Men's Basketball Prepares To Host St. John's Thursday
1/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SETON HALL (9-5, 1-1) vs. ST. JOHN'S (10-5, 1-1)
Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 7:00 p.m.
Continental Airlines Arena - East Rutherford, N.J.
THE MATCHUP: Seton Hall and St. John’s will square off in their lone meeting this season on Thursday at Continental Airlines Arena. The Pirates are coming off a 91-69 loss at Providence on Saturday, while St. John’s is looking to rebound from a 73-46 loss at West Virginia on Saturday.
TV: The game will be televised by ESPN. Dave Pasch (play-by-play) and Len Elmore (analyst) will call the game.
RADIO: The game will be broadcast WABC 770 AM, with Gary Cohen on play-by-play and Dave Popkin as the analyst. The game will also be broadcast by WSOU 89.5 FM, Seton Hall’s student radio station.
SHU ON THE WEB: Tune in for a live audio stream of all games on www.shupirates.com
BIG EAST CONFERENCE: www.bigeast.org
SCOUTING ST. JOHN’S
To the surprise of some, St. John’s has already amassed 10 victories this season despite being picked ninth in the pre-season BIG EAST poll. The Red Storm have lost two of their last three, but that comes on the heels of a seven-game win streak. Most recently, St. John’s dropped a 73-46 decision at West Virginia on Saturday to even their conference record at 1-1. Their lone BIG EAST victory came against DePaul on Jan. 3. Three players are averaging in double-digit scoring, with senior Lamont Hamilton leading the way at 13.7 points per game. Hamilton also leads the team with 7.2 rebounds per game.
SETON HALL-ST. JOHN’S SERIES
Seton Hall and St. John’s will meet for the 82nd time, with the Red Storm owning a 52-29 series lead. Last season, the teams split two games, with each team winning on their home floor. Seton Hall has won their last four home games in this series. St. John’s last victory over Seton Hall at CAA was a 64-60 win on Feb. 15, 1998.
PROVIDENCE DEFEATS PIRATES
Seton Hall dropped their first BIG EAST game of the season, 91-69, at Providence on Saturday. Junior Brian Laing missed matching his career-high by one point and finished with 24 in the game. Freshman Eugene Harvey scored 16 points. Freshman Larry Davis scored 12 points, grabbed six rebounds and picked up four steals. Junior Jamar Nutter also scored 12 points. Despite trailing by only six at the half, the Friars wore down the decidedly smaller Pirates in the second half with a heavy dose of 6-10 Herbert Hill, 6-8 Jonathan Kale and 6-7 Geoff McDermott. Seton Hall was out-rebounded, 47-26, and were out-shot 50.0% to 40.0%. The Pirates will face Providence again, at Continental Airlines Arena, on January 17.
BIG EAST WEEKLY HONORS FOR TWO
Following a week that saw Seton Hall defeat Rutgers and lose at Providence, two Pirates received individual honors. Freshman Eugene Harvey was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week for the third time this season after averaging 18.5 points and 2.5 assists in the two games. No other BIG EAST rookie has won the award three times this year. Junior Brian Laing was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the second time this season. Laing averaged 22.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in the two games.
A CAREER YEAR
Junior Brian Laing is enjoying a breakout campaign. He has twice been named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll and currently ranks fourth in the conference in scoring with 16.9 points per game. Although Laing has been producing all season, he has really turned it up recently. In his last six games, Laing is averaging 20.3 points per game. He has led the Pirates in scoring in nine of the team’s 14 games. Laing was also named to the B.Y.U. Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team.
TOP BIG EAST ROOKIE
No freshman’s impact has been greater than that of Eugene Harvey through his career’s first 14 games. His 16.3 points and 4.9 assists per game lead all BIG EAST rookies and no other newcomer has won the BIG EAST Rookie of the Week award three times. He has started all 14 games this season and scored a career-high 27 points in a come-from-behind victory over Penn State on Dec. 9. Harvey has scored in double-figures in 13-of-14 games, including 12 straight. In his first BIG EAST game, he scored 21 points, including four clutch free throws with under 20 seconds remaining to seal a victory over rival Rutgers. He added 16 points at Providence on Saturday. Harvey also ranks seventh in the conference for averaging 34.00 minutes per game.
