the bench, and after having a down game against Marquette, Sandro Mamukelashvili donned an Angel Delgado costume and poured in 12 points and 18 rebounds, shattering his previous career-high in the latter category.
As a team, Seton Hall finished 13-for-27 from deep (48 percent), 20-for-27 from the free throw line (74 percent), and had 17 assists on its 23 field goals while finally putting together a full 40 minutes of ball security by finishing with just NINE turnovers.
When Seton Hall plays like it did in this game, it can beat anyone.
2. Bringing The A(tmosphere)-Game
Nzei's teammates weren't alone in bringing their collective best effort to the arena today. The announced attendance was 16,114, and it seemed like at least 90 percent of the crowd were Seton Hall fans. In past years, they have opened the upper levels of the Rock for big games, but a bunch of the overflow seats were scooped up by opposing fans.
That was not the case today, and the Pirate fans that came out were loud, they were intense, and they rode the officials hard when the opportunity arose (and there were a bunch of opportunities- more on that in a second).
"This crowd and these fans have been amazing," Powell said. "The job wouldn't have gotten done without them. We felt like they helped us get turnovers, helped us pick our heads up. From the students, to the parents, to the little kids that come out, I just want to say thank you."
Seton Hall finished 7-2 in Newark in Big East games, and their last two games really put a great cap on the home season.
3. What's Wrong With Being Confident?
Seton Hall's ancillary players who stepped up big in this contest -- Cale, Rhoden and Mamukelashvili -- as well as the veteran stars, all have spoken so much about the coaching staff giving them confidence to perform in big games, both today and all season. All have had their moments in the spotlight as a result, and Kevin Willard was asked about how he gives them that confidence after the game.
His answer? It comes from what you don't see on the TV.
"I give confidence one way: We work at it," Willard said. "We spend hours and hours -- every summer, every preseason, every season -- in the gym. That is why I have confidence in them and that's why they have confidence (in themselves). As we're going through individual instruction, we're working together, and we put a lot of work in on individual improvement."
"I would rather be in the gym doing that than team practice any day of the week," he added. "It's fun to watch kids get better, grow their game. The reason I have confidence in kids shooting the basketball is because I've spent hours with them shooting the basketball."
It's pretty safe to say that without the coaches -- Willard, Tony Skinn, Grant Billmeier and Duane Woodward -- the Pirates, who were picked eighth in the Big East preseason poll, would not have the resume they currently enjoy, and would certainly not see such critical contributions from the aforementioned young players. All the hard work is paying off.
4. The Trouble With Whistles
With all the personal fouls that were whistled in this game (40 in all, an average of one per minute), it's kind of easy to forget that this contest had some pretty nice flow to it. There weren't a ton of turnovers, both teams shot about the same and rebounded about the same for most of the contest, and both sides knocked down their open threes.
The Pirates' most notable victim of the stripes was Quincy McKnight, who picked up three fouls in the first half, and his fourth early in the second half. But again, Seton Hall's other pieces picked up McKnight as much as possible -- in fact, in the first half, it didn't seem like they missed his lock-down, perimeter defense much -- with an 11-point cushion heading to the locker room.
In the second half, after McKnight's fourth foul was when Villanova made its run, cutting a 16-point lead all the way down to three. Kevin Willard had no choice but to put him back in at the under-8-minute media timeout, and credit McKnight for playing nearly the whole rest of the game without committing his fifth personal.
The junior's perimeter defense and playmaking ability on offense really adds a crucial dimension to how the Pirates prefer to play. Today gave you confidence, though, in a two-fold manner: One, that the Pirates are equipped to survive without him much better than they were in, say, December; and two, McKnight himself can survive being on the floor while saddled with foul trouble. If it happens in postseason play, and it may, Seton Hall can point to this game as evidence that it can deal with that.
5. Big East Tournament Primer
What a nutty year it's been in this league. Not one team knew their seed coming into the season's final day, and Seton Hall could have finished anywhere from third to eighth depending on all the action.
The win today basically locks up a fourth straight bid to the NCAA Tournament for the Pirates for the first time since P.J. Carlesimo's last four years on campus, but also gets them into the quarterfinals, which is crucial considering you don't have to play four games in four nights to win a hypothetical conference title.
All that means that today's victory (which will get the Hall either the 4-seed if St. John's wins or the 3-seed if the Red Storm lose at Xavier) will allow Seton Hall to breathe a little easier at Madison Square Garden this week, and not have to play with the weight of quite so much on their shoulders.
According to the skipper, the team is now focused solely on MSG.
"Every chance you have to play in the Big East Tournament is special," Willard said. "And 100 percent, our main focus right now is to win a Big East championship. Getting to Thursday is huge because you don't have to play the (extra) game, but there is not one time you step in that building, especially in the Big East Tournament, that you're not going to remember it. With this young team, you get them there and get them the experience, and to understand that it takes to win three or four games in a row and build off of it."
If there's one thing this whole season has shown, it's that literally anything is possible in this league. Add in the Garden, which always seems to produce some magic this time of year, and you have yourself a must-see week of hoops in New York City.
We at Daly Dose will have coverage all tournament long. See you at The World's Most Famous Arena, friends.
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