Seton Hall basketball hammers St. John's for first Big East win

NEWARK – Shaheen Holloway called it a must-win, and his Seton Hall basketball team played like it.

Backs to the wall after an 0-3 start in the Big East, the Pirates fired on all cylinders to crush St. John’s, 88-66, on Saturday before 10,000 fans at Prudential Center. This wasn't just a stop-the-bleeding result. It showed this team's potential.

"We just have to understand we have to play like that all the time, like our back is against the wall every time in this league," Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said.

As he did with the media, Holloway didn't shy away from the must-win talk with his players leading up to the game. Quite the opposite.

"The emphasis on that (this week) was very big," said senior guard Al-Amir Dawes, who led the Pirates with 22 points. Junior guard Kadary Richmond (19 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists) and senior center Tyrese Samuel (16 points, 9 rebounds) also led the charge as the Pirates improved to 8-7 overall and 1-3 in the conference.

“Sky’s the limit for this team," Samuel said. "We’re just as good as any of the teams I’ve played on at Seton Hall. Once we lock in and find that real click, it’s going to be a great story for us and Seton Hall.”

St. John’s (11-4, 1-3) is now 1-11 all-time against the Hall at the Prudential Center and 2-16 on the road in this series over the past 25 years. The Pirates are 3-0 against the Johnnies on New Year's Eve over the past decade.

"We’ve got to get tougher," St. John's coach Mike Anderson said. "That’s the bottom line."

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

1. Tyrese Samuel, take a bow

There was no way around it: Seton Hall needed a huge outing from Samuel. The lone four-year Pirate delivered. He was tasked with defending St. John’s bulldozer Joel Soriano, avoiding foul trouble and carrying the offense inside. He held up his end of the bargain. Soriano, who is two inches taller and 25 pounds heavier -- and much closer to a true five than Samuel, who is a power forward converted out of necessity -- finished with 23 points and 11 boards. But Samuel, with help from a cagy zone, more or less neutralized him over the final 30 minutes.

"He responded real well," Dawes said of Samuel. "I’ve been seeing him work at trying to be aggressive and land the first punch, trying to physically bother guys with his presence, and did a good job with that."

Samuel tallied 16 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists. His hard hat set a tone as the Hall rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit, and his teammates responded to his aggression by looking for him on the offensive end.

"I thought Tyrese, he battled," Holloway said. "That’s all I ask for him to do, is battle. That kid Soriano’s pretty good, he’s really big....I’m asking a lot of him, and I think he’s up to the task.”

Perhaps most important, Holloway entrusted Samuel with 33 minutes. It's been a feeling out process between the Kevin Willard holdover and the new skipper. Holloway's given him a quick hook in some games. Not this one.

"I’m thankful for being in this situation," Samuel said. "He believed in me and that gives me a lot of confidence. I came out today and showed what I’m able to do, even though Soriano is a great big man and a tough matchup.”

Holloway really has no choice but to go all-in with Samuel, who has no backup. But to see them on the same page is important as Samuel adjusts to his new position.

“I'm getting more comfortable," he said. "Being the big guy, you can really be the game-changer, especially in college basketball.”

2. Dawes catches fire

Keep shooting. That was the message Holloway sent to Dawes as the Newark native struggled in his first three Big East games.

Message received. It helped that St. John's left him wide open twice early at the arc, and he cashed in both times.

"Al is a rhythm player; he made a couple of shots early, his rhythm was there, but I need Al to be more aggressive going to the basket," Holloway said. "Obviously he shot the ball well, and we need him to shoot the ball well, but we need him to do other things. We need him to create more, and be more of a playmaker because he has that in him. It can’t just be Kadary. I want him and Femi (Odukale), and Kadary, to be on the court all the time as three playmakers. And once they start clicking and gelling, I think that’s when we can take the next step.”

It was a good sign that the Pirates tallied 17 assists. The ball popped better than it has in weeks.

“I feel like it makes us a better team because we spread the love and the energy that you need to play the game," Richmond said of the ball-sharing.

Credit Richmond for looking for Dawes, who shot 39 percent from deep for two straight seasons at Clemson. It's not like he has no history of shot-making. Sometimes confidence and perhaps a new setting get in the way. The Hall desperately needs him to stretch defenses.

“Super happy for him," Samuel said of Dawes. "(Recently) his shot wasn’t falling and I said, 'Don’t worry, the ball’s going to keep coming to you.' I believe in him, we all believe in him, and he’s going to continue to do big things for our team.”

3. All the right moves

Twice this season, the Hall has faced a backs-to-the-wall moment. Twice, Holloway delivered a master class in game management. As with the win at Rutgers, Holloway's defensive adjustments and sub patters nailed it.

He found the right balance between enforcer KC Ndefo (a game-high plus/minus of 30) and glue guy Dre Davis (14 points off the bench). He gave Samuel a long rope, including trusting him to play through a key stretch with three fouls. He didn’t tolerate lackluster defense from Tray Jackson, pulling the plug on the sub early. He mixed in a 2-2-1 zone that stymied the Johnnies' guards. And he worked the officials hard early, halting what seemed to be an unfavorable whistle.

On the zone: "We kind of got them standing around," Holloway said. "They were trying to figure it out and they were having a hard time figuring it out."

On an early blow-up at veteran official Pat Driscoll: "I was fighting for my team. I'm going to fight for my team," he said. "I thought there were some calls that were missed, and Pat’s been around for a long time. He gets it.”

Maybe most important of all, Holloway kept everyone’s heads together at a perilous moment, both heading into the game and when the Pirates fell behind by 10.

“Knowing what’s at stake, we knew we had to bounce back and show everybody what they saw at Marquette (a 14-point loss Tuesday) is not the team that we are,” Richmond said.

4. Give ‘em something

“We’ve got to give the crowd something to be excited about. That part is on us.”

Those were Holloway’s words Friday, and the proved prophetic. The game was announced as a lower-bowl sellout, and while the actual crowd was a bit short of that, in part because the student section was half-empty, the atmosphere was church quiet for much of the first half as the Hall struggled out of the gate.

But as the Pirates heated up, so did the fans, and by the time a Dawes 3-pointer finally put the Hall ahead with 3:29 left in the first, the home court was cooking. The Pirates went into the locker room to a standing ovation – and the ovations kept coming after that.

"I want to tell all the fans: Thank you for coming out and spending New Year’s Eve with us," Holloway said afterward, unprompted. "I thought that was a big difference. I thought they were loud, I thought they were into it, our guys feed off it. We just gotta continue it.”

5. Reset button pushed?

After Tuesday’s trip to Creighton, which will be an uphill climb, the Hall has a three-game opportunity to make a move: Butler at home Jan. 7, at Georgetown, at DePaul. Nothing will come easily, but go 3-1 over the next four and it’s a new season.

“Our backs were against the wall, and we’re still against the wall, for real," Samuel said.

It’s been said since October that this team, with a total staff turnover and so many new players, would be a late bloomer. The opportunity is still there to bloom.

A telling moment about the players' mindset occurred during the postgame press conference. Samuel, Dawes and Richmond were asked, as a group, if they felt relief after getting the must-win. Samuel, ever the spokesman, began to answer. Then Richmond, who is always reticent at these interviews, who never answers a question unless it's posed directly to him, who rarely shows the slightest hint of emotion around reporters, lurched forward to his microphone like it was a loose ball and grabbed the question first.

“Got to get more," he said.

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 jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Seton Hall basketball hammers St. John's for first Big East win