The Seton Hall basketball team did more than lock up an NCAA Tournament bid Saturday.
In posting a 82-66 demolition of Xavier, the Pirates looked like a team capable of doing some damage in March.
The Hall (18-9 overall, 9-8 Big East) completed the season sweep of Xavier (17-11, 7-10) thanks to big performances by senior wing Jared Rhoden (a career-high 30 points) and junior forward Tray Jackson (17 points on 6-of-6 shooting).
Six weeks after losing ace guard Bryce Aiken to a head injury, this team has won six of its past eight and is coming together at exactly the right time.
Now the Pirates, which entered the game with a NET ranking of 38, have added a daily double—a Quad 1 win and a road win – to their already solid resume. It looks like this: 6-6 against Quad 1 competition, 5-5 on the road, 9-9 against Quads 1-2 and 9-0 against Quads 3-4. Barring a shocking turn of events, that should punch the program’s fifth ticket to the NCAA Tournament since 2016.
Now the question becomes: How much can the Hall, which came into the game at a consensus No. 9 seed, move the needle enough over the next two weeks?
Some data on this one:
Seton Hall is 15-10 all-time against Xavier in a series that dates back to 1948.
The Pirates have won by double digits in their last four trips to the Cintas Center.
After going 3-5 in January, the Pirates went 6-2 in the month of February. The program is 33-19 in February since 2016.
The Hall is 15-0 this season when it holds its opponents under 70 points
THREE THOUGHTS
1. Jared Rhoden: Iron Man
Rhoden logged 37-plus minutes in each of the five games leading up to this one, including 79 of a possible 80 in the narrow wins over DePaul and Butler.
After a roller-coaster first couple of months, Rhoden is closing like a first-team All-Big East player should, and he’s playing his way into the conversation for the Haggerty Award, which goes to the metropolitan area’s top player.
As Gary Cohen put it on the radio broadcast, the Aiken injury awakened something in Rhoden.
2. The Mismatch Man
Tray Jackson has been a feast-or-famine guy for the Pirates. A shooting guard in a 6-foot-10 body, there are times when defenses simply can’t match up. This was one of those times.
Like he did at Michigan and Georgetown, Jackson simply blindsided Xavier from the perimeter.
3. Offense starting to flow
The emergency of Jamir Harris as a legitimate lead guard has taken a load off Kadary Richmond’s shoulders and it’s better for everyone. The offense flowed well in this game, with good spacing, the ball moving through the air and finding the open man.
Seton Hall is always going to be a defense-first team under Kevin Willard. But if this offense is finally hitting stride after taking time to recovery from the loss of Aiken, this can be a dangerous team.
THREE QUOTES
(On the way)
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at [email protected].
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism