Seton Hall basketball: Isaiah Coleman's effort not enough, again, in loss at Villanova

Seton Hall basketball: Isaiah Coleman’s effort not enough, again, in loss at Villanova

Posted by Admin December 18, 2024 Basketball

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VILLANOVA, Pa. – Isaiah Coleman soared high for a long rebound, beating two Villanova players to the ball, and sent it ahead to Dylan Addae-Wusu for a layup.

He drove the lane, spun through two defenders, and converted at the rim through contact.

He hit the floor for loose balls and, unlike his teammates, came up with them.

He mostly did his job on defense. He made his free throws. And he showed some fight. In that last respect, he was alone among the Pirates.

The sophomore wing is emerging as a star for Seton Hall’s basketball program. But as Tuesday’s 79-67 loss at Villanova in the Big East Conference opener showed, he has no help right now.

“He’s playing like somebody who’s been in the program, somebody who knows what it takes and what I expect,” Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said. “One of the issues we’re having right now is certain guys are worried about their offense. They’re not worried about their defense, and that I cannot have.”

He’d like them to take their cues from Coleman. He finished with a career-high 22 points and 9 rebounds in 36 hard-hat minutes for the Hall, which fell to 5-7 overall and 0-1 in the league and looks destined for a bottom-feeding campaign. This after his 15 points, 6 rebound and 4 steals nearly earned him MVP honors in Saturday’s heartbreaking loss at Rutgers.

“The basketball finds energy: You play with energy, you play with passion, the ball is going to find you,” Holloway said. “That’s what Zay (Coleman) is doing and that’s why the ball is finding him. He’s playing hard. I wanted him to be more aggressive because he’s so athletic. We’ve been working on him finishing through contact.”

Coleman shot 7-of-15 from the floor, 7-of-10 from the free-throw line and four of his boards were offensive. In the closing moments, as Villanova was firing away, padding the lead, he showed some pride and mixed it up with some of the Wildcats in a heated exchange of words while his teammates appeared to be playing out the string.

“I’m just trying to be energetic the whole game,” Coleman said. “Guys get down on themselves because a couple of shots miss and then they miss a defensive assignment. I’m putting in the work. I’m trying my best to do what I can do to help the team win.”

Holloway played all 12 of his available scholarship players against Villanova, searching for something – anything – to help his budding standout.

“I’m up all night trying to figure it out,” he said.

Villanova (8-4, 1-0), which has won five straight games, got 25 points and six boards from forward Eric Dixon, the nation’s leading scorer. But the Wildcats surrounded Dixon with contributors. Coleman, right now, is a one-man band.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

1. No carry over from Rutgers

After Saturday’s lockdown, ultra-physical effort at Rutgers, the Pirates did not bring the same focus or intensity to the Main Line. Villanova did its thing, spreading the floor, finding the open man and firing away, and the Pirates were disconnected – especially early.

Holloway started the game with junior forward Prince Aligbe defending Dixon, but after Dixon scored three on three straight possessions – with Aligbe inexplicable sagging on the sharpshooting big man – Holloway yanked him for good.

“The Rutgers game should have been something to build on, but you’ve got guys worrying about themselves and not worrying about us,” Holloway said. “We came out with some juice in the second half because I changed the lineup. We needed some energy, some juice. In the first half there was no energy.”

Villanova shot 54 percent from the field on the night, including 9-of-21 (42 percent) from 3-point range.

“We told our guys when we double Dixon, you’ve got to understand what guys to leave and not leave,” Holloway said. “And then our guys are leaving a guy (Tyler Perkins) who’s shooting 42 percent from 3-point range! That’s the frustrating part. It’s not winning and losing games. It’s that we’re not picking up the answers to the test.”

2. The sophomores: the future?

At the start of the second half, Holloway made a rare lineup change, inserting Scotty Middleton for Aligbe. That gave the Hall four sophomores on the floor to start the period: Coleman, Middleton, point guard Garwey Dual and center Manny Okorafor.

This is the group to watch the rest of the way. Can they develop enough to give the program hope for next season – assuming most of them can be retained? That’s a couple of massive ifs, but it’s the one card the Hall has to play.

3. Horrendous history

Since the Pirates’ 70-59 triumph in February of 1994 at what was then known as the DuPont Pavilion, they are 1-22 at Villanova, including 0-16 at the Pavilion. Most of those games have been one-sided. Add this to the forlorn list.

4. Times have changed

The Pavilion was a different place the last time Seton Hall played there. It’s been renovated and expanded, with a beautiful concourse added. But the student section, once a fearsome wall behind one basket, has been split in half and seems far less intimidating. And the Tuesday’s crowd was meager by Villanova standards – no more than 5,000 seats filled out of 6,500.

For years, this place was an earsplitting house of pain. Times have changed.

5. Next up: Georgetown

Seton Hall has beaten Georgetown seven straight times and in 11 of the last 12 meetings. The Pirates haven’t lost at home to the Hoyas since March of 2015, going 9-0 against them in Newark since then.

Is that about to change when they meet Sunday at the Prudential Center (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1)?

The Hoyas (8-2), who open Big East play at home against Creighton Wednesday, own a four-point win at struggling Syracuse but not much else of note. Still, unlike the Pirates, they’ve mostly taken care of business.

Over 8,000 tickets are out, which is a respectable number. It will be interesting to see how many fans show up.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.