PISCATAWAY — Shaheen Holloway said it best earlier this week: In the Rutgers-Seton Hall basketball rivalry, you throw away records. This game is about honor.
Rutgers is a heavy favorite in the Garden State Hardwood Classic on Sunday. Pirates brought honor.
Thanks to a clinic on defense and hustle, Hall held on for a 45-43 win, stunning the 8,500 Scarlet Knights fans who showed up for blood in the latest edition of the Garden State Hardwood Classic. Postgrad forward KC Ndefo earned Joe Calabresi MVP honors with 9 points, 8 rebounds and a block at the rim on Rutgers standout center Cliff Amarui with 1:10 left as the Pirates clung to a two-point lead.
Amarui’s block, which is five inches taller than Ndefo’s, marked the two-hour clash that produced the lowest total score in the series since 1947.
“I knew they were trying to get something to the basket,” Ndefo said. “It was an honor and a lock in what we have to do defensively. That’s what I thrive on, being a defensive dude.”
It marked the first away win for either side in this series since 2015 when Hall defeated Eddie Jordan’s struggling RAC side. The hosts took five in a row.
“Thanks to Seton Hall, they played harder,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiel said. “These rivalry games, since I’ve been here, they’ve been (decided) by a couple of points here and there, you know, regardless of what the record of either team has been. In a rivalry you have to come and they brought it and they deserved to win.”
As the final buzzer sounded, Rutgers fans showered the court with rain because replays showed Ndefoe may have stepped on Seton Hall’s baseline in the final seconds, saving the ball from going out of bounds. Afterward, Pikiell and Rutgers players said they had seen no conclusive evidence of consistency. The performance is not subject to review.
The verdict lifted Seton Hall to 6-4 and dropped Rutgers to 6-4.
Seton Hall now leads the streak, which dates back to 1916, 42-31. The Pirates are 7-2 since the game became annual after the collapse of the old Big East. And Holloway is now 7-3 in his senior career at Rutgers – 2-1 as a Seton Hall player, 4-2 as a Seton Hall assistant and 1-0 as the program’s head coach.
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FIVE TAKEAWAYS
1. Good defense on both sides
Observers will tell you how ugly this game was, and it certainly wasn’t an oil painting.
But both teams were admirable defensively, contesting shots, cutting off lanes, helping and rebounding with precision. Shutting down the stream was Seton Hall’s best chance to pull off an upset, and Rutgers fans should appreciate that; The Scarlet Knights have done it to many of their best opponents over the years.
Seton Hall won the game with 19 turnovers, including 12 interceptions. The Pirates held Rutgers to 32 percent shooting that night and no field goals over the final 4:01 of the second half.
“First of all, I want to give credit to coach Pikiel and their team, they played hard, they were very well coached,” Holloway said. – For my boys, I thought that the number would be approximately the same. We’re starting to understand who we are defensively.”
Junior guard Kadari Richmond had six steals by himself in what was by far his best defensive performance as a Pirate. He also received the ball well under pressure and likely took a lot away from Rutgers defensive end Caleb McConnell, who defended him well but could end up being depleted offensively.
“I’m very proud of Kadari,” Holloway said. “He played too many minutes in the first half; I didn’t think I was going to be able to play him (much) in the second half, but he and Dre (Davis) battled through it, and I’m proud of both of those guys.”
Two early fouls on Amarura — one for touching, the other for unnecessary reaching far from the rim — took Rutgers’ formidable postman out of the flow early. But he played 25 minutes and had just one field goal, a tribute to Hall’s interior defense.
Credit to assistant coach Ryan Whalen, who produced the scouting report. When he was with Saint Peter’s last March, the world saw just how strong the Shore Regional High School graduate is defensively. Also credit to Holloway for rolling the dice and playing it small. He saw that Ndefo was locked in and entrusted him with the coloring.
Ndefo also did a lot of talking on the pitch. In such a hostile environment, you’re going to have to play with some moxie, not an Indiana-style shrinking violet. Ndefo embodied this boldness. He also scored the game-winner, scoring on Femi Odukale’s drive and scoring with 1:54 left.
“He understands,” Holloway said of Ndef, who followed him out of St. Peter’s. “The guys had never played this game before and played with that sense of urgency, so the guys got after him. I thought it was great.”
