Big East Basketball: Seton Hall completes home stand with victory over Xavier

Seton Hall caps off their three-game Big East basketball home stand with a 2-1 record that increases their chances of reaching the Big Dance.

With a spot in the NCAA Tournament on the line, the Seton Hall Pirates needed to win two out of three on a critical home stand that consisted of games against Creighton, Villanova, and Xavier.

And the Pirates did just that, defeating Creighton last Wednesday before capping off the three-game stretch with a 71-64 victory over Xavier at the Prudential Center. Kevin Willard’s club will still need to finish off their regular season with wins in two of their final three to get to 9-9 in league play, but the Pirates completed one of their more rigorous tasks of the year in impressive fashion.

The Pirates trailed by one at the half but received star performances from Angel Delgado (25 points on 10-of-17 shooting and 13 rebounds) and Desi Rodriguez (22 points on 7-of-14 shooting and four rebounds). They also played solid defense in the second half, limiting Xavier to 42 percent shooting, 25 percent from beyond the three-point line, and Trevon Bluiett to just seven points.

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Bluiett, who returned after missing two straight games with an ankle injury, scored 14 points but shot just 2-of-7 from beyond the arc and recorded just three rebounds. And even though J.P. Macura had a stellar game, recording 22 points, the Musketeers had no other players who scored more than eight points.

They were outworked on the glass in the first half and had zero answers for Delgado the entire evening. Add in 13 turnovers and the stagnation that was evident without Edmond Sumner, and Xavier had another difficult night on the offensive end of the floor.

But a significant amount of credit must be given to the Pirates, who were desperate on Wednesday night. With a relatively light crowd on hand for a must-win game and Khadeen Carrington struggling to the tune of just five points, the Pirates were able to pick up their energy on the defensive end in the second half and get enough production from Delgado and Rodriguez.

What bodes well for the Pirates moving forward is their experience and their balance. They have three juniors who have the ability to step up at any given time in Carrington, Delgado and Rodriguez, and they have other players in Myles Powell and Ismael Sanogo that give them significant lifts in different areas of the game. Hall still has work to do but they are in a nice position moving forward.

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As for Xavier, the Musketeers are in a difficult position without their point guard Sumner. It’s obvious that beyond Bluiett and Macura they don’t have much else to work with on that end of the floor. Quentin Goodin has shown flashes as a passer and Kaiser Gates has the length and shooting ability to be a consistent player, however, these are youngsters who are still getting used to the rigors of Big East basketball. The Musketeers do not look like a second weekend NCAA Tournament team right now.

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