Escape from Newark: Hoyas hold off Seton Hall

It wasn't pretty and the last 90 seconds were downright terrifying, but the Georgetown Hoyas held off the Seton Hall Pirates 61-60 on Sunday night in Newark to move to 2-0 in Big East Conference play.

After two early ties, the Hoyas led the rest of the game, by at least two possessions most of the time. The last possession of the game was the first time Seton Hall had a chance to take the lead since Jayden Epps sunk a three point jumper two minutes into the game. It was a fairly comfortable performance throughout that deserved better than a stressful 1 point win. But the Hoyas turned the ball over 19 times, gave up about a million offensive rebounds, and missed 11 free throws to allow Seton Hall to hang in the game and gift wrap them a chance to steal it late.

The Hoyas were once again without Malik Mack, but it seemed, at least early in the game, that the Hoyas would manage to control the game without him. The offensive sets were sharp, the Hoyas got the ball into the lane, and they made shots. On the other end, the Hoyas maintained their high level of play defensively against a really offensively challenged Seton Hall team. Seton's offense is slow, they don't make shots from deep, and they have no post presence to match their pace. The Hoyas were able to really clamp down on them throughout the entire game, even when Seton was able to go on a couple of runs in the second half.

This was a game of contrasts all around:

• The Hoyas controlled this game throughout, even leading by 11 with under 4 to play, but it came down to a single possession.
• The Hoyas ran some of their best offensive sets of the season, but went long stretches of the game turning the ball over, taking too long to get into their sets, and taking lousy shots.
• Thomas Sorber led the team with 19 points on 8-12 from the field, but was 3-6 from the line including two missed front-ends on 1-and-1s and the Hoyas too often didn't run the offense through him.
• The Hoyas forced Seton into terrible shots all night and Seton couldn't hit the shots they did manage but the Hoyas yielded 22 offensive rebounds, including 14 in the second half that allowed Seton to stay in the game.
• The Hoyas shot over 50% from the field and a respectable 33% from three point range, but only shot 50% from the line, including a few missed front end of 1-and-1s and two huge misses late from Drew McKenna (who, it should be noted, did a nice job drawing the foul on the possession).
• There were moments where it looked like Coach Cooley had lost some amount of control and allowed the worst instincts of his guys take over. But he absolutely outcoached the shit out of Shaheen Halloway on the final possession. The ball was supposed to be in Isaiah Coleman’s hands but the Hoyas had him face guarded and took him completely out of the game and Dylan Addae-Wusu had no idea what to do next. Thomas Sorber totally swallowed him up on the switch and ended the game. Great game planning there from the coaching staff and excellent execution from the team. Credit to Matty for calling this in the moment.

Overall, the Hoyas should have won by 12 but, with Mack out, Epps hobbled, and Peavy fouled out, they had no one to handle the ball late and still held up because the defense was outstanding. They won a game that was totally mucked up and that is exactly the type of game this team has lost 10 times out of 10 over the last 8 years. And now, they're 2-0 in conference with a really tough stretch coming. Can't ask for much more than that at this point in the season.

As Vinci put it:

We’re building back from a long period of shit, so bad wins are still wins.

And Miller Lite Mike added:

Quad 3 wins aren’t great but they are better than Quad 3 losses.

Some other assorted notes from the WhatsApp thread during the game (that was really burning up in the second half in particular):

• Matty pointed out the crispness of the offensive sets several times and noted at one point:

I don’t know why…but it just suddenly looks like an Ed Cooley coached team. The sets look crisp, the D looks well orchestrated, everyone is playing with discipline. The team is gelling at just the right time.

Which for long stretches of play was absolutely true, but looked less true as the injuries and fouls mounted (as would be expected).

• Matty also marveled, correctly, at Thomas Sorber's verticality for a freshman.
• There was much second half kvetching about the officials, who were quite bad. The game was very physical, but foul calls were selective and inconsistent and they missed some pretty obvious calls throughout the second half.
• Consternation abound about some of the guard play in the second half. As Seton's pressure increased in the second half and the Hoyas couldn't get consistent action going to the hoop, the guards (Epps and Peavy at first and then Curtis Williams, Jr. late) tried to do too much and made lousy decisions. Williams in particular needs more run to get some reps and get more comfortable with the ball in his hands, particularly against Coppin State with Mack and Epps banged up. This game exposed some depth problems in a Hoya backcourt that relies on 36+ minutes each from Micah Peavy and Epps.
• Seton Hall's Gus Yalden has been identified as a Section 104 villain. He's a clownish energy guy who obviously gives the team emotional juice when he's on the floor, but is also not very good as a basketball player, fouling out with 2 points and 1 rebound in 14 minutes of action. If he plays as big a role in the second matchup between these teams, we'd bet the Hoyas target him and win by a much larger margin.
• Caleb Williams hit a huge three to put the Hoyas up 61-50 with just under four minutes to play. This proved to be the final Hoya points which is concerning, but was off an awesome string of play from the Hoyas and was, at the time, seemingly a dagger of a shot. Hainesy was in the arena and sitting a few rows behind Caleb's dad. As soon as the shot when up and WELL before it splashed, Mr. Williams turned around with a huge grin and his hands raised in the air, Steph Curry style. It was deeply awesome.
• For posterity, before the Hoyas' final possession Uncle Dad called for a 3 point Hoyas win. When they flubbed that possession with a shot clock violation, Hainesy called for a "pretty devastating L." Both of us were wrong and never happier.
• Overall, the last 4 minutes of this game were highly stressful, particularly in the arena, and deeply stupid, but the Section 104 thread was popping at levels unseen in years for a Hoya game. It was really fun and ended up as a satisfying win. After the last several years, we could do a lot worse than an ugly and sloppy game that goes down as a tough conference road win.