SETON HALL BASKETBALL STUNS UCONN AT HOME – AGAIN

On By Littum

game

Newark – the physical, intensity and pride that had long been the hallmark of Seton Hall -Basketball before this lost season finally appeared on Saturday – just in time for a visit from defending national champion Uconn.

The real fans also emerged in a great deal of time and gained value as a memorable traction ended up with a shocking 69-68 Seton Hall overtime.

Sophomore Wing Scotty Middleton rolled in a three-second setback when the 12,000-blowed pro-hall audience was blowing from the Prudenial Center.

There was heroik across the set up to the hall. Sophomore Wing Isaiah Coleman spoke 23 points and eight rebounds as Seton Hall (7-19 overall, 2-13 Big East) cracked a nine-match’s losing row and beat the defending national champion Huskies for the fourth straight year at home.

For the first time in weeks, the pirates played with fire, held Uconn to 38 percent shooting with an aggressive pressure defense, struck them to the majority of 50/50 balls and fed a quantity that breathed a life in the cliff reminiscent of seasons of old .

The hall led by as many as eight in regulation before Uconn rose in front of the second half, creating a wild finish. With the pirates pulling by three and eight seconds back, an unanswered thump of Freshman Center Godswill Erheriene Caromed out to post-degree guard Dylan Adda-Wusu, which calmly drilled a 3-slot with three ticks back and forced overtime.

In the end, Uconn (17-8, 9-5) and head coach Dan Hurley were once again out of Hurley’s Alma Mater in Newark. The pirates are now 5-5 against Uconn since Hurley took the responsibility there, and Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway is 3-2 against the leading program in the sport. Huskies lead the series 49-24 all the time.

“We got what we deserved,” Hurley said. “They were harder. Credit Shaheen and his guys to fight back at the end of the regulation and fight back in overtime.”

Five takeaways

1. Coaching brothers

Dan Hurley doesn’t win a lot of popularity competitions outside Connecticut, but one thing is sure: mutual respect between him and Shaheen Holloway. Although they missed being teammates in the hall with a season – Holloway arrived in the fall after Hurley was trained – they have supported each other through their climb through the coaching rows.

Shortly before Saturday’s tip, they shared an extended embrace after they left the tunnel. After talking for a moment, each one was hoping each as they went their separate ways.

“Shaheen has proven to be a coach,” Hurley told journalists on Friday. “He’s knocked so much in his resume, what he did in Saint Peters, what he did last year to win NIT, and it should have been a tournament (NCAA Tournament) team.

Holloway and Hurley are two of five former Seton Hall players who serve as division in -men’s basketball header (the others: Njits Grant Billmeier, Wagner’s Donald Copeland and Binghamton’s Levell Sanders). Only Duke can boast several aluminums in the head coaching rows with eight.

Overall, they own a huge record of 18-6 in the NCAA tournament, led by Hurley (14-4, two national titles) and then Holloway (3-1 with Saint Peters) and Copeland (1-1 last season with Wagner).

As a coincidence, Binghamton and Njit faced the city at the same time on Saturday. Binghamton and Sanders prevailed 75-71 in overtime.

Four former hall players quadries as coaches in the same city the same day. It can be unprecedented.

2. Back from an injury

For the first time in weeks, there was good news about the injury front: Guards Dylan Adddae-Wusu and Scotty Middleton and Center Manny Okorafor returned to action.

Addae-Wusu, which average 12.3 points, 3.0 assists and 2.4 steal and has the second most Big East experience of any player in the league made an immediate influence as a ball pressing sub. The hall is another team without his defense and hardship. He finished with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Middleton has been hot and cold, but showed its hot side by hovering a few rising and fire jumpers.

Guard Chaunce Jenkins (knees) sat a sixth straight game and was gathered on the sidelines by Center Gus Yalden (ankle).

3rd Godwill!

There was a sequence in the first half to open the eyes of any pirate fan. Guard Jahseem Felton drove, pulled a double team and laped to the center of the estatewill Erheriene who flew in from the left block, for a rim-riding sludge.

These two guys are a beginner.

If there has been a silver lining to the damage that has been struck in the last two months, it is that these two got significant playing time.

They develop and this was the fruit.

Both started against Uconn, and Erheriene was a strength with 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Every time he got the ball inside, the building buzzed. More often, he did not overpower Uconn’s interior defender.

Felton logged 20 minutes and placed the game’s highest plus/minus plus-10.

Continuity is so important in the free agency era that it would be a big boost in this department to keep these guys around next season, especially the 6-foot-9 Erherien, be a big boost in this department.

4. Hall fans came through

On the way into Saturday, something misled was scraped at Interwebs that predicted an Uconn fan’s acquisition of Prudential Cetner. So Pally as Seton Hall’s participation has been this season, Uconn is still a glamor game and pirate fans are pride.

With one side of the upper cover seats open, about 12,000 fans turned out. About two -thirds were in the corner of the hall and they wanted this one bad. They were high from the tip and gave the homeland three standing ovations as they built a 25-22 lead at the break.

There is no doubt that the pirates fed the energy that shows a congestion and urgent that has not been there in recent weeks.

5. Word of Wisdom

Hurley is famous for his explosive behavior, but he has always been relatively calm in his return to Newark and Saturday brought more of the same, even though his team played from behind.

On Friday, when he spoke with journalists, he was asked about the hall’s fight and he diagnosed the situation perfectly.

“College Basketball Now is a one -year situation with the volatility of the sport,” Hurley said. “Obviously, you have to have the resources in place, otherwise you have no shot.”

Resources have been a problem in South Orange, but the feeling among insiders is brutality this season has opened some eyes in the administration. As other programs have shown this season, it’s easier than ever to turn the script with a combination of resources and smart decision making.

“Right now you pretty much have to put together a new team on an annual basis,” he said. “Some years you get it right, some years you’ll get it wrong.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey Sports Scene since 1996 and College Basketball Beat since 2003. Contact him at [email protected].