MBB Looks for Sweep of Hoyas Thursday
2/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2014
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Earlier this season, the Seton Hall men's basketball team snapped what was a three-game losing streak with a win over Georgetown at the Verizon Center. Tomorrow the Pirates will look to put an end to another three-game skid with a second victory against the Hoyas when the two teams collide at the Prudential Center for a 9 p.m. tip on CBS Sports Network.
Seton Hall (13-12, 4-8) has dropped a trio of decisions since capturing an impressive 68-60 victory at Xavier on Feb.1, falling in the first two of a three-game homestand. Thursday's contest presents head coach Kevin Willard's squad with an opportunity to pull within a half game of Georgetown (15-10, 6-7) for seventh in the BIG EAST standings.
Both teams enter the contest coming off losses to St. John's. The Pirates were clipped by the Red Storm by one point last Thursday and the Hoyas sustained an 82-60 defeat at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) led all scorers with 25 points when the Pirates last took the floor and the senior enjoyed similar offensive success when The Hall upended Georgetown in Washington, D.C., 67-57, in their first matchup of the year. The senior keyed a second half charge that saw Seton Hall outscore the Hoyas 41-to-22 in the final 20 minutes, tallying 19 of his game-high 24 points in the period.
After shooting just 30.0 percent (9-of-30) in the opening half, The Hall connected on 11-of-21 field goals (52.4 percent) in the final stanza while holding the Hoyas without a made field goal for the last 9:44 of the game. The resurgent effort out of the locker room helped the Pirates take home their first road victory in the series since the 2002-03 campaign - a season that also included the program's most recent season sweep of Georgetown.
Point guard Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) played a vital role in the triumph as well, finishing with 11 points and a career-high nine assists; more than the vaunted Hoyas backcourt of D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (5) and Markel Starks (2) combined. Gibbs did not commit a turnover in 34 minutes against St. John's but did total only two assists, falling short of the four-assist mark for just the third time in 11 BIG EAST appearances.
Another important aspect of the Pirates' win in the nation's capital was the effort on the glass as Seton Hall matched Georgetown with 39 rebounds - the team's highest total to this point in conference play - and pulled down a season-high 15 offensive boards.
Six of those second-chance opportunities came courtesy of senior Eugene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) as the big man totaled 10 points and nine boards in the contest. Teague and classmate Brian Oliver (Glassboro, N.J.) were held out of the game against St. John's last week due to a coach's decision.
The absence of two regular starters gave rise to strong showings from another Pirate duo as forward Patrik Auda (Brno, Czech Republic) came off the bench to shoot 7-of-10 and contribute 15 points along with six rebounds, while Aaron Geramipoor (Manchester, England) equaled career-highs with eight points and six rebounds in his third start of the season. Auda has now scored in double-figures in two consecutive games and Geramipoor has taken full advantage of his offensive looks over the last six, sinking 11-of-14 (.786) shot attempts over the stretch.
The two Canarias Basketball Academy products combined for just four points in 35 minutes in the first meeting with the Hoyas and figure to factor more prominently in the result if Seton Hall is to end the recent slide.
Though The Hall has struggled to assert itself at home, Georgetown has won only two true away games all year. In a four-game winning streak that preceded the loss to St. John's, the Hoyas only took home one road victory - a 71-59 triumph over last-place DePaul. Last time out, Georgetown scored 60 points as a team, failing to reach the 70-point plateau for the fourth time in six BIG EAST road games. The Hoyas' heavy reliance on Smith-Rivera and Starks was acutely evident, as the guards accounted for 28 of the 34 points scored by the starting group. Jabril Trawick, a 6-foot-5 junior who missed the first matchup with the Pirates due to injury, gave the squad a boost with 13 points in a reserve role and will provide an added presence for The Hall to contend with.
Trawick can be an added asset as Georgetown ranks next-to-last in the BIG EAST with 66.5 ppg against conference opponents, partly because of an inability to consistently stretch the floor. Their 32.5 percent connect rate from downtown is just seventh-best in league play, but is actually an improvement on their .319 mark for the season.
It will be a clash between diverging styles of play when Seton Hall and Georgetown meet for the 97th time in school history on Thursday. CBS Sports Network will be home to a live national telecast with tip-off set for 9 p.m. Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will call the action for 970 AM (WNYM) and the Pirate Sports Network on SHUPirates.com.
