The Key to Victory

By Tim LeCras

What is the key to victory for the Seton Hall Pirates? With the number 12 ranked Georgertown coming to the Rock, the Pirates faced the idea of starting the Big East season off 0-7. However, that was not the case. The Pirates shocked the nation by defeating the Hoyas in a low scoring game at the Rock. We have already seen throughout the 2008/2009 Big East season that the Pirates cannot rely on the three-point shot. It seems as if when the team plays to shoot the “three ball” they always come up empty. Today, much to the amazement Jeremy Hazell, the team shot 0 for 13 from beyond the arc. Hazell, who was responsible for ten of those misses, claimed that this lack of three-point offense had never happened before, in fact, it has been 504 games since the last time the Pirates didn’t convert on a three-pointer in a game. Earlier in the year while I was listening to the Seton Hall and Syracuse game, it seemed like all the team did was shoot threes and they never made a high percentage of them either.



Don’t quote me on this but it seemed like the whole Syracuse game, all Steve Faulks from WSOU kept saying was, “Hazell takes the inbound. Hazell past halfcourt, pulls up, three pointer, No GOOD. Devendorf gets the rebound to the corner for three, GOOD! You can insert any of the three Pirates who consistently take the three-pointers, whether it be Hazell, Harvey, and even some of “Stix” Mitchell. The Pirates only made 2 three-point baskets the whole game at Syracuse, while attempting 27 of them. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with taking three pointers, the problem with the Seton Hall way, is that they continued to just shoot the ball through traffic, and not pass the ball around trying to get the open three.
They also cannot truly rely on all 5 starters being around for all 20 minutes. Every Pirate fan knows that the team will end up in foul trouble at some point in the game. Today’s Georgetown game wasn’t as bad as the previous have been, but it is still not perfect. The Pirates found themselves in the double-bonus during both halves, luckily for them, it was only John Garcia who fouled out (I should note that his third foul was a very questionable hack call, followed immediately by a technical foul, where Garcia got into a shouting match with Georgetown’s Jessie Sapp.) Georgetown, also found them in foul trouble today, actually committing more fouls than Seton Hall did, with 22. In past games, specifically Providence and Notre Dame, the fouls and free throw differential was the difference in the game.

On Thursday against Providence, the Friars shot twenty more free throws than Seton Hall did, adding 19 more points to their score. In the game, Seton Hall committed 27 personal fouls, resulting in 42 free throw opportunities for Providence. Should I even mention that the last 24 points for the Friars were all off free throws, the team did not make a basket after the 7:00 mark of the second half? On top of all of this, the Pirates had three of their starters foul out. Take away three or four of the fouls and the score is either tied or a Seton Hall win. Against Notre Dame, it was the same deal. Notre Dame shot twice the amount of free throws than the Pirates did, with the Irish’s Luke Harangady attempting more free throws than the whole Pirates team did.

So I bring back the question asked in the beginning, what is the key to victory for the Pirates? The answer: Defense. When you look at the box score, in their win against Georgetown and even their overtime loss to Providence last week, the Pirates defense is what kept them in the game. Georgetown only shot 32.7 percent from the floor and 13.6 percent from beyond the arc. Providence, who just barely got by the Pirates, shot only 40 percent from the floor but the difference maker was the 57 percent from beyond the arc for the Friars. Defense, just like in every other sport, is the key to a championship. Offense is something that comes and goes, but if you have a consistent defense you will be able to go far.


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