WSOU

Recap: Seton Hall Loses to St. John's at Walsh, 84-63

Date: January 25, 2022

By: Ryan Johnston

Seton Hall and St. John's men's basketball face off at Walsh Gym.

Robert Sabo/NY Post

The Seton Hall men’s basketball team (12-6, 3-5 conference) lost in ugly fashion to St. John’s (11-7, 3-4 conference) on Monday, 84-63. This was the worst loss the Pirates have had all season, with all of their other losses around six points or less.

The Johnnies jumped on the Pirates early, making use of their press effectively. They started out in a 1-2-1-1 press, and later moved to a more aggressive version of it. They sped the Pirates up, forcing a couple of early turnovers and making the Pirates rush shots offensively. They never let the Pirates get in a real offensive set.

St. John’s was also picking apart the Pirates on offensive, with backdoor cuts leading to easy layups multiple times in the first half.

With 14:54 left in the first half, St. John’s was ahead 13-9. After four minutes had passed, the Pirates were down 23-15. At one point, the Pirates were so lethargic that they were down 42-21 in the first half.

However, an and-one and a made three on back-to-back possessions from Jared Rhoden got the Pirates going a little bit offensively. By the end of the half, the Pirates had cut the lead to just 10. They were shooting just 26% from the field, compared to the Red Storm’s 40+%. St. John’s defense was simply suffocating.

The beginning of the second half was similar to the end of the first. The Pirates stayed in the game, but they weren’t playing particularly well. They made a few sloppy passes and missed a more than a few jumpers, but with 13:56 left in the game, the Pirates had made a small run, down just 53-44.

However, this did not last. St. John’s pressure ended up being too much for the Pirates to overcome. Seton Hall struggled with the press in the second half and had a few bad turnovers that led to easy buckets for St. John’s.

The Pirates tried switching to a 2-3 zone, but to no avail. With 8:00 left in the game, St. John’s had extended their lead to 19, up 70-51.

Then, the Pirates started to get frustrated. Shots hadn’t been falling all night, and the Johnnies were playing very physical defense. Despite forcing 19 fouls out of St. John’s, a couple of questionable calls didn’t go their way. The Pirates started missing assignments on defense and committing bad turnovers. St. John’s lead got as big as 27, and by that point, it was completely over.

Myles Cale had a decent game for Seton Hall, scoring 16 points and shooting 5/10 from the field. However, he shot just 5/10 from the line. Jamir Harris also came on late in the game, ending 12 points on 50% shooting.

Aaron Wheeler and Posh Alexander both had great games for St. John’s. Wheeler was critical in the press for St. John’s, also knocking down three shots from beyond the arc. Alexander was the game’s highest scorer, ending with 19 and getting four putback layups.

Seton Hall is next in action on Wednesday when they take on Marquette in Newark, N.J. Chris Kiely and yours truly will be on the call. Be sure to tune into 89.5 FM WSOU when that game kicks off at 8:30 p.m.

Ryan Johnston can be reached at ryan.johnston@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Men's Basketball, Sports, WSOU

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