NEWARK – The standing ovation lasted over two minutes, and for many of the 7,500 fans at the Prudential Center Sunday night, those cheers came straight from the heart.
They were for Mark Bryant, the cornerstone of Seton Hall basketball’s revival in the 1980s under P.J. Carlesimo – a Columbia High School star who stayed home and, eventually, led the Pirates to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
Nearly four decades ago, Bryant launched the Hall’s rise from the ashes by leading two shocking wins over then-national power Georgetown in the 1986-87 season. It was a sign of things to come.
So it was fitting that “Mark Bryant Day” took place against the Hoyas. But the end result on this night was a reminder that the current Pirates still have a ways to go.
The Hall lost 61-60, rallying from 12 down only to fumble away the final possession as star guard Isaiah Coleman never touched the ball. Turnover-prone postgrad Dylan Addae-Wusu took it up court and, with Coleman faceguarded, lost possession as time expired.
Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said the play was supposed to be a dribble handoff for Coleman, who finished with 25 points and nine rebounds. During a timeout huddle before the sequence, Coleman said he wanted the final shot.
“You’ve got to go get that ball,” Holloway said afterwards in response to reporters’ questions about the play. “The play is for you – you’ve got to go get the basketball. You can’ t get denied. I don’t want to blame him (Coleman). That didn’t lose the game for us. What lost the game for us, we can’t keep spotting teams points in the first half.”
Holloway continued: “But the good ones and the great ones, they go get the basketball. I give him a lot of credit: He said, ‘Coach I want the ball.’ That’s why I switched the play up. Go ahead, go get it. Can’t get denied. He got denied and just stopped. I told Dylan at the same time, if you can’t get it to him, you go. He kind of got stuck and ran out of time.”
These seem like dark times for the Pirates, who fell despite forcing 19 turnovers and beating the Hoyas 22-7 on the offensive glass. During his halftime radio interview, Bryant had some interesting thoughts on the Hall’s rise from the ashes back in light of its struggles right now.
“Gerald Greene, John Morton, Ramon Ramos, Daryll Walker – all these guys, we went through the tough times,” said Bryant, who is now an assistant coach with the New York Knicks. “P.J. stayed on us and we began to form together as a unit, and it just happened for us. We stayed in one place for four years, and it helped out a great deal. They don’t do that much anymore.”
No, they don’t. And therein lies the challenge for current Hall skipper Shaheen Holloway. Like Carlesimo, he’s a tough-love mentor who prefers to forge an iron-tough group over time.
But in the current free-agency climate, time is a luxury Holloway does not have. He does have some promising young players, from budding-star sophomore guard Isaiah Coleman to explosive sophomore wing Scotty Middleton to freshman guard Jasheem Felton, who is showing flashes.
With a record of 5-8 overall and 0-2 in the Big East, the Pirates’ season at this point is about developing these young guys. Then the challenge will be keeping them together. That’s something Carlesimo didn’t have to worry about.
It’s not likely they’ll be able to emulate Georgetown (10-2, 2-0), which turned the page from a bottom-feeding campaign last winter by bringing in a bunch of studs. Holloway has to hang his hat on development, which is getting harder and harder.
“This is the third or fourth game he’s lost at the buzzer,” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said. “So if you win two or three of those, we’re not having the same conversation. So I would tell him trust what you’re doing. It’s demoralizing – it’s demoralizing. He’s one of the brightest young coaches in the business.”
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
1. “He is” Isaiah Coleman
It took until the 13th game of the season, but public address announcer Tim McLoone finally uttered the words fans had been waiting to hear during pregame introductions.
“He is Isaiah Coleman.”
The distinction of being the last Pirate announced, and the only one introduced with the “he is” prefix, has long been a high honor in the program. It was Kadary Richmond last year, Tyrese Samuel the season before. Usually that person is known from game one, but with so much roster turnover, McLoone wanted to wait it out to see if anyone earned it.
Coleman has. He’s been on a tear these past couple of weeks, playing at close to an All-Big East level and not getting a ton of help while doing it.
“We just have to play better offensive end, and that’s on us,” Coleman said. “We can’t start off slow like we did in the first half. We dug too big a hole.”
