Seton Hall and Southern California picked up significant results to begin the Maui Invitational.
Building on those successes will be paramount when the Pirates and Trojans meet in Tuesday’s semifinals of the tournament at Lahaina, Hawaii.
Seton Hall (6-0) recorded an 85-74 victory over No. 23 North Carolina State on Monday, handing the Wolfpack their first loss.
“A good win for us, a good win for our progress,” Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway said. “But you can’t get happy.”
Southern California (5-0) won its second close game in a row, edging Boise State 70-67 in the first round behind Rodney Rice’s 27 points. The Trojans enjoyed a 33-15 edge in 3-point scoring, with Rice connecting four times from beyond the arc.
Coach Eric Musselman said the Trojans expect a physically grueling matchup with Seton Hall.
“We’ve got to defensive rebound, for sure,” Musselman said, “especially with Seton Hall. They take on the personality of the head coach. They’re tough-minded.”
The Pirates can hit the boards. They’ve had four different players as their top rebounder so far. Najai Hines, who is Seton Hall’s seventh-leading scorer, leads the team in rebounds at an average of 6.3 per game.
Holloway said there were many good signs for the Pirates to embrace from their first-round victory, particularly how they began the second half.
“We just got to play our basketball,” he said. “We start playing the way I think we can play, I think we got a chance.”
It wasn’t just the offense, but what Seton Hall’s defense did to North Carolina State to help ignite the offense.
“We got some stops,” Holloway said. “We got some run-outs.”
Holloway said he knows that success can be fleeting, but defeating the Wolfpack should help the Pirates believe in themselves.
“I call this the marathon,” Holloway said. “This is part of the marathon for us.”
By defeating Boise State, Southern California improved to 3-4 all-time in games in the Maui Invitational. The Trojans have never won the tournament.
Southern Cal survived a three-overtime game against Troy before heading to Hawaii. Despite the nip-and-tuck nature of November games, there’s lots for Musselman to learn about his team.
“I’m still not sure what our go-to plays are,” he said.
–Field Level Media