WIN ONE, LOSE ONE
Seton Hall has not put together a two-game streak of wins or losses in their last nine games. Since defeating Penn State on Dec. 9, the Pirates have followed every win with a loss and every loss with a win. They will look to continue the trend with a victory over St. John’s at Continental Airlines Arena on Thursday.
PIRATES AT CAA
With the victory over Penn on Dec. 23, Seton Hall reached the 200-win mark at Continental Airlines Arena. The Pirates are now 201-94 all-time at the arena and 7-1 this season. They were 13-4 at home last season, and 48-16 over the last four years. The Pirates’ first full-season in the arena was 1985-86 when the team played seven games there. The first Seton Hall game was December 4, 1981, an 87-85 overtime victory over Houston.
MEN OF STEAL
Through 14 games this season, the Pirates have enjoyed the fruits of their relentless full-court press, picking up 166 steals as a team. They recorded 15 steals a piece in their final two games at the B.Y.U. Holiday Classic. Their average of 11.9 steals per game leads the BIG EAST Conference and ranks among the national leaders. Sophomore Paul Gause has led the Pirate charge in this category. He recorded a career-high five steals at Morgan State and tied his new mark with five more vs. St. Peter’s. Then, against St. Mary’s he re-recorded his career-high and tied the Seton Hall single-game record with eight steals. He chipped in six vs. Penn State and five more vs. Virginia Tech and Liberty. As a result, Gause is tied for the BIG EAST lead and ranks among the national leaders with 3.50 steals per game. Freshman Eugene Harvey is 10th in the conference with 1.93 steals per game, while junior Brian Laing is 13th with 1.79.
DAVIS IMPRESSING
While enjoying freshman Eugene Harvey’s breakout season, it is important to take note of another freshman’s steady progress. Larry Davis continues to make the most of his minutes. In the last six games, Davis has averaged 11.8 points per game off the bench. He scored a career-high 27 points on 8-for-10 shooting, and grabbed 10 rebounds vs. Penn. The offensive outburst matches Eugene Harvey’s 27-point performance vs. Penn State on Dec. 9 as the highest individual point total for a Seton Hall player this year and the highest by a freshman since John Allen scored 31 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson on Dec. 31, 2001. Davis scored 12 points, grabbed six rebounds and made four steals at Providence. Against Rutgers, he had seven points and five rebounds in only 14 minutes.
HEAD COACH
BOBBY GONZALEZ
Career Record: 138-82
At Seton Hall: 9-5
BIG EAST Record: 1-1
Bobby Gonzalez became the 18th Seton Hall University head basketball coach in the program’s history earlier this year and comes to the Pirates after a tremendous seven-year run as the head coach at Manhattan College. He led the Jaspers to four 20-win seasons and two NCAA Tournaments in seven years, including finishing .500 or above in the league in each season. His record at Manhattan was 129-77, and his team won the MAAC regular season championship three times and the tournament title twice.
Gonzalez is widely known as one of the top up-and-coming coaches in the NCAA, an intense competitor, outstanding game coach and tireless recruiter.
Manhattan went 20-11 this past year and Gonzalez was named the MAAC Coach of the Year. The Jaspers advanced to the National Invitation Tournament and won two games, defeating Fairleigh Dickinson and winning at Maryland. Gonzalez led the team to a 14-4 record and the MAAC regular season title.
His best season came in 2003-04, when he guided the Jaspers to a 25-6 overall record, 16-2 in the MAAC. Manhattan was a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Championship and defeated No. 5 seed Florida in the first round before losing a close game to No. 4 seed Wake Forest. Gonzalez received numerous accolades following the season, being named NABC District 2, USBWA, and NYBCA Division I Coach of the Year as well as receiving Metropolitan Coach of the Year recognition for the second straight year.
