Seton Hall
Hall seals Wooden Legacy Championship with 83-81 victory over Miami
Date: November 26, 2018By: Richard Behan
The Pirates took down the University of Miami 83-81 to win the Wooden Legacy Championship in Fullerton, California early Monday morning.
Senior Michael Nzei led the charge for the Pirates, with a career-high 21 points on a perfect 8-8 from the floor. Junior guards Myles Powell and Quincy McKnight also contributed double digit point totals, with 17 and 16 respectively. Sandro Mamukelashvili continued his strong play throughout the tournament, with a 9/5/3 stat line. Freshman Jared Rhoden had his best game as a Pirate to date, registering 8 points and 4 rebounds off the bench.
Powell, with his 40-point performance vs GCU and average of 25 points throughout the three tournament games, was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Wooden Legacy Tournament. Three other Pirates took home tournament honors including Michael Nzei (All-Tournament Honors), Quincy McKnight (second-team All-Tournament), and Sandro Mamukelashvili (tournament honorable mention).
Seton Hall shot 52% for the game, making 34 of 65 field goal attempts. However, the Pirates struggled from 3-point land, shooting a measly 26%, which is uncharacteristic for them. The Pirates were able to combat this through their tough play in the paint, where they outscored the Hurricanes 56-34. A place where the Pirates have been plagued the entire season is free throw shooting, but it was good enough to get the job done last night, where they shot 64% from the charity stripe.
The game, which included 12 ties and 16 lead changes, was not a defensive game by any means, but it was close from start to finish. The Pirates defense down low was a bright spot, where the Hall allowed only 4 offensive rebounds and 5 second chance points. Seton Hall also out-rebounded Miami 30-29, and none was more important than Myles Cale’s with seconds left on the clock to seal the championship victory.
“This group showed me a lot. They showed me a lot of toughness,” Kevin Willard told reporters after the game. Willard has said many times throughout this early season that his team will work through the growing pains and show its true self by December, reiterating that point yesterday, even after a tournament victory, “It’s a building block, but we still have a long way to go.”
After a tough loss to St. Louis in the Prudential Center opener on November 17th, there were doubts about the team’s ability to keep pace this year. Apparently, that was never a concern in the locker room, said Myles Powell. “Coach never lost confidence in us… He just said we had to come out here and play our game,” which ultimately led to the team bringing a trophy back to South Orange.
The Pirates are 6-1 against ACC opponents in Kevin Willard’s tenure, and they look for some more of that magic as they welcome Louisville to the Prudential Center on Saturday, December 1st at 12pm. The game will be broadcast live on WSOU 89.5 FM or the iHeart Radio app, with Jose Feliciano and Bob Towey on the call. The pregame show will start at 11:45, with Matt Ambrose and Dalton Allison live from Barcade in Newark.
Rich Behan can be reached at behanric@shu.edu and on Twitter @rbehan12.
