Pirates Face Marquette: Who Wants Keys to the Offense?
SETON HALL GAME INFO (10-3, 0-1) / Opponent: Marquette Golden Eagles (10-3, 1-0) / Date: Sunday, January 1 / Time: 4:30 ET / Location: Prudential Center / TV: FS1
Coming off an 89-76 loss at Creighton Wednesday night, Seton Hall looks to tighten up their defensive effort and improve on an 18 turnover offensive performance as they battle Marquette on New Year's Day. After seeing what the Bluejays were capable of offensively in Omaha, I was left with one question for the Pirates:
Who is Seton Hall's primary point guard?
In the offseason, it was believed that Khadeen Carrington was transitioning from two guard to an Isaiah Whitehead-like combo guard that could handle ball distribution while also maintaining his scoring edge. Frankly, that has not happened.
To Coach Willard's credit, he adjusted accordingly. Carrington's scoring numbers are outstanding (19.8 ppg, 50% FGs, 51% 3FGs) as a two guard while Madison Jones was given an opportunity for major minutes during the fall semester. Jones' performances against RPI Top 100 opponents have yielded mixed results offensively (ie. 4 TOs in 27 minutes vs. South Carolina; 8 pts and 5 asts in 29 minutes vs. Rutgers), but his impact on defense has been positive.
On Wednesday night, Jones took some ill-advised shots, struggled to get the offense flowing and had his hands full defending potential All-American guard Maurice Watson Jr (who had 21 points and 10 assists). Jevon Thomas made his second career appearance for the Pirates after transferring from Kansas State, but it seemed he was trying to do too much too quickly (3 pts, 2 stls, 4 TOs in 11 minutes).
The Big East season is officially here, and it's imperative that Coach Willard has at least one guard he can rely on to handle the ball in critical spots. If it's Carrington, it helps free up more minutes for freshman sharpshooter Myles Powell, but it can't be at the expense of seeing Carrington's quality shots decrease. If it's Jones, he must develop consistency on the offensive end. If it's Thomas, he has to pick things up extremely fast and display a commanding presence with the ball.
Who will get the keys to the offense during conference play? Perhaps we'll have a clearer picture of that at The Rock on Sunday afternoon.
Quick hitters:
-Jones and Thomas will have their hands full with Golden Eagles guards Markus Howard and Andrew Rowsey. The pair combined for 8 threes in their 76-66 win over Georgetown on Wednesday.
-Desi Rodriguez connected on 5 three pointers against Creighton. The junior only had 6 threes made entering the game.
-Wednesday's game in Omaha marked the first contsest this season where Angel Delgado registered a double-double (10 pts, 10 rebs) and the Pirates lost. SHU is now 8-1 in games where Delgado has a double-double.
