Game preview: Seton Hall plays against Southern Miss on Thanksgiving at the Battle 4 Atlantis

Date: November 28, 2019

By: John Makuch

Seton Hall takes on the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles Thanksgiving night at 9:00 pm in the first game of the loser’s bracket in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. This game comes not even 24 hours after a very tough loss to the Oregon Ducks where Seton Hall squandered a 19-point lead in the second half in a 71-69 defeat.

The Pirates trip to Paradise Island in Nassau has not been the paradise they were looking for but the Pirates are going to look to bounce back against a Southern Miss team that has not had a lot of success so far this season following a 94-69 loss to No. 8 Gonzaga. Seton Hall played well for much of their previous game against No.8 Oregon who will most likely move up in the rankings in their win, Myles Powell put on a 32-point performance with 10-point nights from Myles Cale and Sandro Mamukelashvili for support.

Head coach Kevin Willard is looking for more scoring from players not named Powell saying: “Someone else has to step up… That’s where we need to get better.” Willard is looking for more contributions from Jared Rhoden and Anthony Nelson to help Powell: “Our sophomores have to play better. Jared Rhoden and Ant Nelson are two guys who I love but they have to play better.”

Still early in the season, coach Willard is still looking for that second scoring option to play next to Powell. Southern Miss has not had a great start to their 2019 campaign with their record currently sitting at 2-4 after being blown out by Gonzaga. The team is currently led by forward Boban Jacdonmi who is averaging 16.4 points so far this season. While also having another forward Leonard Harper-Baker playing 30.6 minutes a game averaging 9.8 points a game and leading the steals in rebounds blocks and steals averaging 9.2 rebounds 1.6 blocks and 1.6 steals on a forward heavy team.

Southern miss does not have a single player listed at center so the Pirates will most likely look to play with a small lineup in this loser’s bracket matchup. Seton Hall will either play Iowa State or Alabama on Friday based on the results of Iowa State vs Alabama at 6:30 and Seton Hall and Southern Miss’s matchup.

The Hall was looking to pick up one or more AP top 25 wins against Oregon and would have had a chance to take down No. 8 Gonzaga. Now the Hall looks to get through Southern Miss and the losers bracket like a Bahama breeze as they are the only top 25 team in this part of the tournament bracket.

You can find coverage of Seton Hall vs Southern Miss on 89.5 WSOU with coverage beginning at 8:45 p.m. On the call for the game are Dalton Allison and Jose Feliciano.

John Makuch can be reached at john.makuch@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Men's Basketball