Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Seton Hall, St. John’s both on parallel upswings entering stiff road tests in Gavitt Games

Jared Rhoden made his return Sunday for Seton Hall, anchoring hungry and committed Pirates heading into Michigan Tuesday. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

Two games into the season, Villanova may still be the class of the Big East Conference, but the Wildcats’ chief competition may very well come from either side of the Hudson River.

Seton Hall has turned heads as the Pirates welcome an influx of depth while replacing Sandro Mamukelashvili, with promising early returns in decisive victories over FDU and Yale that saw Kevin Willard’s team allow just 93 total points in its showcase as an aggressive defensive unit heading into Tuesday's pivotal battle with fourth-ranked Michigan in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.

“I just think that this team is really locked in defensively,” senior forward Jared Rhoden assessed after Seton Hall’s 80-44 lockdown of Yale Sunday afternoon. “We’re all connected and we’re all individually good defenders, and when we all come together and defend and communicate together, I think we’re unstoppable in that way.”

“One thing I did realize when we were in the locker room was nobody was too high, and I think that’s big. We expected to win (Sunday) and we expected to win by a lot, so I think that’s a testament to how good we are, and the way we practice and play is going to translate. It’s easy for us.”

The defense has come naturally for the Pirates, but the clash with the Wolverines in Ann Arbor will be instrumental in how Seton Hall deals with 7-foot-1 All-American candidate Hunter Dickinson, against whom Willard stressed defense would need to be a team effort. Nonetheless, momentum and a positive mindset are traveling from the Garden State in a long-awaited rematch of the 1989 national championship game, whose bitter ending remains a sensitive subject in and around South Orange.

“The vibe’s pretty great right now,” Alexis Yetna intimated. “We feel confident about our team and where we’re at right now. We play great together, great chemistry, so we really feel like we have great momentum leading to Michigan.”

Rhoden reiterated the step up in class, but also declared that the standard had been set in light of a fifth-place preseason ranking that he and his teammates have regarded to be a slight against Seton Hall’s potential.

“It’s a big test for us,” he echoed. “For us to come out and put on the show that we did (Sunday), I think it shows a lot about who we are and how good this team is going to be. We’re just out here trying to make statements to everybody, that we’re not nobody to play around with. We’re dogs, and we’re going to play.”

Julian Champagnie leads St. John’s into battle against Mike Woodson and Indiana Wednesday. (Photo by Vincent Dusovic/St. John’s University Athletics)

Also 2-0 in its own right, St. John’s has made an early name for itself on the offensive end of the basketball, averaging 105 points in a pair of wins against Mississippi Valley State and Saint Peter’s. But for all the firepower the Red Storm possesses in the scoring prowess of Julian Champagnie and Posh Alexander, it is the collective performance at the other end of the floor — much like Seton Hall — that has been the more profound takeaway through the young season’s opening week, which leads into a meeting with Indiana in Bloomington Wednesday night.

“I think our energy on defense has really been a standout,” Champagnie said following Saturday’s 91-70 rout of Saint Peter’s. “I feel like we can score the basketball, I don’t think that’s a question, but our defense is what’s stood out to me so far. Everybody’s locked in on defense, even though we have some breakdowns. The defensive intensity has been top of the line.”

“We want to come out and fight. It just shows that we’re getting along together, becoming a real team. We still have some things to work out, but we’re getting there.”

The work-in-progress mentality in Queens has been heightened after eight players arrived either through the transfer portal or Mike Anderson’s incoming freshman class, learning the ropes from Champagnie, Alexander and sophomore guard Dylan Addae-Wusu while carving out their own niche in the Red Storm’s uptempo attack that still, at least in the purview of its architect, is far from a finished product, but in line with his ultimate vision.

“We’ve got to continue to get better,” said Anderson. “That’s the biggest key. We’ve got to get better in a lot of departments. With the depth that we have, we should be able to plug guys in and keep the momentum going. I think they’re buying into what we’re trying to do. They’re very unselfish individuals.”

“We’ve been together since June, so we’ve had time to mesh, learn our weaknesses, our strengths,” Joel Soriano, the Fordham transfer and former Stepinac star, added. “When we work, we work hard, every day. I feel like the amount of work we put in, it shows. The harder we work, the harder we’re going to play, and Coach emphasizes that.”

What sets the two local rivals apart is the manner in which each goes about its business. Seton Hall’s modus operandi is clearer, a defensive boa constrictor of sorts out to suffocate its opposition, whereas the multifaceted St. John’s roster does not have a defined identity, says Champagnie, who dismissed any comparisons to the teams of his first two years on the corner of Union and Utopia.

“I feel like the way we’ve played the past two years, considering it was a different team each year, I think we did the best we could,” he assessed. “Honestly this year, we’re just looking to improve as a new team and find our identity. We don’t have one from last year.”

“Obviously, Coach speaks on wanting to be a defensive team, a gritty team, a New York team. That’s going to be our main identity, but we have to find ourselves as players within our team. I just see a team that wants to come out and win. We want to do what we do and be the best version of ourselves that day. Every day, we want to come out and execute like our life’s depending on it. We’re going to run through brick walls for our fans, and we’re also going to run through brick walls for our teammates and our coaches.”

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