LAWRENCE, Kan. – When Shaheen Holloway accepted the head coaching position at Seton Hall, his alma mater, last spring, he asserted that he wanted to bring the Pirates “to the next level.”
On Thursday, he brought the Pirates to the game’s highest plane. Inside Allen Fieldhouse, home of the Kansas program with the most wins in NCAA Division I history and the defending national champions, locals wore T-shirts emblazoned with “IT’S OK EVERYONE LOSES HERE” across their chests.
Count the Pirates as another victim. The ninth-ranked Jayhawks sped away from the Pirates in the second half to win, 91-65, and improve to 8-1. On a night when the Pirates missed their first eight attempts from behind the arc and shot 59.4% from the free throw line to lose their third straight game, Holloway was reminded of just how far Seton Hall (4-4) has to go to compete with the nation’s best programs. They will look to bounce back against Lincoln, a Division II program, Sunday.
“I’m not happy with anything right now,” Holloway said afterward.
The Pirates took the court without one weapon. Junior swingman Dre Davis, who is averaging 11.4 points and 3.8 rebounds, did not make the trip with the team due to a knee injury, and Seton Hall appeared to leave its shooting form back in South Orange, as well. During the first half, Seton Hall missed all seven of its 3-point shots, including an air ball by senior forward Tyrese Samuel, and converted just 9 of 16 free throws to fall behind 40-29.
“If we kind of make our free throws, you’re right there,” Holloway said.
Point guard Kadary Richmond (17 points; 5 assists) was the lone source of offense for the Pirates in the first half. On defense he blocked a shot and then scored with a layup on the other end. He followed that with a drive to his right before finishing with his left hand for a lay-in. He pulled up for another jumper and left the ball for senior forward Tray Jackson to score in close. When Kansas stretched the lead to 23-14, it was Richmond who responded with two free throws and another layup on a shifty drive. When the deficit deepened to 34-21, Richmond drove and drew another foul. He then found Samuel for an easy alley oop.
“I was just trying to figure out how to pick my spots and be aggressive,” said Richmond, whose seven turnovers were a season high and more than double any previous performance. “I tried to make a play whenever I could on the court.”
Some of Seton Hall’s failures were uncharacteristic. The Pirates came into the game leading the Big East in field goal percentage defense (38.4) as they kept teams to 25.4% from three, but Kansas knocked down a pair of 3-pointers from the top of the key quickly. The Jayhawks showed finesse with junior guard Joseph Yesufu’s floater and power with Dajuan Harris Jr.’s alley oop pass to K.J. Adams Jr., which he flushed home over Seton Hall’s Tae Davis, who was called for a foul. By game’s end, both Kansas forward Jalen Wilson and guard Kevin McCullar hit three 3-pointers apiece. In all, Kansas hit 7 of its 17 threes.
Seton Hall outscored Kansas, 20-18, in the paint during the first half, but Kansas found its stride in the open court when it converted Seton Hall’s sloppy turnovers into brisk fastbreak points. One pass by senior forward KC Ndefo (5 points; 5 turnovers) was picked off by Kansas guard Dajuan Harris Jr. for a breakaway layup, and Ndefo, who followed Holloway from St. Peter’s to Seton Hall, eventually vented his frustrations. He was called for a technical foul when trailing 60-38.
“We’re still trying to learn each other right,” Samuel said. “This is a bump in the road. We’re kind of in a little slump right now. There’s still a lot of basketball to play.”
Holloway allowed that there were positives to build upon. He saw good energy early against Kansas, and believes that poor defense on pick and rolls can be corrected through film review and on-court practice.
“We have to reset, rewind, get our minds right,” Samuel said.
By the time the public address announcer noted that there was one minute left in the game, Seton Hall trailed, 90-60, and the 16,300 prairie partisans took the cue to chant, “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk, KU.”
It was a haunting hymn, the kind that echoes in a coach’s head as his team tries to build. If Seton Hall is to reach the next level Holloway envisions, it will have to learn from its long night in Lawrence.
“We’re going to get right,” Holloway said as the team packed its bags for a bus ride to Topeka, where his team was to catch a midnight charter flight home to New Jersey. “Make no mistake about that.”
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Kevin Armstrong may be reached at karmstrong@njadvancemedia.com.
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