Suddenly mired in a three-game losing streak, Seton Hall will get a chance to reset when it visits last-place DePaul on Tuesday in Chicago.
Seton Hall was tied for the Big East Conference lead before playing then-No. 18 Creighton on Jan. 20. The Pirates’ 97-94 loss in triple overtime triggered a three-game losing streak, the latter two games without star guard Kadary Richmond.
The last time Seton Hall (13-8, 6-4 Big East) had Richmond available, he posted the second triple-double in program history against Creighton, with 21 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. He’s missed the past two games with what has only been described as “soreness,” as the Pirates lost 67-63 at home to Providence and 75-57 on Saturday at then-No. 14 Marquette.
Seton Hall trailed by one at halftime before Marquette left the Pirates in the dust in the second half.
“Nobody’s feeling sorry for us,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway told reporters postgame. “It doesn’t matter who’s playing, who’s not playing. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board.”
Jaden Bediako had a season-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting to lead the Pirates, who had 17 turnovers and made just 3 of 16 3-point tries (18.8 percent).
Richmond has not been ruled out for Tuesday’s game. The team flew home from Milwaukee for the weekend and planned to fly back west Monday.
With or without Richmond and his team-high 16.4 points and 4.9 assists per game, Seton Hall is not expected to face much resistance from DePaul (3-17, 0-9), which is on an eight-game losing streak and fired coach Tony Stubblefield last week.
Matt Brady, formerly the head coach at James Madison and Marist, is the interim coach.
“This has got to be about the student-athletes,” Brady said, per The DePaulia student newspaper. “How are we going to make these guys enjoy the process? We want them to love what happens in the next eight months, so the administration can retain some of these guys. It’s just the nature of the business. I want these players to love playing basketball at DePaul.”
The Blue Demons’ only single-digit defeat during the skid was a 68-65 loss at Georgetown Jan. 6. On Saturday, they fell 85-62 at Creighton after a competitive first half, with Elijah Fisher the only double-figure scorer at 12 points.
Chico Carter Jr., who leads DePaul with 11.8 points and 3.7 assists per game, has missed the past three games and will sit out at least two more weeks due to a rib injury.
–Field Level Media