With just over two weeks remaining in the regular season, Seton Hall was in need of a season-changing victory Wednesday night. After a 2015-16 season which saw the Pirates win the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time in 23 years, The Hall was expected again to be a player in the BIG EAST this year despite losing stud guard Isaiah Whitehead to the NBA.
Khadeen Carrington, the Pirates’ gifted junior guard, was looked at to be the heir apparent to Whitehead, who last season was referred to as Batman to Carrington’s Robin. Wednesday night versus No. 20 Creighton, and with Seton Hall’s NCAA Tournament hopes sitting squarely on the dreaded bubble, the Pirates were in desperate need of a superhero to save their season.
And Carrington delivered in true superhero fashion, scoring a career-high 41 points as the Pirates began a pivotal three-game homestand with an 87-81 victory over the Bluejays.
Carrington, who came into the game at No. 15 on the BIG EAST scoring list, had been struggling of late – he was averaging just 12 points per game over the last seven Pirate contests – but scored 23 of his points after halftime, including the final 10 points of his record night in the final minute of the game.
“Well, he’s not in a slump anymore,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said.
And Carrington’s breakout game could not have come at a better time for the Pirates. Seton Hall was coming off a flat performance in a 78-70 loss to St. John’s at Madison Square Garden last Saturday and had just one notable win coming into the Creighton game, that coming two weeks before Christmas when the Pirates took down then-No. 16 South Carolina 67-64 at the Garden. That’s why this current Pirate homestand is so crucial to their postseason hopes.
With No. 2 Villanova coming to Prudential Center Saturday afternoon, a game that is expected to draw a crowd of over 18,000 fans, followed by a date with Xavier next Wednesday night, it was a case of now or never for the Pirates as far as their tournament hopes. But it’s also familiar territory for Seton Hall, which was in need of a late-season surge last year to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume and they proceeded to do just that by winning five of their final six regular season games before knocking off Creighton, Xavier and Villanova in the BIG EAST Tournament – the same three teams they will see on this homestand.
And though this Seton Hall team boasts the human double-double in Angel Delgado, who did it again with a 17-point, 17-rebound effort, and another top-shelf talent in Desi Rodriguez (18 points vs. the Bluejays), Carrington is the one that makes the team go and the Pirates might only go as far as their flashy guard will take them.
Wednesday night was a prime example of that as Carrington’s performance was so dominating it had teammate Ismael Sanogo throwing out all kinds of superhero names to describe Carrington, at one time calling him “Clark Kent” before later saying, “he definitely upgraded from Robin to Batman.”
Like Sanogo, Delgado has a hard time limiting Carrington to just one superhero.
“He’s got to be Batman every single game,” said Delgado, who logged his 20th double-double of the season. “He’s got to be Superman, everybody. He’s a great player. I got a lot of respect for him.”
Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard knew a game like this could be coming from Carrington. After the loss to St. John’s last Saturday, one that could have stuck a pin in that bubble Seton Hall was sitting on, he said Carrington came up to him and reassured him all would be all right.
“I knew we were going to be in good shape when we were walking back to the locker room after the press conference and he said, ‘Coach, don’t worry. I’ll get it back,’” Willard said. “I had no worries.”
Carrington is the first Pirate player to hit the 40-point mark since Sterling Gibbs poured in 40 points against Illinois State on Nov. 24, 2014. His 41 points are also the most scored by a BIG EAST player this season. And while his performance will have him ticking back up the BIG EAST scoring list, Carrington knows there are far more important pursuits ahead of the Pirates, starting with a visit from defending national champion Villanova Saturday afternoon.
The Wildcats took the first meeting from the Pirates when Nova hung a 76-46 decision on The Hall back on Jan. 16. That loss left a bad taste with Carrington and the Pirates.
“I think they out-toughed us last time,” Carrington said. They definitely played harder than us.”
The victory over Creighton has removed the Pirates from the bubble for now and with games remaining against Villanova, Xavier and at Butler to close out the regular season on March 4, there are ample opportunities for the Pirates to pad that NCAA resume a bit, not to mention any damage they can do in the BIG EAST Tournament. But first things first, and that’s Saturday’s rematch against a Villanova team which has had the Pirates number in the regular season the past three seasons, winning five of six.
But, of course, there is the Seton Hall victory over the Wildcats in the BIG EAST Tournament final last year for the Pirates to think back on. That, and the fact that the Pirates are 10-1 at the Prudential Center this season.
“I think a win Saturday would definitely shock a lot of people,” Carrington said. “A lot of people are not expecting us to win that game. A lot of people didn’t expect us to win (Wednesday night).”
The victory over Creighton is a major step in the right direction for the Pirates in their pursuit of a second straight NCAA Tournament invitation. A win over Villanova would cement such a bid while victories over Xavier next week and Butler in the regular-season finale would offer additional opportunities to clinch a bid.
“This is proving what I said,” said Carrington, a.k.a the Caped Crusader. “I believe we are a tournament team. Right now we are on the bubble. (Creighton) was a great start to our end stretch. We want to keep it rolling from here.”