Seton Hall basketball stuns UConn at home — again
NEWARK – The physicality, intensity and pride that had long been hallmarks for Seton Hall basketball prior to this lost season finally showed up Saturday — just in time for a visit from defending national champion UConn.
The program’s die-hard fans showed up big-time, too, and got every penny’s worth as a memorable tug-of-war ended with a shocking 69-68 Seton Hall victory in overtime.
After coming up with a steal off a UConn inbounds pass, sophomore wing Scotty Middleton missed a layup in traffic but followed up by tipping it through the net with three seconds left as the pro-Hall crowd of 12,000 blew the roof off the Prudential Center.
It was the final toughness play in a showcase of the intangible that means more to Hall coach Shaheen Holloway than any other.
“That’s who I am, that’s who we are, that’s what I want to be,” Holloway said. “I’ve always had teams that out-tough people.”
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There were heroics across the lineup for the Hall. Sophomore wing Isaiah Coleman tallied 23 points and eight rebounds as Seton Hall (7-19 overall, 2-13 Big East) snapped a nine-game losing streak and beat the defending national champion Huskies for the fourth straight year at home.
For first time in weeks the Pirates played with fire, holding UConn to 38 percent shooting with an aggressive pressure defense, beating them to the majority of 50/50 balls and feeding off a crowd that breathed a life into the Rock that was reminiscent of seasons of old.
“I feel like we, in the end, got what we deserved,” UConn coach and former Pirate guard Dan Hurley said. “Credit Shaheen, credit their team. They were tougher, more determined.”
The Hall led by as many as eight in regulation before UConn surged ahead late in the second half, setting up a wild finish. With the Pirates trailing by three and eight seconds left, a missed dunk by freshman center Godswill Erheriene caromed out to postgrad guard Dylan Addae-Wusu, who calmly drilled a 3-pointer with three ticks remaining, forcing overtime.
“I believe it’s God’s plan,” Erheriene said with a chuckle. “I’m glad I missed it.”
In the end UConn (17-8, 9-5) couldn’t handle the Hall’s haymakers — again. The Pirates are now 5-5 against UConn since Hurley took charge there, and Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway is 3-2 against the premier program in the sport. The Huskies lead the series 49-24 all-time.
“I felt like it was justice today,” Hurley said, “because they deserved to win.”
Dan Hurley will not win a lot of popularity contests outside of Connecticut, but one thing is certain: There’s mutual respect between him and Shaheen Holloway. Though they missed being teammates at the Hall by one season – Holloway arrived the fall after Hurley graduated – they’ve been supportive of each other throughout their rise through the coaching ranks.
Shortly before Saturday’s tip they shared an extended embrace after they walked out of the tunnel. After speaking for a minute, each chuckled as they went their separate ways.
“Danny’s been unbelievable to me,” Holloway said. “I’m not gonna tell you what he said, but he’s been calling me giving me advice, telling me to keep my head up. Shoutout to Danny, he’s been unbelievable.”
Holloway and Hurley are two of five former Seton Hall players serving as Division I men’s basketball head coaches (the others: NJIT’s Grant Billmeier, Wagner’s Donald Copeland and Binghamton’s Levell Sanders). Only Duke boasts more alums in the head-coaching ranks, with eight.
Collectively they own a whopping record of 18-6 in the NCAA Tournament, led by Hurley (14-4, two national titles), and then Holloway (3-1 with Saint Peter’s) and Copeland (1-1 last season with Wagner).
“Shaheen has proven himself as a coach,” Hurley told reporters on Friday. “He’s banked so much in his resume, what he did at Saint Peter’s, what he did last year winning the NIT, and it should have been a tournament (NCAA Tournament) team.
On Saturday, Hurley added something else poignant: “I just got so much respect for Shaheen. I hate losing to anybody, Shaheen included, but I guess if it’s going be somebody besides my bother, maybe Shaheen.”’