Gonzalez coached Luis Flores, Manhattan’s all-time leading scorer, who was drafted in the second round by the NBA’s Houston Rockets in 2004. Flores played with both Denver and Golden State in 2004-05.
In 2002-03, Gonzalez led Manhattan to the MAAC regular season and league championship with a 23-7 record, 14-4 in the league. Named the MAAC Coach of the Year for his efforts, Gonzalez took Manhattan College to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995. The Jaspers fell to eventual national champion Syracuse in the first round.
Gonzalez is no stranger to the BIG EAST and to big-time college basketball. Prior to becoming a head coach, he was an assistant on Pete Gillen’s staffs at Xavier (1993-94), Providence (1994-98) and Virginia (1998-99).
Known for his strong recruiting classes, Gonzalez possesses outstanding contacts and ties to the metropolitan area. He was assistant high school coach at Rice High School in the Bronx in 1992-93 and assistant at St. Nicholas of Tolentine from 1988-91. He was also an assistant coach at Binghamton University (1987-88) and Broome Community College (1986-87).
WELL-ROUNDED NUTTER
Although he continues to struggle with his shot, junior Jamar Nutter did nail down three three-pointers and finish with a good all-round game at Providence. He scored 12 points, grabbed a season-high seven rebounds and dished out a career-high six assists in 36 minutes of action.
SCORING EASILY
The Pirates saw an offensive explosion in scoring 94 points against Penn. Despite scoring only 61 points vs. Virginia Tech the game prior, the Pirates have had no difficulty scoring points so far this season. Games at the B.Y.U. Classic were been no different, as they scored 74 against Oral Roberts, 85 vs. Liberty and 68 against BYU. In 14 games, the Pirates are averaging 78.4 points per game which ranks them fourth in the BIG EAST in scoring offense. They have topped 90 points three times and 80 points seven times. Seton Hall has three players averaging in double-figures and Paul Gause (9.4) and Larry Davis (7.7) are inching their way towards joining that group. Seton Hall is shooting 43.0 percent from the floor this season.
LAING LIKES UTAH
Junior Brian Laing has clearly found a second home...Utah. In three games at the B.Y.U. Holiday Classic, he averaged 19.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Laing led the Pirates in scoring in all three games and added career double-doubles #3 and #4. For his efforts, Laing was named to the B.Y.U. Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team. BYU’s Keena Young was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
DOUBLE YOUR FUN
The Pirates have recorded six double-doubles this season. Brian Laing picked up his third and fourth double-doubles of the season against Oral Roberts and Liberty in the B.Y.U. Holiday Classic. Laing’s first career double-double came with a 25-point, 12-rebound performance vs. FDU. Two Pirates, freshmen Eugene Harvey and Larry Davis, both recorded their first career double-doubles in a win over Pennsylvania on Dec. 23. Harvey had 14 points and 11 assists. Davis had career-highs of 27 points and 10 rebounds.
NO PAUSE IN GAUSE
Sophomore sparkplug Paul Gause has made three starts this season, but has shined in coming off the bench this season. In a tremendous performance against St. Mary’s, Gause scored a career-high 21 points in 33 minutes of action and picked up eight steals, tying the Seton Hall single-game mark for steals held by former Pirate Levell Sanders. Against Liberty and Rutgers, Gause made a steal in the final moments of the game which sealed the victories for the Pirates. Gause finished that game with 14 points and five steals. Currently, he is tied for the BIG EAST lead in steals per game (3.50) and ranks among the national leaders.
TAKING ADVANTAGE AT THE LINE
Seton Hall took full advantage at the free throw line vs. Rutgers on Wednesday. The Pirates hit 20-of-26 shots for a percentage of 76.9. They hit 13-of-18 at Providence as well. Seton Hall ranks third in the BIG EAST in free throw percentage, shooting at a 74.1 percent clip. Against Penn, the Pirates made 26-of-30 free throws for a season-high 86.7 percent for the game. Senior Stan Gaines leads Seton Hall in the category, making 31-of-35 free throw attempts for a percentage of 88.6 - good for seventh in the BIG EAST. Freshman Eugene Harvey is 58-for-72 (80.6), junior Jamar Nutter is 39-for-49 (79.6), and freshman Larry Davis is 27-for-33 (81.8), which ranks them both amongst the BIG EAST’s best as well.
