Harris Hits Late Three to Send Seton Hall into BIG EAST Quarterfinals

Wednesday, March 9

New York, N.Y. (MSG)

9:30 PM

Seton Hall University

21-9,11-8Big East

Georgetown

6-25,0-19Big East

Georgetown

Seton Hall

Harris Hits Late Three to Send Seton Hall into BIG EAST Quarterfinals

3/10/2022 12:29:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)TICKETS

NEW YORK - Graduate student Jamir Harris (North Brunswick, N.J.) buried a deep three-pointer with 40.3 seconds remaining in the game to give the Seton Hall men's basketball team the lead for good as the Pirates overcame a sluggish start to defeat Georgetown, 57-53, in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

The No. 6 seeded Pirates, who have now won six straight games and are 21-9 on the season, now move into Thursday's quarterfinals and will face No. 3 seed Connecticut at 9:30 p.m. (or later) on FS1.

Harris finished with nine points, all coming on threes, and he had two teammates in double figure scoring. Senior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) led the Pirates with 17 points, and graduate student Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) chipped in 14 points.

How It Happened The Pirates trailed by 10 late in the first half, 27-17, but sophomore Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) went to work and helped The Hall get back into the game. He scored five of the Pirates' final seven points of the half that was part of a 7-0 run and it cut Seton Hall's deficit to three at the break, 27-24. It was a hot start to the second half for The Hall. A thunderous dunk by Rhoden and a second chance layup by graduate student Alexis Yetna (Paris, France) gave the Pirates their first lead since the 17:47 mark in the first half. A made three-pointer by junior Tray Jackson (Detroit, Mich.) with 11:46 to play gave the Pirates their largest lead of the second half, 42-39, but Georgetown responded with back-to-back buckets to retake the lead. Seton Hall went more than five minutes without a field goal after that Jackson three before a three-point basket by Harris, his first of three second half treys, cut the Pirates' deficit one, 47-46 with 6:15 to go. The Hoyas pushed their lead back to four but a 6-0 run capped off by a steal and slam by Yetna gave Seton Hall a two-point lead, 52-50, with 2:53 to play. After Georgetown converted a go-ahead bucket, 53-52, with just over a minute to play, head coach Kevin Willard called a 30-second timeout. Out of the timeout, Rhoden dribbled, drove and kicked it out to Harris for a deep three that swished through and gave Seton Hall a 55-53 lead with 40 seconds to go. The Pirates' defense held firm on Georgetown's final two possessions. graduate student Ike Obiagu's (Abuja, Nigeria) seventh block of the night led to a rebound by Cale on the first possesion and hounding defense forced a bad pass that went out of bounds on the Hoyas' final stand. Two free throws by Rhoden made it a two-score contest and the Pirates came away with the victory.

Inside the Numbers

Seton Hall shot 38.6 percent for the game (22-for-57), 34.8 percent from three (8-for-23) and 71.4 percent from the free throw line (5-for-7) compared to Georgetown shooting 30.6 percent overall (19-for-62), 32 percent from deep (8-for-25) and 70 percent at the charity stripe (7-for-10).
The Pirates blocked 10 shots on the night, tied for the team's single-game high this season, which also came at Madison Square Garden against St. John's on Jan. 22.
Obiagu had seven of the team's 10 blocks, tying his season high. He now has eight games of five blocks or more this season.
Rhoden finished the game with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
Cale was 6-for-10 from the field and made two of his four three-point attempts.
All nine of Harris's points came on threes.
Graduate student Alexis Yetna (Paris, France) had a team-high 11 rebounds, his 10th game of double-figure rebounds this season.

News & Notes

This was Seton Hall's 70th all-time BIG EAST Tournament game, and the Pirates are now 33-37, including 12-9 with Kevin Willard as head coach. This was the program's first appearance in a first-round game since 2015.
This was the 117th all-time meeting between Seton Hall and Georgetown, and the 11th meeting in the BIG EAST Tournament. The Hall is now 6-5 against the Hoyas in the tournament.
The Pirates are now 17-8 at Madison Square Garden since the 2013-14 season.
The Hall is now 5-1 in BIG EAST Tournament games that tip off after 9 p.m., since 2013-14.
The six-game winning streak matches Seton Hall's longest this season. The Pirates won six in a row from Nov. 24 to Dec. 12.
The Pirates are now 18-0 this season when they hold their opponent under 70 points.
The win was Kevin Willard's 225th as head coach at Seton Hall.

Up Next
The Pirates and Huskies will battle for a third time this season Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. (or later). Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery will have the call on FS1, and Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the radio broadcast on AM970 The Answer.

Thursday's night session is sold out, but fans are encouraged to search Ticketmaster's Verified Resale Ticket inventory.