Seton Hall Athletics
Year two of the Tony Bozzella era officially gets underway on Saturday when the Pirates host Philadelphia University in an exhibition contest at the historic Walsh Gymnasium.
The matchup with the Rams will be the second in as many seasons, with the Pirates slipping past the Rams 87-85 in last year’s overtime thriller.
The Rams are led by their strong backcourt, which features junior guards Najah Jacobs and Monica Shacker in particular. Jacobs and Shacker led the team with 14.6 and 12.1 points per game respectively a year ago and have drawn Bozzella’s attention.
“Philly last year gave us a really hard time, and Jacobs didn’t play because she was injured,” Bozzella said. “So clearly we’re not going to overlook them, they’re very well-coached. We have to keep Jacobs in front of us but with a hand up because she’s a tremendous three-point shooter. The other kid (Shacker) does a lot of good things, so we’re going to have to be aware of them at all times otherwise we’re going to have a big problem guarding them.”
The Pirates boast a solid backcourt of their own in graduate-students Ka-Deidre and Daisha Simmons (no relation). However, the addition of Daisha this past offseason has required Bozzella to focus on getting the two on the same page. Saturday’s exhibition is a perfect opportunity to do so.
“I’m just trying to get them to be more comfortable together on the court, they haven’t played together in many years,” Bozzella said. “They’re (Ka-Deidre and Daisha) just trying to integrate every single other person on the team together too. It’s a combination; I just want them to learn each other, where each other’s spots on the floor, what they’re comfortable with. So that’s basically what we’re trying to achieve in this game as well.”
The exhibition is also a good time to work out some kinks for the Pirates.
“First of all, we need to get the jitters out, just playing in front of a crowd,” Bozzella said. “Two, we need to play together because we have a lot of new faces we’re trying to integrate. Three, we definitely need to do a better job defensively than we’ve been doing in practice.”
According to Bozzella, all of his girls are available to play, noting there are no current injuries on the team.
Tip-off for Saturday, Nov. 8 is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
