All eyes suddenly are on Seton Hall ahead of its road matchup with Georgetown on Tuesday at Washington, D.C.
The Pirates (10-5, 3-1 Big East) have seized some attention after defeating a pair of ranked conference teams last week and two top-10 teams in conference since Dec. 20.
After leaving Providence with a 61-57 win over the then-No. 23 Friars on Wednesday, Seton Hall returned home and toppled then-No. 7 Marquette 78-75 on Saturday at Newark, N.J.
Al-Amir Dawes tallied 23 points and Kadary Richmond supplied 21 to lead the Pirates past the Golden Eagles in Seton Hall’s first home game since upsetting then-No. 5 UConn 75-60 on Dec. 20.
With three Top-25 wins in their last four games, the Pirates sit in a four-way tie atop the Big East standings and have shattered expectations for a unit picked to finish ninth out of 11 teams in the conference’s preseason poll.
“Our togetherness is through the roof,” Dawes said on Saturday. “No matter what we’re going through, ups and downs, we’re just connected. … One thing that I’m enjoying is we’re together, because once we’re together, we can achieve anything.”
Dawes delivers 12.9 points per game for Seton Hall’s guard trio that includes Richmond (team-high 15.7 points, 4.4 assists) and Dre Davis (13.5 points). Center Jaden Bediako contributes 8.9 points and a team-leading 8.1 rebounds.
The Hoyas (8-7, 1-3) also enter Tuesday with momentum after scraping past DePaul 68-65 on Saturday at Washington, D.C.
Supreme Cook led Georgetown with 14 points and Dontrez Styles corralled 13 rebounds to help the Hoyas earn the type of gritty win that coach Ed Cooley covets.
“Toughness wins in any sport. It doesn’t have to be physical. (It) could be mental, emotional,” Cooley said. “… I saw our toughness grow up. I thought our chemistry grew up.”
Cooley knows from his clashes against the Pirates throughout his 12-year tenure at Providence that the Hoyas are in for a hard-fought, “old-school” Big East battle on Tuesday.
“NFL football pads will be out there. It’ll be first-and-10 on just about every offensive possession,” Cooley said. “Our players are going to have to make sure that we’re prepared emotionally, mentally and physically.”
Jayden Epps paces Georgetown with 17.2 points per game, while Cook leads the Hoyas with 8.1 rebounds, while also scoring 10.4 points. Styles scores 14.3 per game.
–Field Level Media