Winning Sunday’s intrastate rivalry game with Rutgers, 45-43, was Seton Hall’s most notable accomplishment of the young season.
The Pirates will try to put on a similar defensive performance Wednesday night when they host Drexel in Newark, N.J.
Seton Hall (6-4) beat Rutgers at its own game: smothering defense. The Pirates forced Rutgers to commit a season-high 19 turnovers and won in Piscataway, N.J., where the Scarlet Knights had been undefeated.
“We got a long way to go,” first-year Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway said. “This is a good win. It’s a good confidence booster. It’s a good thing for our guys to see where we could be if we continue to keep fighting and keep growing and keep playing together. But we’ve got a long way to go.
“This was a big win. I don’t want to get too carried away, I don’t want my guys to get too carried away. We’ve gotta get ready for Drexel on Wednesday.”
The Pirates’ Dre Davis returned from a knee injury that had kept him out three games and scored 10 points as the game’s only double-digit scorer. KC Ndefo earned game MVP honors by posting nine points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals, including the go-ahead basket and a blocked shot in the final two minutes.
Al-Amir Dawes (11.4 ppg), Davis (11.2) and Tyrese Samuel (10.8) have been leading Seton Hall on offense this season. Dawes (Clemson) and Davis (Louisville) fit right in to Holloway’s guard rotation after transferring in, while Samuel is in his fourth season at The Hall.
Seton Hall is 3-0 all-time against Drexel, but this will be the first meeting since 2004.
The Dragons (5-5) are coming off an important local win. They went to La Salle on Saturday and earned their first victory over a Philadelphia City 6 opponent this season, 65-58 in overtime. They previously lost to Penn (64-59) and Temple (73-61).
Leading scorers Amari Williams (15.1 ppg) and Coletrane Washington (13) combined to score the first 10 of Drexel’s 12 points in overtime. Washington finished with a game-high 21.
“I think it’s just a total team effort,” Drexel coach Zach Spiker said, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I thought we were gritty. I thought we were tough.”
Seton Hall is the only power-conference team on Drexel’s schedule this season.
–Field Level Media