There was nothing pretty about this week’s win for Seton Hall over DePaul. This game was an ugly watch even for the most-devoted basketball fan.
The good news for the Pirates is they came away with the victory. Their resume for the NCAA Tournament avoided a major hit. With their 60-52 win over the last-place Blue Deamons, Seton Hall improved to 13-8 overall, 10-5 in the Big East (third place).
If I needed to point towards any bad news, it was the headache I gave myself from choosing to watch this basketball game.
Hi, let me introduce myself: Anthony, most-devoted basketball fan.
Every game against a last-place team won’t be a two-hour working vacation, but a loss to DePaul would’ve been a body blow to Seton Hall’s tourney resume.
The Pirates, however, have been down this road before.
Isaiah Whitehead, Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez, Angel Delgado, Myles Powell… and now, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Myles Cale.
This is a battle-tested team.
Yes, the leaders have come and gone over the last five years, but the head coach, Kevin Willard, is still there. And the freshmen, who were waiting their time, are now seniors embracing the moment.
In my time watching and covering Seton Hall, Willard has always had the pulse of his players. He just knows what buttons to hit and at which times to hit them.
In the win over DePaul, nothing came easy for the Pirates. The offense, at times, appeared stuck in quicksand. And this was a team missing their two leading scorers, Charlie Moore (13.7 ppg) and Javon Freeman-Liberty (13.4 ppg), both of whom were injured.
Willard knew he needed to wake up his team at halftime. He knew he needed his seniors to set the tone.
Mamukelashvili finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds and four assists while becoming the 45th player in program history to score 1,000 collegiate points.
“I really got on him at halftime, and he answered the bell,” Willard said after the game. “He came out motivated and came out very focused.”
“I’m a senior, and I’m a leader,” Mamukelashvili said. “Sometimes there will be nights when they (teammates) have to put me on their shoulders. Today I was just that guy who got the ball. I was feeling confident and I was feeling relaxed.”
Cale contributed 11 points and helped spark Seton Hall’s defensive effort.
“That’s what we’ve been talking about, leaving a legacy out there,” Cale said. “We just want to leave our own legacy and make sure Seton Hall remembers us. That’s the plan for us, keep winning and hopefully do something special by the time we’re done.”
They’re already on their way and, while the work is far from done, they have the resume to get there.
Image: Sandro Mamukelashvili and Myles Cale – David Butler II / AP
Image: Kevin Willard – Laurence Kesterson
