Men's Basketball Return Home to Walsh in Matchup Against Fordham

Published: Friday, November 8, 2024

by Patrick Corsello

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J - The Pirates (1-0) look to continue their winning ways as they head into battle against the Fordham Rams (0-1) in historic Walsh Gymnasium on Saturday, November 9th.  It was certainly not easy for the Pirates in their season opener against the Saint Peter’s Peacocks this past Monday, but they scrapped out a tough 57-53 win.

It is expected that some rust will be shaken off when the season starts, and this seemed to be the case for most of the Pirates’ squad. However, one player stood out in particular; the graduate student Chaunce Jenkins, who transferred to Seton Hall from Old Dominion during the offseason. Jenkins led his team in scoring with his 19 points on Monday, and is a prime candidate to lead the Pirates offense as this season moves forward.

On the opposing side, the Fordham Rams were demolished in their opening contest Monday against the Seton Hall-rivaled St. John’s Red Storm. The Rams struggled to stay in the game against the Johnnies, losing by a score of 92-60. Prior to this matchup, Fordham head coach Keith Urgo had a message for these two Big East squads, saying “Again, if we take care of the basketball and we’re physical on the glass, we’ll be able to compete pretty much against anyone we play.”  

Despite the recent loss, it is expected that the Rams will keep this mindset going up against a Shaheen Holloway-led team, which is always known to bring physicality to their game. Coach Urgo acknowledged this physical style saying “Seton Hall, you just know they’re going to be incredibly tough, nasty, physical because of Shaheen, so they’re going to play us harder than anybody we play all year long, and that’s the way we kind of play as well.”  

Though it is early, this may be a must-win for the Pirates if one is looking at the long term outlook of the season. One of the reasons that the Hall was snubbed from the NCAA Tournament was because of their lack of dominance in non-conference games last season. There is no doubt that the Big East has the ability to out-duel an A-10 school (we saw that by St. John's this past week) but it is all about execution for the Pirates. They were just 14-44 from the field against Saint Peters, and Shaheen Holloway expressed in his post-game press conference that shooting is something that needs to be better.

Another player to watch for the Pirates heading into this matchup is Isaiah Coleman. Coleman has yet to make his season debut in his second year as a Pirate. He is likely to be a big part of this team's identity, and it will be interesting to see how he looks in his sophomore season with a year of experience.  

We will see how it all shakes out as the Pirates look for another victory against a struggling Fordham Rams team. Tipoff is Saturday, November 9th, at 12 p.m., with Miguel Freire and Kyle Ferreira on the call. 

Patrick Corsello is an Assistant Music Director at WSOU and can be reached at patrick.corsello@student.shu.edu. 

 

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