Game preview: No.16 Seton Hall hosts St. John's for a Sunday tilt

Date: February 22, 2020

By: Heaven Hill

After picking up a heart-pounding win over Butler on Wednesday and sweeping the season series, the Pirates return to the court Sunday afternoon to take on the St. John’s Red Storm in a game with huge conference implications.

In the Pirates’ last outing, the blood pressure and heart rate of the fans in attendance must have fluctuated for the last minute or so in that matchup. The Pirates took a five-point lead with just over a minute left as Quincy McKnight and Romaro Gill made clutch play after clutch play. As soon as it seemed like Seton Hall was going to pull away, the Bulldogs, who at that point were 0-7 from three in the second half, hit three shots from behind the arc in 50 seconds, knotting the game up at 72.

Lucky for the Pirates, Sandro Mamukelashvili continued his mid-season resurgence post-injury as he rolled hard to the rim and floated home an alley-oop for the buzzer beating victory, giving the Pirates their 19th win of the year. Mamukelashvili, who had 15 points overall against Butler and who didn’t play in the first matchup against the Red Storm, will be extremely important against the Johnnies, on both ends.

His defense and rebounding will be imperative against Josh Roberts, who had 16 points and eight rebounds for St. John’s in the last matchup, and he might occasionally switch out on the wing against LJ Figueroa, who had 16 points of his own in the last contest as well. Offensively, his ability to space the floor and set hard screens will be crucial to opening passing and driving lanes for Quincy McKnight to thrive.

Another key to victory for the Pirates will be to control the ball and beat the press of the Johnnies carefully. We’ve seen the Hall struggle against the full court press and traps in the past, namely against Oregon, and in the last matchup against St. John’s, the Pirates had a mind-boggling 15 turnovers in the first half and as a result, trailed by 13 entering the break.

However, Coach Willard made his patented adjustments and the Pirates only had four turnovers in the second period as they exploded for 52 points and the win. The Red Storm are coming off a game against Xavier where they forced 22 turnovers and they rank third in the entire nation in turnover margin, so Seton Hall limiting turnovers will be pivotal. If they do so, they could win this one with ease.

Finally, we can’t mention keys to victory for the Pirates without discussing their superstar guard Myles Powell. Powell transformed into a flamethrower after halftime of the last game between these two squads, as he scored 23 of his 29 points after the break and surpassing 2,000 career points in the process.

Powell has shown all season a rare ability to just take over games from all three levels, and every once in a while he’ll have a half where he explodes for over 20 points. When you couple this with the unfortunate injury to Mustapha Heron for the Red Storm, if Powell gets going fast, this game could get ugly.

Looking at the St. John’s lineup, the injury to Heron has resulted in other players having to step up in his absence. Specifically, Marcellus Earlington, who has arguably been their best player over their last three games. Averaging 18 points and eight rebounds while shooting 60% from three despite only playing 22 minutes a game over that period, he has been phenomenal and the Pirates defense will have to key in on the sophomore.

Finally, the Red Storm have struggled mightily in the Big East this season, but there might be nowhere else in the world that they’ve struggled more than the Prudential Center. The Johnnies are 0-5 in their last five games in the Rock, dating back to the 2013-14 season, including the buzzer beating loss to the Pirates last season on a last-second Shavar Reynolds three pointer. In an arena that hasn’t been kind to them for a long stretch, the Red Storm look to get the monkey off their back in this one.

These two teams split the season series last year and Seton Hall needed a feverish comeback to win the first game this year, so this is bound to be an enthralling encounter. You can find coverage of this conference clash on 89.5 FM WSOU, with Michael Daly and Dalton Allison on the call in the Prudential Center, along with special guest Bob Ley for a portion of the second half.

Heaven Hill can be reached at heaven.hill@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Men's Basketball