The stage was set for a fairy-tale ending to the quartet of the Seton Hall seniors’ final home game of the season. Fans were back in attendance, their NCAA Tournament hopes were on the line, they were up against a historic Big East rival in the University of Connecticut and it was Senior Night.
College Senior Nights were always meant to be a special occasion for the student-athletes who devoted their college careers to their athletic program and school. Four-year Seton Hall veterans Sandro Mamukelashvili, Myles Cale and Shavar Reynolds and graduate transfer Bryce Aiken were always going to have their ceremonious send-off at the final home game of this season, but now it will happen in front of a 1,700-person crowd at the Prudential Center.
Seton Hall Athletics announced Tuesday that they will host fans for at the Wednesday, March 3 men’s basketball game against the University of Connecticut.
Feb. 23, 2021 at 5:00 p.m.
Pair of Pirates hit 1,000 points
Seton Hall's defensive woes from the perimeter have been a constant issue for the team this season, and they proved detrimental in Saturday night's loss to Georgetown. The Hoyas shot 10-for-16 from three-point range and outshot the Pirates from the field 50% to 43.3% to put a dent in Seton Hall's NCAA Tournament hopes.
After a tough run of games that saw the Seton Hall men’s basketball team go winless in four games against No. 10 Villanova and No. 14 Creighton, the Pirates came into Wednesday’s home game against DePaul on a three-game winning streak.
Off the back of a two-game away stint last week, Seton Hall men’s basketball returned to the Prudential Center for their second game of the season against Marquette. With just about month left for teams to make their cases for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, the Pirates came into this one knowing they had to grab the win.
To commemorate the 30-year anniversary of the men’s basketball program’s first Big East championship victory, The Setonian interviewed players and coaches from that title-winning team for a multi-part series taking readers through the historic season. Each part of the series will be released on the anniversary of a game from that 1990-91 season schedule. All persons listed below are attributed their job title or position from Mar. 10, 1991. Some of the below quotes have been edited for clarity.
After nearly eight years without a Big East game between Seton Hall and the University of Connecticut, Saturday’s meeting between the two sides did not disappoint.
The Friars looked shaky in possession to start the game, giving up two turnovers that would lead to fast-break points from Myles Cale and Shavar Reynolds. At 7-6, neither looked like they were going to have a particular good shooting night, but a layup from David Duke broke the three-minute scoring drought and set Providence up for a run.
After what will likely be the toughest three-game stretch of the Seton Hall men’s basketball team’s season, the Pirates walk away without a win to their name. An away loss to No. 3 Villanova and a home loss to No. 17 Creighton was capped off by another home loss in the reverse fixture to Villanova over an 11-day stretch of games.
Leading up to Seton Hall forward Sandro Mamukelashvili’s senior year, he had been tipped as one of the players to watch both in the Big East and across the national college basketball scene. He was named to the Preseason All-Big East First Team back in October, and now he’s been named as one of the top 10 candidates for the 2021 Karl Malone Award.
The story of Wednesday night’s loss to No. 17 Creighton was a tale of two halves that didn’t fall in Seton Hall’s favor. After an electric first half that saw Myles Cale shoot 4-for-5 from three-point range and Bryce Aiken put up 12 points, the Pirates failed to maintain their astute defensive efforts in the closing moments of the second half.
The last two times the Seton Hall men's basketball faced a Villanova team ranked third in country, they were victorious both times. With the Wildcats coming off a month-long stretch without a single game, it looked as though the streak may stretch to three games.
The last two times the Seton Hall men's basketball faced a Villanova team ranked third in country, they were victorious both times. With the Wildcats coming off a month-long stretch without a single game, it looked as though the streak may stretch to three games.
Seton Hall came into Saturday’s game off the back of a 36-point loss to No. 7 Creighton on Wednesday night while DePaul were just three games into their season due to previous positive COVID-19 tests within the team. It was always going to be an especially difficult game for both teams physically and mentally, but the Pirates showed true grit to fend off a late second half comeback by the Blue Demons to leave the Wintrust Arena with a win.
Away games in Omaha, Neb. have always been difficult tests for Seton Hall to overcome, and tonight’s loss to No. 7 Creighton was no different. Slow starts to both halves prevented the Pirates form establishing a foothold in the game, and an uncharacteristic number of turnovers throughout the night saw the team take one step forward and two steps back in their attempts to claw their way back into the game.
Coming into Saturday's game, Butler and Seton Hall were on two entirely different trajectories. The Bulldogs were seeing a massive decline from last season as they went from being ranked as high as fifth in the country, to now sitting at 1-2 in-conference and 2-4 overall. Meanwhile, the Pirates were coming off one of their best all-around team games in years when they beat Xavier last Wednesday.
On April 3, 1989, the Seton Hall men’s basketball team played in their first and only NCAA national championship game at the Kingdome in Seattle. The Pirates were without a regular season or conference tournament title to their name in those days, but program legends like John Morton, Daryll Walker and Ramón Ramos were playing the best basketball of their careers to get the team to the pinnacle of college basketball games that season.
Solutions by The State News