Seton Hall has a blueprint for success against the best of the Big East
Wednesday’s 75-60 victory over No. 5 UConn was the ultimate team win for Seton Hall, and it charts a course for the rest of the Big East slate.
NEWARK – There was this groundswell of preseason excitement about Kadary Richmond, and it had nothing to do with his game on the court. He was extroverted at media day; he let his personality shine by interviewing his teammates in an offseason video series called Kooks’ Korner. The senior was coming out of his shell.
But Richmond is a man of few words, and that’s OK! It’s just his nature. He lets his game do the talking. He sure did Wednesday night.
Richmond – with 23 points, six rebounds, five assists and a career-high eight steals – was illuminating on the court so his postgame press conference didn’t need to be. He did make one nice quip at the very end, when asked if the Pirates realized that nobody expected them to beat No. 5 UConn, forget whipping them by 15.
“That’s on them,” Richmond said, reminiscent of Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith being written off by The Doubters and declaring, “I ain’t write back though.”
In similar fashion, you listen to coach Shaheen Holloway and the other Seton Hall players after a game like this and hear repetitive tropes about ignoring the outside noise, not overthinking and executing the gameplan. They present as clichés, but what if they’re more than that? Not overthinking things and (finally) executing a gameplan that suits their style earned the Pirates a 75-60 win over the defending national champs.
This is more than an ode to Richmond, even though Kooks will go down in this rivalry’s history as a certified UConn killer. Wednesday was the ultimate team win for Seton Hall, and it charts a course for the Pirates for the rest of the Big East slate.
“We just came and played Seton Hall basketball,” Richmond said. “That’s the tradition around here and we just gotta keep it up, bring it every day.”
Here’s what playing Seton Hall basketball should entail the rest of the year.
Forget the 3-point line and roll to the hoop
Holloway has the personnel in place to rotate five or six guards and take stab after stab at the lane all night. The Pirates can hit some 3-pointers, as we saw in their hectic 93-87 win over Missouri, but they won’t win many more games in that fashion. Their shooters are prone to go cold when they force things. But Richmond, Dre Davis and Dylan Addae-Wusu are all scary-good finishers. Freshman Isaiah Coleman is blossoming into one, too.
Not only were Seton Hall’s eight 3-point attempts Wednesday a season low, it was the program’s lowest output since taking eight against Dartmouth on Nov. 13… 2015.
“I didn’t have my team prepared defensively,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “The amount of rim twos that they shot today was poor preparation. A team that’s 270th in the country in 3-point shooting percentage, for them to shoot eight threes in a game and to score 75 points was not what we had in mind coming in. So (Richmond), if he sees no bodies and driving gaps and he plays in space at his size with what he can do downhill, at the rim, he’s as good as there is at that size with the ball.”
Hall made 54.2% of its 2-pointers Wednesday against a UConn team that ranks 12th nationally in 2-point percentage allowed. You know what Marquette ranks? 163rd. Suddenly that matchup doesn’t look so daunting.
Disrupt passing lanes
Forcing turnovers can be a funny thing. Sometimes, the right move is to get in your opponent’s face, perhaps if he’s inexperienced and prone to nervous motions. Sometimes, doing that is a one-way ticket to get beaten off the dribble. Holloway had high levels of respect for UConn and told his team not to gamble or go for steals. Ironically, Richmond heard that, went out and set a career high.
“I thought a lot of (Richmond’s) steals were in the passing lane because of his height,” Holloway said later. “But I thought we just played a solid game tonight. I don’t think we did something great, special, I thought we just played solid, within ourselves, and just a good victory against a great team.”
“Shaheen Holloway is all about defense, so I would say that’s where we kinda took that step forward and just like Kadary said, continued to fight,” Jaden Bediako said. “It really starts with our defense. When our defense gets going, our offense comes alive.”
Holloway may be known for defense, but Seton Hall hasn’t often played up to his standard in the past year and a half. The Pirates ranked in the 120s in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency entering Wednesday. This was easily their best showing of the season, as Richmond and company were just opportunistic enough in breaking up passes without “gambling” to do so.
Don’t fall behind early, preferably; if you do, don’t panic
Last night was the first time all season that Hall rallied from a double-digit deficit. UConn established a 20-10 lead despite both offenses floundering early, and it could have gone poorly from there, just as when the Pirates fell way behind USC and Iowa in the first halves of the San Diego tournament games.
That’s what the nonconference season is for – learning as a team how to get through a certain situation. As Holloway said Wednesday, this is part two of the schedule. This is now a team that intrinsically knows it mustn’t lose control of a game in the first 15 minutes.
“I think part of it was just not getting down so much,” Davis said. “Thinking of the other games, (we were) getting down 20 points or something like that. It’s tough to come back from getting down that much. I think we did a good job of keeping it close there and kind of taking control of the game or staying in control of the game.”
Trust Jaden Bediako to hold his own
I wrote back in April that Holloway would play five guards if he could – and there were times Wednesday that he did, with guard/forward Dre Davis the biggest guy on the floor – but there was no surviving the Big East without a good old-fashioned center. The Pirates struggled last year with Alexis Yetna unable to play and Tyrese Samuel and KC Ndefo working out of position.
Enter Bediako, the Santa Clara transfer who has gone up against the likes of Gonzaga in seasons past. His introduction to the Big East was 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan, and he finished one rebound shy of a double-double, while Clingan was unfortunately slowed by an ankle sprain and missed most of the second half.
Clingan’s injury aside, this is what I meant by an ultimate team win. Richmond’s numbers are eye-popping, yet he wasn’t carrying everyone on his back. Bediako – who also had three blocked shots – has a crucial role to play containing opposing centers and getting his teammates second-chance looks. Addae-Wusu had his second strong game in a row after a bumpy start to the season.
It may not necessarily translate to 15 conference wins, but now we know what the Pirates look like at the top of their game.
“Everyone’s having fun, playing with a passion and joy that (Holloway) spoke about,” Richmond said. “I think it’s starting to help us and you’re starting to see the vision that he has for us.”
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Happy Thursday, and thanks for stopping by. Let’s clean the glass with some stray notes and observations:
Seton Hall started the Big East 0-3 last season. This year, the Pirates have got a leg up on UConn AND Marquette AND Creighton, as the Big East’s big three all lost their league openers. Purely from the standpoint of a college hoops fan: How sweet is that? The Big East is going to provide endless entertainment for the next 12 weeks.
Rider 88, Delaware 85 (F/OT). The Broncs’ season had been massively disappointing before Wednesday, even when you factor in the strength of November’s schedule (Marquette, Nebraska, Duquesne, Maryland). This road win comes at the perfect time as Rider gets things sorted out before MAAC play resumes. Mervin James had 25 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, and Allen Powell made the clutch go-ahead layup with 42 seconds left in overtime. Tariq Ingraham also had a big night with a season-high 16 points (5-of-6 on field goals, 6-of-6 on foul shots).
From Jerry Carino after a Rutgers practice: Scarlet Knights big Emmanuel Ogbole (knee), a junior college transfer, is trending toward playing soon. Steve Pikiell recently hinted at getting “Big E” into the mix in the coming weeks. It’s probably not against Mississippi State on Saturday, but sometime in January. I’d be concerned about throwing him right into the fire of Big Ten play, but it will only be for a couple minutes here and there to help Antwone Woolfolk spell Cliff Omoruyi. Ogbole is listed on Rutgers’ athletics website as 6-foot-10, 260 pounds.