Providence aims to jump above the .500 mark when it takes on host Seton Hall Tuesday night in a Big East clash in Newark, N.J.
The Friars (10-10, 4-5 Big East) are coming off an emotional win over Georgetown and former Providence coach Ed Cooley on Saturday. Seton Hall (6-14, 1-8), beset by injuries and poor shooting, has lost 10 of its last 11 games.
“We have to keep getting better. Every game on our schedule is a tough, important game,” second-year Providence coach Kim English said. “We’re going in to play one of the hardest-playing teams in the league this week in Seton Hall.”
The Pirates have played hard, just not well. They led Creighton by as many as eight points in the first half Saturday, but collapsed in the second half — scoring only 20 points — and lost 79-54.
Pirates leading scorer Isaiah Coleman (15.8 ppg) missed the Bluejays game with back spasms. He joined an already-long injury list for the Pirates that includes Dylan Addae-Wusu and Chaunce Jenkins.
Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said in a radio interview Saturday that he had “no idea” when Coleman and Jenkins would return, but hoped it would be soon.
The Pirates’ biggest concern has been an offense that ranks last in the Big East in shooting percentage at 40.9 percent and is one of the lowest-scoring teams in the country at 63.7 points per game.
Hollaway also took umbrage with the Big East schedulers for the lack of time between games.
“I don’t care who gets mad, these Saturday-Tuesday games have to stop,” Holloway said. “Everybody else … why is Creighton playing Wednesday? Why can’t we play Wednesday? It’s played out and it’s corny, but when it rains it pours.”
Providence is 1-8 this season on the road or at neutral sites. Jayden Pierre leads the Friars with 12.7 points per game. Bensley Joseph has scored 20 and 14 points in his last two contests and is 6-for-10 from 3-point land in that time.
“I thought our guys competed, played together and when that happens and you’re disciplined and you take care of the ball and you rebound and you take good shots you usually come out on the right side of the win column,” English said Saturday.
Tuesday will be a homecoming for Pierre, who is from nearby Elizabeth, N.J., and Providence guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim, who grew up in South Orange, N.J., where Seton Hall’s campus is located.
Providence set a season high in points when it beat Seton Hall 91-85 on Jan. 11 at home.
–Field Level Media
