STORRS – Seton Hall probably earned its NCAA berth with Saturday’s win over Georgetown, but the push to achieve its greater goals begins tonight at Connecticut.
Many assume the Pirates will have their hands full with the eighth-ranked Huskies, but center Kelly Whitney says it’s the other way around.
The sophomore is predicting big things in the Hall’s 7 p.m. tilt. A victory would give the Pirates a 20-win campaign, an upset of a Top 10 foe and a huge road win. It would also go a long way toward wrapping up an all-important bye in the Big East Tournament.
“Defensively we’re one of the best teams in the Big East, so they’re going to have their hands full,” Whitney said. “They’re going to have to [play] us on the other end. It’s going to be a dogfight.”
Whitney’s towering challenge comes in the form of center Emeka Okafor, who leads the country in blocks (4.59) and the league in rebounds (11.5). The player-of-the-year favorite had 18 boards in UConn’s 83-70 win over the Hall in the Big East quarterfinals last March.
Whitney, who took an elbow over the eye that required stitches in that loss, says the Hall (19-7, 9-5 Big East) learned several things from that game.
“You’ve got to stay going at him, make sure he moves his feet and be able to play both ends of the court,” Whitney said. “We’re going to go at him, see if we can get him in foul trouble.”
The Pirates are fourth in the Big East standings; the top four teams get byes, and no team has ever won the tourney without a bye.
Syracuse was 9-5 after its 49-46 OT upset of No. 3 Pitt yesterday in Pittsburgh, and Boston College is 8-6. The Hall owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Orangemen but got swept by BC, and if they finish in a three-way tie, the Pirates would lose out.
“You can’t overlook the fact that [a bye] is a big help,” said guard John Allen. “We can say that don’t mean nothing to us, but it definitely does. It’s a big test, a test we’ve got to go up there and pass – not only against one of the elite teams, but on the road.”
Allen and point guard Andre Barrett have their own challenges in facing the New York-bred backcourt of Ben Gordon and Taliek Brown. Barrett will have to rise to the occasion despite having strep throat and getting poked in the eye on Saturday.
“It’s scratched, but I’ll be all right. Nothing’s going to stop me from playing,” Barrett said. “It’s a big game.”