MORTON TO ENTER ANOTHER HALL
Former Seton Hall great, John Morton will be inducted into the New Jersey Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Fame on Sunday, January 28 at the Pines Manor in Edison, N.J. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players to ever wear a Pirates jersey, Morton ranks 11th all-time at Seton Hall with 1,621 career points and was instrumental in guiding the team to the national championship game in 1989. He is currently an assistant coach at St. Peters College.
SEEING 20/20
Five Pirates have scored at least 20 points this season, and the mark has been reached 11 times. Junior Brian Laing leads the team with four 20-point games, freshman Eugene Harvey has had three, junior Jamar Nutter has had two and freshman Larry Davis and sophomore Paul Gause have both had one each. Against Rutgers, Laing and Harvey topped 20-point mark. Both members of that scoring tandem are among the Top 10 in the BIG EAST in scoring. Laing is averaging 16.9 points per game, while Harvey is averaging 16.3.
IN NEW PLACES
Seton Hall lost five players from last season’s roster, including their top two scorers, Donald Copeland and Kelly Whitney. Copeland and Whitney graduated, while Marcus Cousin, David Palmer and Mike Pilgram transferred. Copeland and Whitney combined for 31.3 points per game and were both named Second Team All-BIG EAST last season. Whitney also led the team with 7.9 rebounds per game.
TV SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED
Seton Hall will have at least 17 regular-season games televised nationally or regionally in 2006-07, starting Dec. 9 with a game on YES against Penn State. The Pirates will be on MSG seven times, YES and Fox Sports New York three times, ESPN 360 twice and a game a piece on ESPN and ESPNU.
RADIO INFORMATION
The Pirates will once again be on WABC 770 AM, or its affiliates ESPN Radio or Radio Disney. Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin return for their fourth season of coverage on the broadcasts. Cohen will handle play-by-play duties with Popkin as the analyst. WABC will carry 15 games this season. WEPN, ESPN Radio 1050 AM will broadcast four, and Radio Disney WQEW 1560 AM will carry 10.
ON THE CUSP
If junior Brian Laing scores 24 points against St. John’s on Thursday, he will become the 100th player in Seton Hall history to score at least 500 points in a career. Teammate Jamar Nutter joined this exclusive club earlier this season and currently has 634 career points. Next in line is senior Grant Billmeier, who currently has 326 points.
GONZALEZ SIGNS THREE
Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez announced that three marquee recruits, Michael Glover, Jeremy Hazell and Augustine Okosun, have signed National Letters of Intent to attend Seton Hall University beginning in the 2007-08 academic year. The 6-foot-6, 200-pound Glover is the gifted brother of former St. John’s standout Anthony Glover and will provide the Pirates with a strong rebounding presence and good finisher around the basket. Last season, he guided his prep school, Boys to Men Academy (Ill.), to a national championship. The 6-foot-5, 185-pound Hazell was ranked in the nation’s Top 20 by Scout.com among post graduate players. A standout for coach Chris Chaney at Patterson School (N.C.), he is widely regarded as an excellent shooter and will provide the Pirates with great depth at the guard position and the top scoring punch in this class. Augustine Okosun is a 6-foot-10, 240-pound junior college transfer who will have junior eligibility when he joins the Pirates next season. The Nigeria native comes from well-respected Harcum College (Pa.) and coach Drew Kelly and will add some much-needed size and experience to the Pirates’ frontcourt.
PIRATES IN THE NBA
Four former Seton Hall players are now playing in the NBA - Andre Barrett and Adrian Griffin (Chicago Bulls), Sam Dalembert (Philadelphia 76ers) and Eddie Griffin (Minnesota Timberwolves). Barrett, Dalembert and Eddie Griffin all played on the same Seton Hall team in 2000.
