4 Thoughts: Seton Hall takes care of Georgetown

Tyrese Samuel’s 15-point, 10-rebound double-double established Seton Hall early and often as Pirates completed sweep of Georgetown. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — After taking a tough, low-scoring loss at Villanova, Seton Hall was in need of a bounce-back win to avoid a three-game skid with a few of the top teams in the Big East remaining on the schedule.

Enter the last-place Georgetown Hoyas, who provided the antidote, as Seton Hall prevailed, 76-68, at the Prudential Center, warding off a late push by the visitors that whittled an 18-point lead down to four.

Here are the Thoughts:

1. Rock Fight At The Rock

The first half was a thing of beauty, but only if it was Opposite Day. With an early 6 p.m. tipoff on a weeknight, not to mention the Valentine's Day holiday, the crowd was light to start the game, and the play of both teams did little to energize. Both teams shot the ball poorly, and both also committed 10 turnovers in the first half. 

In short, Seton Hall had to create its own energy, and as has been the case several times this year, it was the defense leading the way, as despite the off-shooting half that also featured several missed free throws, it was a seven-point lead at intermission for the home team. Head coach Shaheen Holloway, ever the perfectionist, wasn't thrilled with the opening part of the game.

“I don’t understand why you’d come out like that in such an important game at home,” the Pirates' skipper said. “I get it was an early tip, but like I told the guys, it doesn’t matter who’s in the stands, if it’s packed or if it’s not. We gotta bring our own juice, and we just didn’t have it. I thought Femi (Odukale) had it most of the night, I thought KC (Ndefo) had it at spurts, Tyrese (Samuel) had it, but we didn’t have it as a group.”

I give a lot of credit to Odukale and Samuel in particular for getting Seton Hall's engine revving eventually. Odukale brought it on both ends, ending up with a final line of eight points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Samuel, meanwhile, finished with his second straight double-double of 15 points and 10 boards, staying out of foul trouble and staying productive the whole night.

2. Run, Baby, Run

What really won Seton Hall this game in the end was its defense leading into offense. Georgetown only committed 16 turnovers in the game total, but a whopping 12 of them were Pirate steals, leading to runouts galore and transition points. The Pirates finished with 17 points off turnovers, and also had 18 points in fast break situations, a rarity to see in college hoops.

Seton Hall is not a team that will outscore anyone this season, and when you have a team like that, being able to get down the floor and score easy baskets like the Pirates did tonight is critical.

“It's very important,” Femi Odukale said after the game of getting easy points. “We're a defensive team, we work on defense every day. We've got to convert on those plays, too. We're going to get better.”

3. Banged Up

This time of year in college basketball, there is no such thing as a truly healthy, 100 percent roster. Everyone, even the healthy players, are dealing with one thing or another, the side effect of a long, difficult season in the Big East. Seton Hall is no exception, but Odukale believes the Pirates have a team that will be able to withstand those rigors during a crucial final stretch.

“Everyone's feeling tired, banged up, hurt, but everybody in this group is tough,” he said. “There are some guys playing through some injuries that, if some people heard it, they would be like, ‘wow.’ But this is a tough group, and it's the end of the season. This is some of our last times playing college basketball, so it's just time to suck it up and play through it.”

Odukale added that he's one of those players, both in the banged-up sense and the tough sense. Samuel also spoke to the rigors of the late part of the season, particularly as one of the Hall's only big men. 

“In the beginning of the game, I feel like it's hard (for me) to get started because my legs are kind of heavy,” Samuel said. “But once the adrenaline kicks in, it doesn't even matter anymore. You don't feel that fatigue, that ache, or that pain anymore. It's a matter of getting through the beginning of the game. The first four minutes is probably the toughest time, but get through that, and I'm alright.”

Holloway also tried to impress Odukale's sentiments onto Kadary Richmond tonight, who ended up with 14 points, half of them at the free throw line, but not enough to avoid a mini-conference with his head coach after the game.

“He’s gotta understand that when you’re the guy, you want to be the guy, you’ve gotta make sure you’re coming out every night and setting the tone,” Holloway said. “I thought tonight he didn’t really do that, and down the stretch, we can’t afford for him not to do it, and not just him, any of the guys. Everybody’s banged up right now, everybody’s got some type of stuff going on, but it’s go time right now. That’s not an excuse.”

4. Took Care Of Business

With road games at UConn and Providence, plus home games against Xavier and Villanova remaining on Seton Hall's schedule, this was a game that the Pirates had to win at home, and while Georgetown turned into Creighton down the stretch shooting the ball from the outside to make it a little too interesting late, the victory was what really mattered in the end. 

Aiding in the wire-to-wire effort was the charity stripe, and for a much-maligned group at times from the line this season, the Pirates really made some hay tonight, getting there 37 times and converting on 28 for a percentage of 75.7. In the second half, Seton Hall shot 21-for-25, an 84 percent clip that any team would take in a heartbeat.

“I tell you guys this all the time, nobody shoots free throws more than us,” Holloway said. “Even through our walkthrough today, I made sure each guy got up at least 50. It was good to make them down the stretch for a lot of reasons, for confidence and also to make sure these guys understand the work you put in is what comes out of it.”

Seton Hall's next test is a trip up to Storrs into a hostile environment as UConn looks for revenge from its January 18 loss in Newark. The Pirates would love for tonight’s free throw shooting to make the trip up I-84 with them as they try and play their way into the Big Dance.