The Pirates rolled into Storrs, Conn. on Wednesday night off six straight wins and sitting second in the Big East standings. The obstacle between them and their winning streak? No. 2 University of Connecticut who, in thier own respect, were coming off an impressive win over No. 1 South Carolina two days prior.
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.
Graduate student and New York native Andra Espinoza-Hunter has already begun to make her mark on the women’s basketball team. After an impressive high school career, she became an established player at Mississippi State after transferring from the University of Connecticut at the end of her freshman year. Adjusting to a new program may be difficult for some, but Espinoza-Hunter is fitting right in.
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.
The Pirates came into Sunday’s faceoff with Butler fresh off a dominant win against Marquette two days before. Mississippi State graduate transfer Andra Espinoza-Hunter and senior Desiree Elmore led the way as both had over 20 points, and they looked to keep up the senior leadership against a 1-7 Butler squad.
After an unexpected day of rest following the postponement of Wednesday's away game against Creighton, the Seton Hall women's basketball team came into Friday's game against Marquette looking refreshed. The Golden Eagles had a perfect 3-0 conference record but were handed their first conference loss of the season by the Pirates after standout performances from graduate transfer Andra Espinoza-Hunter and senior Desiree Elmore.
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.
Coming off a 12-point comeback victory over Providence on Sunday which included 20-point performances from Lauren Park-Lane and Mya Jackson, the Pirates sought to go above .500 in Big East play on Wednesday with a win over Villanova.
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.
After showing shades of his individual capabilities on the floor in the first half of Sunday night's loss to Providence, Myles Cale blew up for a career-high 30 points against the Georgetown Hoyas.
With the Seton Hall men’s basketball team on a four-game win streak, their good fortunes were bound to run dry soon. That heartbreaking reality check came Sunday night as the Pirates suffered their first home loss of the season to the Providence Friars. Providence locked down Sandro Mamukelashvili for most of regulation time in this game, and they gave Seton Hall one of their most difficult games of the season in this back-and-forth home loss.
In what was slated to be the Seton Hall men’s basketball team’s biggest challenge of the season so far, the Pirates delivered their best full-game performance of the season in Thursday night’s win over Marquette.
Solutions by The State News