Of the two Big East openers on the evening, one was seen as the better matchup since it involved two contenders for the top spot. The other game, which tipped later, ended up being the better game, and more interesting in terms of all the story lines involved. The end result, and how they got there, offer a lot of ways you can go with it.
Seton Hall’s 74-66 win at DePaul was just the start to Big East play the Pirates needed. That much was obvious to anyone who has followed them up to this point.
Seton Hall had a non-conference run that was a bit underwhelming. With Myles Powell in and out of the lineup due to ankle and then concussion issues, the Pirates played well, but lack a signature win as their best win is at Iowa State; the Cyclones are not a lock for the NCAA Tournament and have a good deal of work to do to get there. They don’t have a bad loss, but they’re going to have to get their best wins in conference, and they may have just gotten a good start to that end.
DePaul, on the other hand, rolled through non-conference, and it wasn’t against a bunch of patsies. They handled Iowa in Iowa City and also won at Boston College and Minnesota, edged Texas Tech and Northwestern, with their only loss coming to Buffalo. Naturally, plenty have wondered if this team is for real, even after they knocked off Texas Tech. The fact that the Blue Demons have been irrelevant for a long time has a lot to do with that, but Dave Leitao appears to have a legitimately good team this time around. The jury is out on just how good.
Powell returned to the lineup in this one after leaving the Pirates’ loss at Rutgers with a concussion, and it didn’t sound too good coming out of there. Fortunately, they had the Christmas break, which added some time in between games, and he looked none the worse for wear with a game-high 27 points on 7-15 shooting and five steals on the night. He was in a lot of key plays late as well, and for all the issues he’s had this year and how concerning they may be for his future pro potential, he seemed to play without any reservation.
While the Pirates rallied after a slow start and being down by six at the break, DePaul went up 66-65 with 2:36 left. Seton Hall made every play at both ends from there, scoring the game’s last nine points and getting big rebounds and turnovers along with Romaro Gill being a difference-maker in the middle as he finished up an evening with four blocked shots. They came through like the better, seasoned team, and in all more like the Seton Hall many expected before the season.
For DePaul, some may raise questions since it came at home and they didn’t get it done down the stretch. They have the wins to be an NCAA Tournament team, and there is a little insurance in the Big East in that there are unlikely to be many opportunities for bad losses since there is good depth and not much of a drop-off from top to bottom, although that also reflects that there doesn’t appear to be a national power in the conference this year, either. Can the Blue Demons bounce back? That’s the big question. They welcome Providence on Saturday, then go to St. John’s and Villanova before Butler comes to town, so it gets challenging fast.
Last season, DePaul had Seton Hall’s number, beating the Pirates both times in the regular season in close games. The Pirates have drawn first blood this time around, and in about as crucial a conference opener as there could be.
Side Dishes
Maybe South Carolina is bound to be a tough team to figure out just like last season. Fresh off a 70-59 win at Virginia, the Gamecocks emerged from the Christmas break with a 63-56 loss to Stetson on Monday. Ironically, game-high scorer Christiaan Jones (18 points) played high school basketball with Frank Martin’s son Brandon. South Carolina has now lost to Boston University and Stetson while owning wins at Clemson and Virginia. SEC play is up next, and while the conference is deep, their slate starts with a bang: Florida, at Tennessee and Kentucky.
In the CAA, the three preseason favorites are all off to 2-0 starts, and all on the road – in fact, road teams won four of five games on the day, with Drexel being the only home team to win as they beat UNCW 71-66. Northeastern got 33 points on 12-18 shooting from Jordan Roland to beat James Madison 88-72, Hofstra got 38 points from Desure Buie to beat Towson 75-67 and College of Charleston took over in the second half to outscore Delaware 41-23 en route to a 75-63 win. The road team has won seven of the first nine CAA games.
Other results of note: Pittsburgh held off Canisius 87-79 in the first game of the day; Green Bay got a nice road win at Northern Kentucky 73-59; Buffalo got 28 points from Jayvon Graves to edge St. Bonaventure 84-79 despite a career night from Bonnie point guard Kyle Lofton (32 points, eight assists); Villanova held off Xavier 68-62 in the Big East opener for both; Dayton got 31 points and eight rebounds from Obi Toppin as they took care of North Florida 77-59; Reggie Perry had 26 points and 17 rebounds to lead Mississippi State as they blew out Kent State 96-68; North Carolina just got past Yale 70-67, ending the Bulldogs’ seven-game winning streak and putting Roy Williams into a tie with his mentor, Dean Smith, for fourth on the all-time Division I coaching wins list with 879; Vanderbilt edged Davidson 76-71; TCU got 30 points from Desmond Bane as they manhandled George Mason 87-53; Memphis got all they could handle from Tulane at home before holding off the Green Wave 84-73; Gonzaga handled Detroit Mercy 93-72 despite 31 points from Antoine Davis; and Harvard won their second game in the Bay Area in as many days, topping San Francisco 84-81 in overtime after blowing a 15-point lead in regulation.
Tonight’s Menu
The final day of 2019 has 15 Division I games on tap, highlighted by early conference games. We’ll see you in 2020!
- ACC action gets it all going with Georgia Tech at Florida State (noon), then Miami goes to Clemson (4 p.m.) and Boston College travels to Duke (6 p.m.)
- The American Athletic Conference has another opener as UCF hosts Temple (2 p.m.)
- The start of Missouri Valley Conference play for a few teams is on tap as Northern Iowa visits Illinois State (3 p.m.), Missouri State hosts Evansville (5 p.m.) and Bradley hosts Drake (7 p.m.)
- In Big East openers for each team, Providence hosts Georgetown (5:30 p.m.) and St. John’s hosts Butler (7:30 p.m.) in the last game of the year.
- In non-conference tilts, Bowling Green hosts Hartford (noon), Vermont welcomes George Washington (2 p.m.), Morgan State goes to Cal State Northridge (3 p.m.), UC Riverside travels to Air Force (4 p.m.), Rider travels to Wisconsin and Iowa State hosts Florida A&M (7 p.m.)
