“We scratched and clawed and fought and made it a blood-and-guts possession game. We were desperate for it and pulled it out,” Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzales was quoted as saying in an Associated Press story about the thrilling 65–60 victory.
The coach’s statement epitomizes what teams must do to get in the win column in the Big East, because if a team doesn’t bring it for 40 minutes every night, they’re likely to get beat.
It was not too pretty of a shooting night for either team as Seton Hall (10–9, 1–6) couldn’t hit a shot from beyond the arc in 13 attempts, but were able to finish with a 42.6 shooting percentage for the game, while forcing Georgetown (12–6, 3–4) to shoot a season low 32.7 percent from the field in the loss.
The Pirates were led by sophomore guard Jeremy Hazell with 23 points, who hit the game winning free-throws with 8.1 seconds left. Junior forward Robert Mitchell chipped in with 20 points.
Georgetown freshman center Greg Monroe continued his stellar play with 17 points.
The Hoyas have lost three straight games and five of their last seven after opening up conference play with an 11-point victory over then second-ranked UConn.
Georgetown head coach John Thompson III said of his team’s recent lack of success, “We’re in a rut. We’re in a bad situation right now. We have to figure how to get everyone in that locker room out of it. There’s a lot of time left but in this league, we have to quickly regroup.”
Quickly regroup is an understatement in the Big East, which has seven teams in the top 25 and a couple of others right on the bubble. This three-game skid could end up having a huge impact on the Hoyas come seeding time for the Big East tournament, especially with all 16 teams in it for the first time this year rather than just 12.
The change makes the byes for the top teams even more precious, especially for the top four seeds who will get a two-game bye while the five to eight seeds will get a one game bye.
UConn Snaps Notre Dame’s Home Win Streak
On Saturday, no. 3 UConn defeated no. 19 Notre Dame 69–61, snapping the Fighting Irish’s 45-game home winning streak.
UConn (18–1, 7–1) was able to get the victory behind their strong defensive effort as they held Notre Dame (12–6, 3–4) to a season low 33 percent from the field.Junior guard Jerome Dyson led the Huskies in scoring with 15 points while senior forward Jeff Adrien pulled down 19 rebounds.
The Fighting Irish were led by none other than junior forward Luke Harangody who had a double-double with 24 points and 15 boards.
Matt Sugam is a writer based in New Jersey.
