They have waited nearly a decade for this. Four days starting Thursday that could seal a bid to the NCAA Tournament, two games against nationally ranked opponents that could prove once and for all Seton Hall is worthy of being one of 68 teams in the Big Dance, that the Pirates shouldn’t be on the bubble anymore, that Selection Sunday will be stress-free instead of stressful.
It starts with No. 24 Providence and projected top-10 pick Kris Dunn on Thursday night at Prudential Center in Newark, and continues when No. 5 Xavier visits on Sunday.
“We talk about wanting to go to the tournament every day in the locker room, and now we have to make it happen,” senior guard Derrick Gordon said in a phone interview. “It’s definitely a huge week. It’s down to the nitty-gritty. We have to grind it out now. I think my team is well prepared for it and ready to go into battle.”
Winners of six of their last seven, the Pirates (19-7, 9-5 Big East) fared remarkably well in the first matchup against Dunn, holding him to 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting and two assists, equaling a season low, in an 81-72 road win on Jan. 16. Gordon, the Pirates’ defensive stopper on the perimeter and sixth-man extraordinaire, got a rare start, and hounded Dunn into his eighth-lowest scoring output of the season.
It was arguably the Pirates’ best win of the season — Providence was ranked 12th at the time — right up there with the victory over Wichita State. Khadeen Carrington and Isaiah Whitehead, the Pirates’ sophomore guards, combined for 37 points, and Whitehead had seven assists. But Gordon, who had 15 points and seven rebounds himself, was the story, particularly how well he hounded Dunn, one of the best lead guards in the country.
“This is definitely personal to me, because of all the hype he has,” Gordon said. “That makes me a little more hungry, [gives me] a bigger chip on my shoulder. Everyone has him on their draft board. When I took some charges on him, I saw him getting frustrated with it. It was like he didn’t know what to do. I’m going into this game trying to do the same thing, make him get out of his comfort zone.
“Don’t let him get anything easy. Make him do things he’s not used to doing, make him uncomfortable.”
That performance was, without question, one of Gordon’s best in a season full of quality efforts, but his defense has been a constant for Seton Hall, which is allowing the second fewest points in the Big East (70.2).
“He buys into [defense] more than anything,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “He understands that’s his strength and he plays to it. A lot of kids just don’t buy into the defensive end. They don’t understand the importance of it.
“Derrick understands he has a great skill, and he embraces the fact he’s a good defender.”