The Pirates trailed 32-23 at the break before wearing down Georgetown with pressure defense and rebounding over the final 20 minutes. But they now have lost four games on the final possession.
What’s the common thread?
“I’ve got to get a closer, period; we need a closer,” Holloway said. “At the end of the games there’s not too much coaches can do. I’m not throwing my players under the bus. I’m just being totally honest, right? At the end of the game, players got to make plays. I’ve got to put them in position to make plays, absolutely, so that’s on me. But we need somebody who wants to be a closer, who wants the ball. In the four games I’ve tried four different people.”
Can Coleman be that closer?
“Hopefully, hopefully,” Holloway said. “I thought he took a good step forward today. I love the fact that he’s hitting the offensive glass, That makes me excited because I’ve been on him for two years for him to do that. But at the end of the game we need a guy to say, I’m making a play … that’s what we’ve got to get for us.”
2. Felton shows promise
Freshman point guard Jahseem Felton got some serious run after starting playmaker Garwey Dual proved ineffective. Felton, who is the nephew of former North Carolina and Knicks point guard Raymond Felton, held his own with 6 points, 4 rebounds and no turnovers in 14 minutes.
“He came in and played well,” Holloway said. “He was aggressive, which I want him to be. Go to get him better on defense. He’s someone I’ve got to take a look at (in terms of enlarging his role). In practice sometimes he takes a step back to the older guys and is not being as aggressive. Today he was solid and that’s good. I need him to be solid.”
Holloway doesn’t like to change his starting lineup, but he made an obvious move: Sending struggling power forward Prince Aligbe to the bench and replacing him with Yacine Toumi. That didn’t seem to have much of an impact, however, as Toumi scored just two points on 0-for-6 shooting.
All told, the Pirates got a meager four points from their four bigs in this game. Holloway was forced to play Scotty Middleton, who is more of a wing, at the four. Middleton tallied 7 points and 3 boards and played some solid defense but continues to rack up fouls going against bigger guys.
“Scotty is playing his butt off, but he’s overmatched at the four spot,” Holloway said. “That’s something I’ve got to work on.”
3. Brutal Breeding
James Breeding is almost certainly the most controversial Big East official – his crew’s butchering of the Pirates’ Big East Tournament semifinal win over Marquette remains infamous – and he added to his reputation Sunday.
Twice in the first half, Breeding and company lost track of whether the free-throw situation was in the single or double bonus. One time it led to Seton Hall’s loss of possession, as an inadvertent whistle denied them an offensive board and led to a jump ball with the arrow pointing the Hoyas’ way.
They also botched an obvious basket-interference call against the Pirates that had to get corrected via review at the ensuing timeout.
Bad calls happen, but forgetting the free-throw count twice is inexcusable, especially since public address announcer Tim McLoone called out the correct situation both times.
4. Fans showed up
About 7,500 fans showed up – Georgetown remains a glamor name to alums of a certain age, despite its struggles over the past 15 years. Only a couple of dozen students were there, though.
The crowd was quiet in the first half, understandably as the Hall threw up brick after brick, but got fully engaged after the break as the Pirates scrapped to close the gap. They rained boos on the officiating crew repeatedly.
All in all, the best home atmosphere of the season so far for the Hall.
A strange side note: The temperature in the building was in the 50s, partially due to a women’s hockey game wrapping up shortly before gametime, prompting longtime Big East administrator and former Seton Hall staffer John Paquette to compare the conditions to the two seasons in the mid-1980s when the Pirates played some home games at South Mountain Arena due to construction on campus.
For the record: This was Seton Hall’s first home loss to the Hoyas since 2015, ending a nine-game winning streak at the Rock.
5. Much-needed break
The Pirates have nine days until their next game, at injury-riddled Xavier (8-5, 0-2) Dec. 31 (2 p.m., Peacock). It’s been a long time since this program has entered January with no postseason prospects – the Pirates have finished .500 or better in the Big East for the past nine seasons – but what’s left is the development of the sophomores and guys like Felton.
“I think this time off we have is going to help us — it’s going to help me,” Holloway said. “We’re right there. We keep losing these tough games at the end, man, sometimes, it’s demoralizing.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
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