What a month it has been for the Seton Hall Pirates. After losing to Rutgers on December 9th at the Prudential Center, Seton Hall won 7 of their next 8, including three wins against ranked opponents. They have been the hottest team in the nation leading up to their games against St. Johns and number 18 ranked Creighton. On Tuesday, January 16th, the Pirates faced the St. Johns Red Storm at the Prudential Center. An important game as a position for 1st place in the Big East is on the line.
Photo Cred: APP
The Pirates convincingly won this game with a score of 80-65. Guard Al Amir Dawes led the Blue Beards with 21 points on 5/10 shooting from the field. He wasn’t the only one who showed out for the Pirates this game, as Dylan Addae-Wusu also came in with 16 points and ten rebounds against his former team in St. Johns. He’s one of the best additions for the Pirates all year and one of the best transfer portal pickups from this recent pool.
On Saturday the 20th, the Pirates stayed home in a big test against the number 18 team in the country, the Creighton Blue Jays.
This game was back and forth, with each team trading leads. This ended with the Blue Jays winning 97-94 in Triple overtime but showed how the Pirates can stack up to any team in the Big East. The issue for the Pirates against Creighton was stopping the Blue Jays 7’2 Center Ryan Kalkbrenner. Kalkbrenner scored 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds while shooting 12/23 from the field.
Photo Cred: APP
Seton Hall had no answer for his play, even though Center Jaden Bediako was excellent again, with 15 points and ten rebounds. Bediako continues to be another great addition by Coach Shaheen Holloway through the transfer portal. After this stretch the Pirates have been on, they have a real chance at winning the Big East Conference this year.
They have already beaten the better teams, including UConn, St. Johns, Providence, and Marquette. Three of those four teams are currently or have been ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. Watch out for the Pirates this year in the Big East. They might surprise the whole world with how good they are.
