In an all-time stunning finish, the No. 20 Seton Hall Pirates dropped a Saturday afternoon matchup with the Marquette Golden Eagles, 73-72. With 1.5 seconds left, the officiating crew called a shooting foul on Bryce Aiken in a tie game despite the graduate point guard getting elbowed in the face on the shot. The call permitted Marquette's Greg Elliott to go to the free throw line to ice the game.
This call pretty much determined the game's outcome, completely overshadowing Aiken's 28-point performance, graduate center Ike Obiagu's 7-block party, and graduate forward Alexis Yetna 15-point, 16-rebound double-double.
The game could have had a much different outcome however, had the Pirates protected the ball better. Coming into the game averaging 10 turnovers a game, good enough for second in the Big East Conference, the Pirates turned the ball over 20 times.
This poor performance is coming off another underwhelming showing on Thursday, a game which they dropped to a DePaul team that was winless in conference play.
The Pirates shot a decent 41.7% from the floor throughout the game, but posted a poor 6-21 from behind the arc, taking nearly as many three-point shots as the Golden Eagles who knocked down 11 of their 22 three-pointers.
When it came to crunch time, the Hall could not convert, shooting 27.3% from the floor in the game's final 20 minutes. This, compounded with a less-than-stellar 69.6% from the free throw line, cost Seton Hall the game and likely their spot in the Top 25.
All of this is unfortunately veiled by the game-deciding call by the referees at the game's end.
When asked of his thoughts about the call, all head coach Kevin Willard had to say was, "Next question, please."
With Tuesday's game against Providence being postponed thanks to COVID-related issues within the Friars' program, the Pirates are off for a week until they take on St. John's at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, the first of a away-home, back-to-back against the Johnnies.
