Sometimes college basketball games are won on shot-making and skill. Sometimes they’re won on guts.
Seton Hall’s critical 63-56 triumph at Butler was pure guts.
Beset by foul trouble, brutal free-throw shooting (10 of 22!) and an off game from star point guard Budd Clark (8 points on 3-of-10 shooting, 7 assists, 5 turnovers, 4 fouls), the Pirates rallied from a seven-point second-half deficit and held the Bulldogs to 30 percent shooting at Hinkle Fieldhouse. They are now 18-8 overall and 8-7 Big East and remain in hot pursuit of the program's first NCAA Tournament berth since 2022.
Butler (13-13, 4-11) entered on a five-game losing streak and without injured guards Finley Bizjack (17.4 ppg) and Azavier Robinson (6.1 ppg), who combined for 39 points on 12-of-17 shooting in the Bulldogs’ 77-66 win at the Prudential Center last month. Still, the Bulldogs came into the day with a NET ranking of 74 – Quad 1 territory. Even if this result slips to a Quad 2 as expected, the Hall will get something out of it resume-wise.
The Pirates' road/neutral record of 7-5 is a huge plus, and their 6-8 ledger against Quads 1-2 is drawing close to that .500 or better benchmark the selection committee looks at.
Since the start of the 2016-17 season the Pirates are 9-3 at Hinkle Fieldhouse – 7-3 against Butler and 2-0 in the NIT.
3 THOUGHTS
1. Lineup changes, Mike Williams responds
For the first time all season, head coach Shaheen Holloway made a change to his starting lineup, moving in junior guard Tajuan Simpkins (10.8 ppg, .438 field-goal percentage), .402 3-point percentage) over junior guard Mike Williams (7.1 ppg, .359 from the floor, .319 from 3-point range). The Hall had fallen into holes coming out of the gate in most games, and this was the clearest way to shake things up.
Holloway had been inching toward this move for weeks, starting Simpkins in the second half in several recent games and pulling Williams before the first timeout of the first half during Wednesday’s victory over Providence.
What impact did the change have? The Hall led 6-2 with all the starters on the floor, but trailed 10-8 when Williams came in for Simpkins at the 11:42 mark. So not a ton there.
However, Williams played his best game in quite some time, posting 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting, three rebounds and three steals in 20 minutes off the bench. His two second-half 3-pointers were keys to teh rally and his plus/minus of plus-13 led the team.
Holloway pushed the right button on this one, and give Williams credit for responding like a winner.
2. A.J. Staton-McCray steps up
The postgrad captain delivered when the Hall needed him most, chalking up 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and adding five boards. He also came up huge on a late scramble with the Pirates clinging to a 58-56 lead, tracking down a loose ball that led to a bank shot by Clark that provided much-needed separation.
After Seton Hall slogged through a 23-point first half, someone had to shoot over Butler's thorny zone. Staton-McCray was that guy.
Interestingly, Holloway said he took over the play-calling from Clark in the second half to make sure Staton-McCray got enough looks. See his quotes on that below.
3. Must-win homestand next
The Pirates don’t have a bad loss on the resume, and they must keep it clean against two Quad 3 foes in Newark this week – Wednesday against DePaul (13-12, 5-9) and Saturday against Georgetown (13-12, 5-9).
There’s a possibility that a respectable amount of students will show up for the DePaul game (8 p.m. truTV) because this is a Greek Night event – a twice-yearly promotion that tends to spark student-attendance.
After last season's 2-18 Big East record and seven-win campaign, picked to finish last in the league in the preseason, the coaching staff and players have done their part. Now it's time for Seton Hall fans to do theirs and give this team a real home court advantage.
The benchmark is clear, according to noted New Jersey bracketologist Brad Wachtel: A 12-8 Big East record, including a win over either UConn (on the road, Feb. 28) or St. John’s (at home, March 6), would put the Pirates in the mix for a Big Dance bid.
3 QUOTES
From Shaheen Holloway’s postgame radio interview with Dave Popkin:
On taking control of the play calls: “Here’s the thing, right? Our guys are asking for freedom and play calls and this and that For the first half I let Budd control it. And for him, he had a tough night, be he found a way to have seven assists, which is great for him. But then down the stretch I took over. I want them to have some freedom, but when you’re not scoring, it’s hard to come down and not run anything. Just get them moving, get them moving, and that’s what we did. That’s what we did. We got them moving, we got AJ some lock-down screens and from there he was able to curl it.”
On gutting it out: “This is a big win, we needed this win, and we just got to build from it. Even when it’s not your night, you can do things to help the team win. I thought Steph (Payne) did that with blocks down the stretch, I thought Budd did that down the stretch with distributing and getting the ball to AJ when he needed to get the ball to him, and that’s how you win games when things aren’t going great.”
On Najai Hines (6 points on 3-of-4 shooting, 5 blocks in 17 minutes): “Najai was playing good, but he got tired and he started cramping. I keep telling him, he's got to get in better shape…He’s a good player. We need him. We need him to play with the energy he played with in December. We got to get him back to doing that, because when he was doing that, we were a really good team. Especially now because Steph is down (with an ankle injury).”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Seton Hall basketball rallies at Butler, stays in NCAA Tournament hunt