Kevin Willard and Seton Hall will learn a lot about themselves over the coming weekend.
The Pirates (3-1) face Oklahoma (3-0) Friday night in the Coaches vs. Cancer at Barclays Center, and if they win they will likely get No. 1 Michigan State on Saturday night.
Picked to finish eighth in the Big East, Seton Hall is coming off an 82-66 home win over Monmouth on Monday and also posted home victories over Niagara (83-72) and Kent State (78-76). The loss came in double-overtime at Mercer in the third game of the year (77-74).
“If you look at Seton Hall last year, they had offensive talent but they weren’t the most efficient basketball team,” TNT analyst Greg Anthony said Thursday. “They are going to be better this year…they are going to be interesting to watch moving forward. They had a lot of expectations going into last year and things didn’t go very well. I think this is a bounce-back year. They have a chance to be one of the three or four best teams in the Big East moving forward.”
Seton Hall doesn’t have an impressive non-conference schedule so they have an opportunity this weekend to get at least one resume win. If they can beat Oklahoma, that would be a nice one for sure.
“[Oklahoma] can get up [the court] and score, they share [the ball] really well and their ball movement is excellent,” Anthony said. “A lot of people thought that they would be a decent team but I didn’t think they would have the kind of growth that they’ve had this early in the season. They are going to be one of the better teams in the Big 12…they are going to be better than people realize.”
Seton Hall’s Fuquan Edwin (pictured), who is averaging 15.3 points per game, is projected as a second-round NBA pick, but Anthony has been especially impressed with point guard Sterling Gibbs, averaging 17 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists.
“I’ve been most impressed with his ability to get to the free throw line,” he said. “He is always in a position where he can dictate tempo. That’s an unbelievable step that he has already taken. He’s been a really good basketball player and Kevin Willard has to be thrilled with how he’s produced so far. This has the potential to be a special season [for Seton Hall] because, even though there aren’t a lot of household names on their roster, chemistry goes a long way.”