2. What it means for Rutgers
There are no styles in the rivalry game. The Scarlet Knights had to turn the page from a blowout at Ohio State, winning by all means.
“We tried — and in this league and the schedule we play, you have to turn the page quickly,” Pikiel said. “I thought we had the best practice yesterday. We usually play the way we train (that’s how) and that wasn’t evident today. It was a distraction, but there are many distractions throughout the season. We just tried to get away from it, but it was a quick turnaround, obviously, in this game. I don’t like to make excuses, but maybe that played a part in us not playing like that, but you know, that’s not an excuse.”
The quick turnaround does matter, as does the shock of what happened in Columbus, but Seton Hall also brought a level of physicality that may have surprised the Scarlet Knights a little after watching Pirates film.
“We have to play with a lot more energy, and that’s on me,” Pikiel said. “But credit to Seton Hall and the way they played.”
Unfortunately, the question many people predicted in the preseason — who will replace Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. in those white-knuckle possessions — rears its head. Rutgers has lost every close game. It didn’t help that Rutgers couldn’t capitalize on its size advantage, scoring just two second-chance points.
“We just weren’t us,” Mawott junior forward Meg said. “We didn’t finish the plays.”
In the big picture, Rutgers has one more chance to register a decent non-conference win next Saturday against Wake Forest. The Scarlet Knights are 0-3 in their competitive non-conference games this year. Once again, they’ll have to do it in Big Ten play. But make no mistake: this is still a good team. Losing this week in two one-possession games doesn’t change that.
3. What it means for Seton Hall
The Pirates showed just how good this team can be defensively when all 10 rotation players are available and playing with the gas pressed. They were a tight-knit, aggressive, tough unit on that end of the floor. The return of junior forward Dre Davis (10 points) certainly helped.
This team will only get better as the pieces become more comfortable.
“It’s a good win, a good confidence booster, it’s good for our guys to see where we can be if we keep fighting and keep growing and keep playing together, but we’ve got a long way to go,” “It was a big win, but I don’t want to get too carried away,” Holloway said.
If the Pirates beat Drexel on Wednesday, they’ll finish their non-conference resume at 7-4, including two quality wins on the road — a neutral-site matchup against Memphis, which is looking better and better (Tigers 8-2 after beating No. 11-ranked Auburn) and a true road win over a Big Ten opponent. Both are likely to be quad wins by the end of the season.
After the final buzzer, Seton Hall lifted the Boardwalk Trophy onto the court and did so in an unconventional way, turning the trophy upside down to face the cameras. Each winning team and the year of the streak are engraved on the back.
This was no accident; Seton Hall’s name dominates the list.
“Going back to the rivalry, seeing the pictures of the guys (from the past) holding that trophy, we knew what we wanted to do,” Ndefo said. “Having this trophy is a great achievement for us.”
4. The crowd tried to go, but …
The student section was packed an hour before tip-off. “Deck the Hall” T-shirts were lined along the seats. The crowd was 95 percent pro-Rutgers, with some Hall fans in the upper reaches.
During dating, it seemed that the old trapeze was ready to explode.
“I want to thank all the fans; very thankful for everyone who came out tonight,” senior guard Cam Spencer said. “I wish they had a better result.”
Seton Hall did something important from the jump. Matching Rutgers’ physicality and turning the action into a meat grinder, the Pirates took the crowd out of the game. The win in the first four minutes was huge and the tone – you’re in for a street fight, lads – seemed to spur both the home team and their fans on.
It wasn’t a church by any means, but it was Rutgers’ quietest home field for a Seton Hall game since 2015.
5. Demonstrative moment
Steve Pikiel and Shaheen Holloway love and respect each other. Having spent many years in the mid-majors, Pikiel was genuinely happy for Holloway and St. Peter during last March Madness season. Their hug before the game was warm and they shared a long laugh.
That’s important because the coaches ultimately control the future of this streak, and both of these guys embrace that. Holloway grew up playing the game, and Pikiel came to understand its importance.
The Garden State Hardwood Classic is here to stay, and ultimately, the ultimate winners are Jersey fans of the college game.
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and college basketball since 2003. He is a top 25 pick by the Associated Press. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