As coincidence would have it, Binghamton and NJIT were facing off across town at the same time Saturday. Binghamton and Sanders prevailed 75-71 in overtime.
Four former Hall players squaring off as coaches in the same city on the same day. It might be unprecedented.
For the first time in weeks, there was good news on the injury front: Guards Dylan Addae-Wusu and Scotty Middleton and center Manny Okorafor returned to action.
Addae-Wusu, who averages 12.3 points, 3.0 assists and 2.4 steals and has the second-most Big East experience of any player in the league, made an immediate impact as a ball-pressuring sub. The Hall is a different team without his defense and hustle plays.
“Having Addae-Wusu back in there helped them a lot,” Hurley said.
He finished with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting but most importantly, he gave the Huskies fits as they tried to inbound the ball in crunch time.
“That’s one of our leaders, so always great to have him back,” Coleman said.
Middleton finished with 7 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes.
“One of the best things about Scotty is his desire to want to play basketball,” Holloway said. “This is why him and I get along so well. He just cares about winning and he just cares about playing, and he made some plays down the stretch like that for us. Think about it: They’re probably not gonna tell you guys, but Scotty’s probably like, 65 percent (healthy), Dylan is clearly like 65-70 percent, and those guys are playing and diving and pressing and doing all this type of stuff.”
Holloway said Addae-Wusu and Middleton went way over their expected minutes.
“Shoutout to Scotty and Dylan, those guys put in overtime to get back,” Holloway said. “They weren’t supposed to play that much today, but it was a feeling. I asked them how they felt and they just continued to want to play.”
Guard Chaunce Jenkins (knee) sat out a sixth straight game and was joined on the sideline by center Gus Yalden (ankle).
There was a sequence in the first half that should open the eyes of any Pirate fan. Guard Jahseem Felton drove, drew a double team and dished to center Godswill Erheriene, who was flying in from the left block, for a rim-rattling slam.
These two guys are freshmen.
If there’s been a silver lining to the injury-riddled slog of the past two months, it’s that these two got significant playing time.
They’re developing, and this was the fruit.
Both started against UConn, and Erheriene was a force with 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Every time he got the ball inside, the building buzzed. More often than not, he overpowered UConn’s interior defenders.
“The game plan was to go out there and play hard and do it for my team, do it for my coach,” Erheriene said. “I feel like I’ve gotten better in every area. I’m more confident and more comfortable out there. I believe I can beat anybody now.”
Felton logged 20 minutes and posted the game’s highest plus/minus of plus-10.
“As freshmen, it’s hard coming into college basketball, especially nowadays,” Middleton said. “They’ve tried their best to listen and play hard. Props to these guys. I’m proud of them.”
Continuity is so important in the free-agency era, Keeping these guys around for next season, especially the 6-foot-9 Erheriene, would be a big boost in that department.
Heading into Saturday, there was some misguided chatter on the interwebs predicting a UConn fans takeover of the Prudential Cetner. As paltry as Seton Hall’s attendance has been this season, UConn remains a glamor game and Pirate fans do have pride. And that pride came to the fore here.
With one side of the upper-deck seats open, about 12,000 fans turned out all told. About two-thirds were in the Hall’s corner, and they wanted this one bad. They were loud from the tip and gave the home team three standing ovations as they built a 25-22 lead by halftime.
“It was good energy, they were our sixth man,” Holloway said. “It was like this building always was. But we gotta give them something to cheer about too, right? And we really haven’t been, but I thought they came out today with the mindset that they were gonna cheer for us and get after it with us.”
Down the stretch and in overtime, the scene was bedlam.
There is no doubt that the Pirates fed off that energy, displaying a hustle and urgency that hasn’t been there in recent weeks.
“Pirate Nation, I can’t even thank them enough for what they did for us,” Middleton said. It means a lot.”
Holloway shared something personal about fans’ reaction to the struggle this season.
