WSOU

Preview: Seton Hall travels to Queens for season finale with the Red Storm

Date: March 6, 2021

By: Chris Kiely

this is an image for the article

Seton Hall Athletics

In the month of March, teams on the bubble make or break their opportunity to make the dance of 68. For the Seton Hall Pirates, it has been the ladder of the two. At a record of 13-11, the Pirates are in rough shape as they seem to be on the outside looking by all measurables. The main cause of the predicament they currently are sitting in is the current three-game losing streak.

 

With little opportunity left to prove to the selection committee in the regular season, the Pirates hope to gain some momentum in their last regular season game of the year, before the Big East Tournament, against the St John’s Red Storm (15-10 overall, 9-9 conference).

 

The Pirates have been falling on hard times since the middle of February. Even in their wins versus Marquette and at DePaul, they really were not convincing and seemed lackluster. What has been the cause of these struggles? It has been a mixture of things, but it is mainly their offense.  First, the team’s offense has been shooting the ball poorly. In their three-game losing streak, the Pirates have shot 41.7% from the field and 25.3% from the three-point line.

 

As obvious as it may sound, teams that cannot score at a high level have limited areas to help them win. Connecting to that point, another concern for the Pirates has been the poor scoring and efficiency by the team’s starters. Both Jared Rhoden and Myles Cale have underperformed in scoring and shooting percentage. Even Sandro Mamukelashvili, who is still scoring at a high level, has been scoring inefficiently with a low field goal percentage.

As for St. John’s, they have been an inconsistent team all season in the Big East. Similar to the Pirates, they have also had a case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At one point, they were on a six- game conference winning streak, including a 70-59 win over then No. 3 Villanova. On the other side, they at one point lost five of their first six conference games. St John’s success has come through their backcourt that consists of two underclassmen guards. They are Sophomore Julian Champagnie and Posh Alexander.

 

The two are the top two in scoring and either one also leads the team in rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and free throw percentage. Of the two, the one the Pirates must focus on is Alexander. When the Red Storm have won, Alexander has averaged 13 points-per-game. When the Red Storm have lost, he averages 7.5 points-per-game. It quite self-explanatory that when teams stop Alexander, they stop the whole Red Storm.

For the Pirates, their keys to winning at Carnesecca Arena consists of two factors, one on each side of the ball. First, the Pirates must put to an end to their weak offense performances and increase in offense productivity. Rhoden and Cale need to get back to previous performances of scoring. Defensively, the Pirates need to make defending Alexander their number one priority.

 

As mentioned above, the Red Storm’s chances of winning throughout the year have largely depend upon the performance of their freshman guard out of Brooklyn, N. Y. Throughout this season, the Pirates have found success against competent teams when they phased out one of their opponent’s top players.

Whether it was Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (Villanova), Denzel Mahoney (Creighton), or Paul Scruggs (Xavier), Seton Hall has shown that they are capable of slowing down some of the best players that the Big East has to offer. If Seton Hall can execute on those two keys, I expect them to end this losing streak and head into the Big East Tournament in Manhattan with a win.

 

This is a matchup that features two long-time members of the Big East, the Pirates, and the Red Storm. The two Northeast schools have played each other a total of 92 times since 1950, with St John’s holding a 52-40 lead. Last year, the Pirates won both of their two head-to-head matchups; the Pirates notched an 82-79 win in Madison Square Garden on Jan. 18, 2020 and an 81-65 blowout win at the Prudential Center on Feb. 23, 2020. As for this season, the Pirates won their first matchup against St. John’s by a score of 77-68. WSOU 89.5 FM has it all covered with the pre-game coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. and tip-off at 7:00 p.m. with Ronny Castaneda and Liam Plate on the call.

Chris Kiely can be reached at christoper.kiely@student.shu.edu.

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

Seton Hall

Seton Hall

Merchandise

wsou store