Big East Basketball: Breakout players from each team for 2020-21 season

Big East Basketball breakout candidate – Jared Rhoden (Seton Hall)

Yes, Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard will no longer have Myles Powell to rely on, but the cupboard is hardly bare for the Pirates’ head man. Despite losing three of his top five scorers, he does return senior forward Sandro Mamukelashvili and does welcome in former Harvard star Bryce Aiken as a graduate transfer, but the player poised to have a breakout season for Seton Hall is junior guard Jared Rhoden.

The 6-6 guard was a rotational bench player in his first season, playing 13 minutes per game with 3.4 points and 2.6 rebounds but improved greatly as a sophomore.

Last year Rhoden netted 9.1 points per game and led the team in rebounding, grabbing 6.4 boards per game. In his second season, he became a much better shooter, knocking down 44% of his shots, compared to the 34% he made as a freshman. The New York native had five double-digit rebounding games and a couple of double-doubles, and Rhoden’s ability to dominate the glass and step outside and knock down perimeter shots makes him the likely candidate to be the focus of opposing defenses next season. With Powell gone there will be more shots to go around and Rhoden is the guy likely to take advantage of those available shots.