“I’ve been getting a lot of support from a lot of our fans, a lot of e-mails, a lot of, ‘Coach, we’re still with you,’ ‘we got your back,’ stuff like that,” he said. “And that goes a long way.”
Hurley is famous for his explosive behavior, but he’s always been relatively calm in his returns to Newark and Saturday brought more of the same, even as his squad played from behind.
On Friday, speaking with reporters, he was asked about the Hall’s struggles and he diagnosed the situation perfectly.
“College basketball now is a one-year situation, with the volatility of the sport,” Hurley said. “Obviously you have to have the resources in place, or else you have no shot.”
Resources have been an issue in South Orange, but the feeling among insiders is the brutality of this season has opened some eyes in the administration. As other programs have shown this season, it’s easier than ever to flip the script with a combination of resources and smart decision-making.
“Everybody knows Shaheen is a great coach,” Hurley said after Saturday’s game. “With the resources he’s going to be middle to top of this league competing for NCAA berths and conference trophies.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
1. Coaching brethren
2. Back from injury
3. Godswill!
4. Hall fans came through
5. Words of wisdom
Late basket allows Seton Hall to shock UConn in OT
Scotty Middleton made a difficult putback with 3.2 seconds to play and Seton Hall ended the game on a 6-0 run to stun visiting UConn 69-68 in overtime and break a nine-game skid on Saturday in Newark, N.J.
Seton Hall overcame a late seven-point deficit as Dylan Addae-Wusu scored the team’s last 10 points of regulation, including the game-tying 3-pointer with less than five seconds left. UConn turned the ball over on a five-second violation to give the Pirates that possession under their basket.
UConn led for most of overtime, pushing ahead 65-61 on Solo Ball’s 3 and 68-63 on Tarris Reed Jr.’s first field goal of the game.
Four free throws brought the Pirates back within one point, and with nine seconds to go, UConn again muffed an inbounds play. Garwey Dual grabbed a steal and Middleton followed his own miss to score the game-winner.
Hassan Diarra’s last-ditch shot from midcourt bounced off the front of the rim for UConn as time expired.
The Pirates (7-18, 2-12 Big East) fared much better with Addae-Wusu, Middleton and Emmanuel Okorafor back from injury absences.
Isaiah Coleman had a game-high 23 points and eight rebounds, Godswill Erheriene had career bests of 12 points and 10 boards for his first double-double and Addae-Wusu added 13 points.
UConn (17-8, 9-5 Big East) committed 16 turnovers and shot a season-worst 37.3 percent from the field — just 8-for-28 in the first half.
Alex Karaban scored 20 points, Ball had 15 points and seven rebounds and Diarra added 12 points and five assists. Freshman Liam McNeeley chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds but committed six turnovers.
Karaban scored to put UConn up 17-14 with 8:59 left in the half, but then the Huskies hit a 6:17-long scoreless drought. Erheriene, Middleton and Coleman combined for an 11-0 Seton Hall run and an eight-point advantage before Ball knocked down a corner 3 to end the stretch.
UConn pulled within 25-22 by halftime but started the second half 1-for-11 from the floor. Seton Hall took a pair of seven-point leads before Jaylin Stewart got on the board for the first time with a 3-pointer at the 12:19 mark.
That finally got the Huskies going from outside, as Karaban knocked one down before Ball’s pull-up 3 made it 39-37 UConn, its first lead since 17-16.
Seton Hall tied the game at 43 and 45 before Garwey Dual’s open 3-pointer put the Pirates up 48-47 with 5:17 to play. McNeeley made a shot off the iron and in and followed that with a wide-open 3-pointer from the right corner. Karaban sank a trey on the next UConn possession for a 55-48 lead.
–Field Level Media
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Seton Hall’s Scotty Middleton finishes go-ahead layup to defeat UConn, 69-68
Seton Hall Pirates’ Scotty Middleton finished go-ahead layup to defeat the UConn Huskies, 69-68.
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