NCAA Basketball: 68 defining moments of the 2019-20 season
19. Seton Hall with an unlikely turnaround. (Dec. 19th)
Seton Hall was picked as the favorite to win the Big East this season but was certainly struggling through the first month. This was pretty much to be expected considering the Pirates were facing a daunting non-conference schedule but they were just 6-4 through their first 10 games.
This included a 10-point loss at Iowa State and a 20-point beatdown at Rutgers prior to returning home to face Maryland. Additionally, the Pirates were going to be without Myles Powell and Sandro Mamukelashvili as they attempted to knock off the highly-touted Terrapins.
But that’s exactly what Seton Hall was able to do. Even without two of their top scorers (including an NPOY candidate), the Pirates managed to pull off the upset with incredible defense. Seton Hall held Maryland to just 48 total points on <30% shooting from the field as Romaro Gill and Ike Obiagu each had six blocks (each! 12 combined!). Quincy McKnight posted 16 points, eight rebounds, and six assists to lead the offense.
This was an unlikely turnaround considering how poorly Seton Hall had played in its last two games. This win over Maryland sparked a huge run for the Pirates as it was the first in a 10-game winning streak.
20. Schwartz knocks off the Flyers at the horn. (Dec. 21st)
Dayton soared up the national ranks in December as it moved to 9-1 with that sole loss coming in overtime to Kansas (as already discussed). Speaking of teams that lost to Kansas, though, Colorado was also playing pretty good basketball as one of the projected favorites in the Pac-12. Heading into the meeting between the two teams, many people were still a little skeptical of both although optimistic about what they might be able to accomplish.
This game was played at a neutral site (United Center in Chicago) and it was a flat-out blast. The first-half was pretty back-and-forth before Colordao took control around the midpoint in the second half. That is when Dayton started to get it going as it chipped away at its deficit before burying a 3-pointer with six seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Once in the extra period, the teams battled hard and a lay-up by Jalen Crutcher with 10 seconds left gave Dayton a one-point advantage. That’s when…well…this happened:
https://twitter.com/Pac12Network/status/1208571130732105728