Seton Hall gets a boost from its newcomers while Rutgers thumps Georgetown
How are those new bigs at Seton Hall doing? Let's break it down.
NEWARK – There’s plenty to like about the early results at Seton Hall.
I don’t think I’d have predicted that if you asked me in April, when there were just seven scholarship players on the roster after Tyrese Samuel’s transfer to Florida and other departures. But that’s why we don’t hit the proverbial panic button in April.
In Seton Hall’s 96-71 win over Albany on Wednesday night, freshman guard Isaiah Coleman put up 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds in just 20 minutes off the bench. The four-star high school recruit was a May signing, so he wasn’t on the projected roster in this offseason reset I wrote last spring when Seton Hall bowed out of the NIT.
Of course, you can add all the guards you want – you need a big man or two to hang tough in the Big East, and the Pirates had exactly zero after Samuel left. Shaheen Holloway brought in four: Jaden Bediako, Elijah Hutchins-Everett, Arda Ozdogan and Sadraque NgaNga.
Three games into the season, you can tell the Pirates won’t lack options in the frontcourt. The group is a nice mix of ready-to-play centers with contrasting styles and younger guys whose personal progress will be crucial to Hall’s depth during the conference season.
The Pirates’ competition has not been especially challenging. Albany, with its Swiss cheese defense, may have been the weakest foe yet, so it’s pointless to draw overarching takeaways from that game in particular. But it’s clear Bediako and company are settling into their new environs, with a sharp increase in competition coming up.
“The prep that we had, our coaches did a good job of preparing us,” Bediako said after Seton Hall beat Fairleigh Dickinson 85-55 Saturday. “Just went out there, played with confidence. We got them on the jump. And it’s good, you know, I’m able to kick off this Seton Hall journey that I’m on right now.”
Refresher for those of you just joining us: Bediako transferred to Hall after four seasons at Santa Clara and is already averaging career highs of 9.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Elijah Hutchins-Everett, a native of Orange, came over after two seasons averaging double figures at Austin Peay. As Holloway said in the preseason, Bediako is reminiscent of an old-school Big East five and Hutchins-Everett is more of a skill guy with an outside shot.
Bediako has started all three games thus far, but Holloway is using his big men by committee and plans to give him and Hutchins-Everett equal minutes.
But Wednesday, Holloway had to give his backups more run. Hutchins-Everett was ruled out while in concussion protocol, and after Bediako scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting in less than 19 minutes, he cramped up and had to sit most of the second half.
That led to Ozdogan playing more minutes than he had all season and NgaNga getting 16 minutes for the second straight game. Call them Arda and Sada – the former a late-signing freshman from Turkey, the latter a transfer who played sparingly in his first year at Boise State.
They have been more of a mixed bag. Coming from a Turkish U-19 team, Arda has some raw talent. He was pickpocketed by guards a few times on Wednesday, even if it only led to one turnover in the official box score. He had nine boards against FDU but wasn’t grabbing them with two hands when I watched him against Albany.
Sada hit his marks in the passing rotation, popping up all around the half-court to keep the ball moving. He went 0-for-3 from the floor and scored his only point at the stripe. I thought he had a nice look on his first attempt, a 14-foot baseline jumper that didn’t miss by much.
“I think Sada, man, he’s way better than what he’s showing,” Holloway said. “I just gotta get his confidence, just me and him getting some gym time and some film time alone. I gotta get his confidence back. He’s going against Dre (Davis) every day in practice and it’s helping him.”
Most importantly, Sada and Arda share the floor well. That’s because Sada really profiles as a power forward more than a center, although both he and Arda are 6-foot-10.
“(Sada is) very skilled, he can shoot the basketball, he can dribble, he can make some plays,” Holloway said. “I’ve just gotta make sure we space the court out for him because he’s really not a back-to-the-basket type of big. As far as Arda, every day he’s getting better. He’s picking up things, the language is getting better, the language barrier’s getting better for him.”
There will be more to say in the near future about Coleman and freshman guard Malachi Brown, who snuck into double figures at the end of the Albany game with 3-of-3 shooting, including two 3-pointers. For now, Seton Hall would do well to continue getting the new players’ feet wet ahead of Big East season. Especially in the frontcourt, their services will be needed before you know it.
“I feel like guys like Malachi and Arda, like I told them before, I was in their footsteps last year so I know what it takes to take your time and wait to get in,” sophomore Jaquan Sanders said. “Their time is gonna come, there’s no question. To be out there (as freshmen), guys are gonna make mistakes, it happens to everybody. So the time you get out there, just make it your best. So I feel like Malachi and Arda coming in today, I was very proud of them.”
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Thanks for stopping by! I made the choice to cover Seton Hall Wednesday night instead of Rutgers or some other options because 1.) I had already seen Rutgers once this season and can make it back there Saturday evening, and 2.) If I didn’t go to Seton Hall I wouldn’t be able to fit the Pirates in until Dec. 9.
With that said, one game was a pretty plain blowout and the other was a really strong result from a program that I think needed it. So let’s begin to clean the glass by talking Georgetown-Rutgers:
The first and biggest takeaway from Rutgers’ 71-60 win is that the Scarlet Knights forced 21 Georgetown turnovers and turned them into 25 points. The Hoyas are made up of mostly newcomers in Ed Cooley’s first year and they’re going to hit growing pains like that, so Rutgers capitalized, but it still makes me wonder where that defensive intensity was against Bryant or Princeton. And credit to Rutgers for doing it without Mawot Mag, who is not back yet. Steve Pikiell praised forward Antwone Woolfolk for shutting down Georgetown guard Dontrez Styles in the second half.
The shooting got way better in the blink of an eye, too. Against Bryant: 31.1% overall, 4-of-22 from three. Against Georgetown: 45.3% overall, 9-of-24 from three.
Austin Williams, who started the previous two games for Rutgers, missed the Georgetown game with a knee injury suffered at practice.
Princeton 70, Duquesne 67. Matt Allocco scored a career-high 23 points on an insane 10-of-13 from the field. Xaivian Lee hit a new career high with 20 points. Allocco is averaging 19.0 ppg, second in the Ivy League, and Lee is at 16.7 ppg in the early going. The Tigers are 3-0 with wins over Rutgers, Hofstra and Duquesne – all teams that made the NIT or the College Basketball Invitational last year – and they haven’t even played a game at Jadwin Gym yet. Watch out.
Fairleigh Dickinson 71, Saint Peter’s 70 in the “Battle of the Bracket Busters” game televised on YES Network. The Peacocks fought all the way back from a 15-point second-half deficit and took a 70-69 lead on Michael Houge’s 3-pointer with 9 seconds left. But FDU drew a foul on its last possession and DeVante Jamison sank the game-winning free throws. FDU is 3-1, while Saint Peter’s is 1-2 with two close losses, all against New Jersey competition.
Some big individual performances in Seton Hall’s 82-63 win over Rutgers on the women’s side. Destiny Adams poured in a career-high 27 points and added eight rebounds for Rutgers. The North Carolina transfer is shaping up to be one hell of a scoring threat. But Azana Baines put up 25 points and eight boards to lead Hall. The Pirates outscored the Scarlet Knights 30-9 at the arc and 22-14 at the line. They should be a fascinating matchup for Princeton on Nov. 29.
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