BENCHMARKED FOR SUCCESS
Joining head coach Bobby Gonzalez on the bench this year are three experienced and talented assistant coaches that will surely prove to be a positive influence on the 2006-07 Pirates. Kevin Murphy followed Gonzalez to Seton Hall after three years as his assistant at Manhattan. There, he helped guide the Jaspers to the 2004 MAAC title and NCAA Tournament berth. Geoff Billet joins the SHU staff after five seasons as an assistant at Monmouth. As a player, Billet scored 1,480 career points for Rutgers and graduated as the school’s all-time leading three-point shooter. Dermon Player brings a standout basketall acumen and remarkable recruiting skills to the Pirates. As a coach and athletics administrator, Player is no stranger to the metropolitan high school and AAU scene.
HOLLOWAY RETURNS
Shaheen Holloway, the school’s all-time assist leader who played from 1996-00 and helped lead the Pirates to the 2000 NCAA Sweet Sixteen, has returned to Seton Hall as the team’s administrative assistant. Holloway scored 1,588 points during his career, which ranks him 12th all-time at SHU. He dished out 681 assists and had 231 steals (2nd all-time), while also hitting 185 three-pointers (5th all-time) in 116 games. In 2000, he was named the BIG EAST’s Most Improved Player, and he earned all-league status three times in his career.
THREE CAPTAINS FOR 2006-07
Seniors Grant Billmeier and Stan Gaines as well as junior Brian Laing will serve as team captains for Seton Hall during the 2006-07 season. Billmeier was the lone Pirate captain last season and brings his hard work and unselfishness to the leadership position again. Gaines, a former transfer from the University of Minnesota, is playing in only his second season with the Pirates, but his infectious energy and enthusiasm make him an excellent choice as captain. Laing, the lone non-senior of the trifecta, is a real breakout candidate this season and will provide an experienced leader when it is time to look towards next season.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE 2006-07 SCHEDULE
Seton Hall will play at least nine games against teams that participated in the NCAA Tournament last year, but only three of the games will be on the road (Monmouth, Pennsylvania, Georgetown, at Marquette, West Virginia, Villanova, at Connecticut, at West Virginia and Pittsburgh... The Pirates will play 18 night games and 12 day games this season... SHU will face Rutgers, West Virginia and Providence twice, but will not see Syracuse or DePaul as part of the BIG EAST’s unbalanced schedule... Pittsburgh (#4), Georgetown (#8), Marquette (#16) and Connecticut (#18) are Seton Hall opponents ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll.
NEW FACES
The Pirates added three highly talented freshman to the roster for the 2006-07 and all three look to make a difference immediately. Larry Davis, Eugene Harvey and Kashif Pratt are three guards that come from well-respected metropolitan high school programs. Davis led Christ the King to a 24-5 record and the New York City Catholic High School title game while averaging 13.2 points per game his senior year. Harvey joins Seton Hall as one of the nation’s most highly regarded point guard prospects and could be running the Pirates’ offense sooner than later. Pratt averaged 15 points and six rebounds for Rice High School, but is even better known as a defensive specialist. The SHU backcourt is in good shape for years to come.
LOOKING AHEAD
SETON HALL at NOTRE DAME
Sunday, January 14, 2007 2:00 p.m. EST
Joyce Center Notre Dame, Ind.
TV: MSG
Radio: WABC 770 AM / WSOU 89.5 FM
Seton Hall vs. Notre Dame: ND, 12-7
NOTEBOOK: Seton Hall will travel to Notre Dame on Sunday, January 14. The Fighting Irish have an all-time, 12-7, lead in the series and have won the last three against Seton Hall and six of the last seven. The Pirates have lost their last three games at the Joyce Center with their last win coming on Feb. 18, 2001. The last matchup between the teams was a slugfest with Notre Dame winning at Continental Airlines Arena, 102-91 in February last season.
Notre Dame was picked to finish11th in the conference this year, but has already won14 games and has the BIG EAST’s highest powered offense, averaging 83.8 points per game.
