Seton Hall’s NCAA Tournament fate is in jeopardy ahead of its home meeting with Georgetown on Tuesday at Newark, N.J.
The Pirates (15-11, 8-7 Big East) have lost two straight and are teetering on the tournament bubble with five regular-season games remaining. A meltdown against the last-place Hoyas (6-20, 1-14) would deal a serious blow to Seton Hall’s chances for an at-large bid.
“We’ve got a tough group of guys in there, in a tough situation, and we’re going to keep fighting to the end,” guard Jamir Harris said following the Pirates’ 58-54 loss at Villanova on Saturday, per the Asbury Park Press. “We’ve got to fight. Every guy in that locker room believes that, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Harris scored six points, which pushed him over 1,000 for his career, in Seton Hall’s setback against the Wildcats, when the Pirates shot just 39.6 percent from the field and committed 18 turnovers, which Villanova flipped into 23 points.
Seton Hall likely will lean on Al-Amir Dawes, who leads the team with 12.3 points per game, to energize a Pirates offense against a feckless Georgetown unit that ranks last in the conference in scoring defense, shooting defense and 3-point defense entering Monday’s action. All of those deficiencies cost the Hoyas in an 89-75 home loss to No. 10 Marquette on Saturday.
Jay Heath scored 18 points for the Hoyas, but Tyler Kolek registered 14 points with eight assists as the Golden Eagles shot 52.2 percent from the field and made 15 of 31 (48.4 percent) 3-pointers to send Georgetown to their fifth-straight defeat and 15th in their past 16 games..
“I think he’s the head of the snake,” Hoyas coach Patrick Ewing said of Kolek, per the Georgetown athletics website. “He does everything. He makes all the right plays that need to be made on offense. He drives. He facilitates.”
Ewing likely will have to rework his gameplan for defending Dawes, who torched Georgetown for 24 points, including 21 after halftime, in Seton Hall’s 66-51 win over the Hoyas in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 10.
–Field Level Media
