Desi Rodriguez of Seton Hall (Image Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)
In the biggest game of the season for Seton Hall, Desi Rodriguez couldn’t buy a bucket. The senior forward missed his first five shots from the field, he also committed two turnovers.
The timing simply couldn’t be worse.
Seton Hall’s season, full of promise, was spiraling out of control. They’re in a fight to stay afloat in what’s become a logjam in the middle of the Big East standings. A loss this past Sunday in Newark to DePaul, the last place team in the conference, would be a body blow for the Pirates and their postseason hopes for March.
But with the pressure on and a sense of urgency inside the Prudential Center, there was Rodriguez and his fellow seniors struggling from the opening tip.
With a little over seven minutes left in the first half, Rodriguez found his shot. He drained a three-pointer to break a 23-23 tie. He hit two more from downtown which keyed a 10-3 run from Seton Hall.
Rodriguez found his shot just in time, he finished with a career-high 33 points. When Angel Delgado, the walking double-double, wasn’t pulling down rebounds he was diving on the floor for loose balls. It wasn’t pretty by any means but the Pirates escaped with a hard-fought 82-77 victory over DePaul.
These are tough times for Seton Hall and they needed badly to beat DePaul. The win over the Blue Demons snapped a four-game losing streak which raised red flags all over the place. With the Big East tournament quickly approaching, these are desperate times for the Pirates.
Head coach Kevin Willard’s senior core group of Delgado, Rodriguez, Khadeen Carrington, and Ismael Sanogo have struggled with bouts of inconsistency. It would’ve been easy to understand Willard shaking things up.
But instead of playing his younger players more against DePaul, Willard doubled down on playing his seniors. When Rodriguez missed his first five shots, it looked like it wasn’t going to be his night. Instead of sitting him down, Willard let him work through it. The move paid off.
The logic is simple, Willard knows this group has been through this before. What made Seton Hall an early favorite to make noise in March is their experience. This team is battle-tested and familiar with adversity visiting around this time of the season.
Seton Hall’s win over DePaul, gritty as it was, did little to remove any of the current concerns surrounding them. Their final four games left on the schedule will set the tone for their last postseason run together. It won’t be easy.
These are tough times for the Pirates, but history has shown they’ll rise to the occasion for one last ride.
