Seton Hall plans to remain ranked this time. One week out of the Top 25 was enough. After returning at No. 19 following wins over Texas Tech and Louisville, the Pirates were hardly content.
If anything, they looked more determined, putting together one of their best performances of the early season, a 90-67 dismantling of VCU at the Prudential Center on Saturday afternoon in the Never Forget Tribute Classic.
“I’ve talked about things given and things earned, and in life, you’re going to appreciate things that are earned more than things that are given,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “I think these guys have appreciated the fact that they’ve worked very hard, they’ve sacrificed a lot to get this, and they don’t want to give it away.”
It was a thorough victory, complete in all phases. All five starters scored in double figures, led by Desi Rodriguez’s 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Angel Delgado followed with his sixth double-double of the season, 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Myles Powell scored 16 points. Seton Hall (8-1) committed just 12 turnovers against VCU’s vaunted pressure defense as Khadeen Carrington adeptly handled the press. The Pirates held the Rams (5-5) to 38 percent shooting and they owned the paint, 52-30.
“We have so many weapons,” Delgado said. “When you have that many weapons, it’s easy to play basketball. … We’ve been playing together for so long, everybody knows their role. We play as a team.”
Seton Hall broke the game open with a 17-3 first-half run, pushing a tenuous two-point lead to a 16-point bulge that was emblematic of the easy afternoon. Four different Pirates scored in the spurt, while their defense locked up VCU, holding the Rams to one made field goal over the 7:53 stretch. VCU never got closer than nine the rest of the way, offering about as much resistance as the wintry conditions outside.
With the victory, The Pirates are primed to move even further up the rankings after a week full of upsets. The last time they were ranked higher than No. 19 was the 2000-01 season, when Seton Hall was as high as No. 7.
“I got to take some ownership in the fact that my first three or four years [here] were not the greatest,” said Willard, who has led Seton Hall to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths. “Every day I wake up and I remind myself it’s taken a long time for us to get here.”