Seton Hall basketball: dead legs, dead crowd in killer loss to DePaul
NEWARK – All season, Seton Hall basketball thrived on an abundance of energy that enabled it to outwork and outhustle opponents in crunch time.
On Wednesday the Pirates' tank was empty, and it may have cost them a shot at an at-large NCAA Tournament berth.
Playing on a short turnaround before a dead crowd of about 5,000 – a shockingly small number for such a high-stakes contest – the Hall got worn down by DePaul, falling 69-57 in a game they had to have. After the Pirates took a one-point lead with 5:29 left, they missed the front end of one-and-ones, committed careless turnovers and got hammered at the rim defensively as the Blue Demons closed the game on an 18-5 run.
“We just looked like we was in quicksand," Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said. "We didn’t have no burst and did uncharacteristic things down the stretch that we normally don’t do.”
Seton Hall (18-9 overall, 8-8 Big East) led by six points early in the second half before DePaul (14-12, 6-9) turned up the physicality screws the way the Pirates usually do to opponents.
“I thought on drives to the basket, we were not driving tough and hoping the referees would bail us out with a call, and they (DePaul) were getting in the lane every time they wanted," Holloway said. "Guys got tired so they asked for subs.”
That's highly uncharacteristic for this group.
“I’m on the sideline seeing what I can do to try to help them," Holloway said. "We just didn’t have it – and it’s tough to say that for a game like this because it’s such a big game, but we didn’t have no legs.”
The Blue Demons, who came into the game 1-7 on the road this season, including 0-7 in Big East road contests, completed the season sweep that may have torpedoed the overachieving Pirates’ resume.
“Got to give DePaul a lot of credit," Holloway said. "I was really worried about this game, because in the first game they just out-toughed us. They did the same thing this game.”
5 TAKEAWAYS
1. Beat up inside
With reserve center Godswill Erheriene sidelined by a knee injury suffered in Tuesday's practice and starting center Stephon Payne beset by an ankle problem and foul trouble, DePaul crushed the Pirates inside, going plus-13 on the glass, holding a 13-3 edge in offensive rebounds and an 11-0 advantage in second-chance points.
Payne was increasingly struggling to defend the paint as the game wore on. Although freshman center Najai Hines played well in the first half (6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block), he logged just seven second-half minutes. People were yelling from the stands for Holloway to put Hines in.
When asked about his handling of the centers, Holloway replied, “Najai gets tired quick. I wanted to have him out there, but he gets tired quick and you can’t play certain kinds of defense with him. He’s a freshman, you know, and he’s trying to get in better shape.”
Payne finished with no points, six rebounds, four fouls and a plus/minus of minus-12, worst on the team.
Seton Hall’s centers also struggled in the loss at DePaul last month, combining for just five points and eight rebounds in that contest.
It doesn't help the interior game that power forward has been a weakness. The three-man rotation at the spot (Elijah Fisher, Jacob Dar, Josh Rivera) mustered a total of five points and five rebounds in 41 combined minutes. Fisher and Dar are built and play more like wings than traditional power forwards, which is part of the problem.
2. The turnaround reared its head
After Sunday’s win at Butler, Holloway saw trouble coming. He criticized the Big East scheduling – having the Pirates play a Sunday night game in the Midwest, arriving home around midnight, before facing a team coming off a full week’s bye.
Preparation days matter, and the Pirates were at a clear disadvantage here. It’s not so much facing an opponent which is coming off a bye – that happens. It’s the needlessness of playing on a Sunday night when the Big East mostly loads up on Saturday games. On that, he’s got a point.
“A lot of coaches get in trouble speaking their minds," Holloway said when asked about it. "It’s tough."
He added: "We got back so late, Monday we couldn’t do nothing. Yesterday (Tuesday) we tried to do some stuff, but guys just didn’t have it, to be honest. I tried everything, I’m still going to try everything. We’ve got to bounce back on Saturday.”
3. Simpkins starts again; no real difference
After finally moving into the starting lineup at Butler, junior guard Taquan Simpkins stayed there, with Mike Williams coming off the bench once again.
The starters didn’t exactly fire out of a cannon. DePaul led 13-11 when Holloway started making substitutions.
Simpkins finished with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting with two assists. Williams went scoreless.
4. Crowd was embarrassingly small
The annual spring semester Greek Night promotion for fraternities and sororities, designed to drive up student attendance, worked as intended. For the first time since the Jan. 13 game against UConn, there was a semblance of a student section. It wasn’t overflowing but it was better than pathetic.
The overall crowd, however, was surprisingly small for an important game. That’s not what the team needed coming off a short turnaround. While the loss is on the players and coaches, it's also on fans who left vast swaths of seats empty for a must-win game.
Athletics director Bryan Felt, appearing on this week’s Jersey Jump Shot podcast, said the department has invested a good deal of money into promotions to lure students to games this season – and pledged to conduct market-level research into why it’s tailed off so badly despite the team’s surprisingly successful season.
5. Georgetown next: 'We'll definitely do better'
A crowd of 9,000-plus is expected for a must-win against Georgetown (6 p.m., Fox Sports 1). The Hoyas have been down for a long time but their name still moves the needle in terms of interest. As an added bonus, the 2026 Hall of Fame class will be introduced on the court, headlined by men’s hoops great Anthony Avent.
Georgetown fell to 13-13 overall and 5-10 in the Big East after Wednesday’s 93-89 home loss to Butler. Dating back to 2016, the Pirates have won nine of the past 10 meetings in Newark with the Hoyas, with the lone exception coming last season.
“We’ll do better; we’ll definitely do better," Holloway said. "Got to get these guys’ juice back and their legs back, and come out here and try to get a good win at home. I hate to lose, but especially at home. It’s not a great feeling – it’s a terrible feeling.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com .
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Seton Hall basketball loses to DePaul: dead legs, dead crowd, killer loss
