On the Road Again
February 28, 2003 10:45 AM | General
February 28, 2003
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Seton Hall is in the midst of an eight-day, four-game span that could decide its postseason fate: So far so good for the Pirates.
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| Seton Hall's Andre Barrett tries to get past West Virginia's Drew Schifino during last Saturday's game in Morgantown. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
John Allen hit a jumper in the lane with two seconds left to lift Seton Hall (15-9, 9-4) to a 57-56 victory over Villanova Thursday in a makeup game because of the snowstorm that shut down the East coast two weeks ago.
The victory was the eighth in a row for the streaking Pirates, which have found themselves right in the thick of the race for an NCAA tournament at-large bid.
Seton Hall and Notre Dame both have 9-4 league records, but the Pirates have actually jumped ahead of the Irish in the West division standings because Seton Hall defeated Notre Dame earlier this season.
A win over West Virginia coupled with a Pitt loss to Connecticut would give Seton Hall sole possession of second place in the West. At the beginning of this year, Seton Hall was predicted to finish sixth just ahead of West Virginia. That’s how far the Pirates have come under second-year coach Louis Orr.
Against Villanova last night, Allen and Andre Barrett each scored 13 points to help Seton Hall to its longest winning streak since the 1994-95 season.
The Pirates much turn it up one more Saturday against a West Virginia team that lost by 38 points Wednesday at Syracuse.
“We need to bounce back and we’re going to do everything we can because nobody is scoring points on Seton Hall,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “Seton Hall has got a team that is playing very unselfishly and very together and we’re going to have a very tough time with them on Saturday.”
Six days ago, Seton Hall withstood a late West Virginia rally to hang on for a 68-64 victory.
In that game, freshman forward Kelly Whitney provided the muscle with 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Marcus Toney-El contributed 13 and Barrett scored 11.
Allen made just 3 of 10 shots and finished with 7 points.
Barrett continues to lead Seton Hall in scoring with an average of 17.7 points per game. Barrett is also tops on the team in assists with an average of 5.3 per game and is shooting nearly 40 percent from three-point distance.
Allen is averaging 14.4 points and Whitney is averaging 10.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
Toney-El (7.5 ppg.) and senior center Greg Morton (3.8 ppg.) are Seton Hall’s other two starters.
On the flip side, West Virginia (13-12, 4-9) is still very much in contention for a Big East tournament spot. The Mountaineers, a game ahead of Rutgers in the league standings, must stay even with the Knights the rest of the way to earn a trip to New York.
After Saturday’s game against Seton Hall, West Virginia has home contests remaining against Georgetown (Monday) and Virginia Tech (Saturday).
Rutgers has games left at home against Notre Dame and on the road at St. John’s and Syracuse.
Wednesday night, West Virginia got a first-hand look at one of the hottest teams in the Big East at Syracuse.
“We hung with them as long as they were missing shots,” said Beilein. “It was a 10-15 point game for the entire first half. Then we kept missing them and then all of the sudden they just went crazy.”
Drew Schifino was the only WVU player to reach double figures in scoring with 10. He extended his streak of double figure games to 34 games dating back to last year.
The 38-point loss was West Virginia’s worst since the 1978-79 season.
Saturday’s game will tip off at noon and there is no live television for the contest. MSN’s radio coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. and MSNsportsNET.com will have all of the action from the opening tip to the final buzzer.
