3 Thoughts: Seton Hall drops fourth straight, falls to Marquette

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — After a loss that head coach Shaheen Holloway called “embarrassing” on Saturday against St. John’s, saying his team was “absolutely punked,” it didn’t get any easier for the Seton Hall Pirates on the coldest night of the year in Newark Tuesday, against the 10th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles.

After a spirited effort in the first nine minutes or so (Seton Hall was down just one point with 10:54 to play in the first half), the visitors got their mojo going, getting deflections on one end and three-pointers on the other to snow the Pirates in at the Rock by a final score of 76-59.

Here are the thoughts:

1. Injury Woes

The Pirates are still not at full strength. Dylan Addae-Wusu missed his third straight game with a foot injury, and Chaunce Jenkins, who left Saturday's blowout loss against St. John’s with a leg injury of his own, did not dress. Yacine Toumi did play after missing the last game with an illness, but his return was definitely overshadowed by the absences of the two lead guards.

Against a team of Marquette’s caliber, it was always going to be tough, but down two of its better guards, winning the game for Seton Hall was going to be an Everest-sized task. Holloway would not commit to a timetable for either to return, with Addae-Wusu having not done any basketball activities over the last week and a half and Jenkins having just gotten an MRI.

Garwey Dual stepped into the starting lineup for Jenkins, and away we went in Newark, where things didn’t get off to a rosy start, but also not a horrific one like Saturday...

2. For Starters

The Pirates had been playing from behind so much this season, it almost felt like they were down from the opening tip some nights. But while Marquette did score nine straight points after Seton Hall took an early 2-0 lead, the Golden Eagles didn’t score those points until almost three minutes had passed in the game. 

I’m going to chalk that up as a small victory, as it allowed the Pirates to get into the flow of the game without feeling like they were up against the world, and they played hard for that stretch, which is all that Holloway can ask for. When you’re in the midst of a tough season as the Pirates are, any little bit helps.

As for the flow of the game, however, the Pirates struggled in one glaring area tonight that really dictated the entire first half and the game at large.

3. Give It Away

With all the turnovers in the first 20 minutes, Seton Hall could have started its own baked goods business. The Pirates gave the ball away a whopping 14 times in the first half, and it led directly to 16 Marquette points. The Golden Eagles were only up 12 at the break, as they went through some shooting struggles of their own leading into halftime, so it was literally the difference in the game.

In addition, 10 of those 14 turnovers were steals as well, so these were the live-ball turnovers that you want to avoid against a team that can fill up the scoreboard. It continued into the second half, with Seton Hall committing a season-high 24 turnovers and Marquette getting 18 steals (a program record in a Big East game) to turn those possessions into 23 points. 

“I thought some of them were just guys being soft with the basketball,” Holloway said. “I told my guys, seriously, I know it’s an old thing to say—just throw the ball out of bounds, that way they don’t get in transition and score, and at least we get a chance to set our defense. But we had three or four turnovers in a row and they’re getting out and scoring, that’s when the lead goes from here to here to here to here. That’s kind of what happened.”

It doesn't matter if the team is ranked in the Top 10 or the bottom of the standings, you can’t win a basketball game where that many trips down the floor come up empty. Tack on ten made threes offensively, and you get the recipe for a blowout.

Seton Hall will hope to get healthy again before it takes on Creighton in Omaha for the Pirates’ next contest, Saturday afternoon, before they host Providence next week at home.