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Preview: Seton Hall Takes On UConn in Big East Tournament Quarterfinals

Date: March 10, 2022

By: Jonathan Heite

Seton Hall's Jared Rhoden guards UConn's R.J. Cole during a home game.

Kayla Fonseca/WSOU Sports

This is March.

After a classic, Big East style first round victory over No. 11 seed Georgetown, the No. 6 seed Seton Hall men’s basketball team will now face No. 3 seed UConn in the 2022 Big East Tournament quarterfinals.

Last night was long to say the least, as the Pirates avoided a potentially devastating upset loss to the Hoyas. Seton Hall advanced to tonight’s game by a score of 57-53, but there were many ups and downs that led Georgetown, a team without any conference wins, with multiple chances to steal the matchup.

Some facets of the game that Seton Hall needs to clean up before tonight’s clash with the Huskies include more efficient rebounding, limiting turnovers, and staying out of foul trouble.

By the final buzzer, the Hoyas heavily outrebounded the Pirates, as they grabbed 48 (21 offensive) to Seton Hall’s 34. The first half alone saw Timothy Ighoefe collect eight boards compared to a combined nine from Alexis Yetna, Tyrese Samuel, and Ike Obiagu.

When the Pirates face off against one of the most dominant frontcourt players in the conference in Adama Sanago for the third time, they will need to try to crash the glass every single possession. Sanago has many dynamic parts to his game, so it will take an entire team effort to try and limit Sanago’s dominant rebounding.

While Georgetown did have more turnovers (16) than Seton Hall (12) by the end, a few Pirates had two-plus turnovers which led to some costly Hoyas points. Jared Rhoden and Kadary Richmond (still played exceptionally well with an injured hand) each had three and Jamir Harris had two, but these extra possessions are crucial in a game against a team like UConn, as the Pirates know how important every offensive possession is from earlier in the season.

The fouls were also rampant throughout much of the first half. Seton Hall got called for eight, and Tray Jackson dealt with foul trouble with three alone through the first 20 minutes.

Harris was the hero last night, as he hit the biggest three of his Seton Hall career with 40.3 seconds left. The graduate transfer ended with nine points, all from the second half and all were threes, who has done a phenomenal job stepping up in the place of an injured Bryce Aiken and limited Richmond.

Richmond, who has battled through injury and adversity all season long, still managed to tally nine points, three assists, two rebounds, one block, and one steal in the first half. He only played three minutes in the second, as the thumb injury was reaggravated and Coach Willard wanted to make sure he could be available for tonight’s contest.

Two of the veteran leaders on the team, Rhoden and Myles Cale, scored 17 and 14 points respectively, Yetna grabbed 11 rebounds, and Obiagu blocked seven shots, which tied his season high. The graduate student now has an impressive eight games with five-plus blocks, and his interior presence has been a major reason why Seton Hall is now 18-0 this year when holding their opponents to under 70 points.

The last two times Seton Hall faced UConn were intense to say the least, with the Pirates defeating the Huskies in overtime at home on Jan. 8, 90-87, and falling to UConn on the road on Feb. 16, 70-65.

Richmond had his best performance as a Pirate in the Prudential Center thriller, as he finished with a career-high 27 points, and Harris kept Seton Hall alive in the Gampel Pavilion loss with a team-high 15 points on 3/5 shooting from beyond the arc.

Sanogo had a monster double-double in both of those games, with 18 points and 16 rebounds in the first and 20 and 16 in the second. R.J. Cole also finished with 15 and 16 points in each of the two matchups, and Tyrese Martin ended with 16 points and 10 boards in the Huskies win.

Rhoden, Cole, and Sanogo all earned spots on the All-Big East First Team, and Jordan Hawks made the All-Big East Freshman Team, just a few days ago, so this is certainly a star-studded matchup during the most exciting time of the college basketball season.

According to UConn writer David Borges, the last time UConn played in front of a normal, sellout crowd at the Big East Tournament after a 10-year long absence (excluding last year’s limited audience capacity tournament), Andre Drummond, Jeremy Lamb, and Shabazz Napier were still Huskies, and they fell to then Big East-member Syracuse in the quarterfinals back in 2012.

Tonight will be a thriller from start to finish, and be sure to tune into 89.5 FM WSOU, where Jorie Mickens and Heaven Hill will be on the call from the World’s Most Famous Arena. Tipoff should be around 9:30 p.m., and this will be one you won’t want to miss.

Jonathan Heite is the Web Editor for WSOU Sports and can be reached at wsousportswebeditor@gmail.com.

Posted in: Game Previews, Men's Basketball, Sports

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