After Seton Hall's escape of Monmouth, it's time to elevate some subs

NEWARK – By benching his starters midway through the first half of Tuesday’s game against Monmouth, Seton Hall basketball coach Shaheen Holloway tried to send a message.

It worked – sort of.

The Pirates’ subs sparked a 17-0 run to build a 16-point lead, but the starters nearly squandered that in the second half before holding on for a 70-61 victory at the Prudential Center.

Freshman wing Isaiah Coleman led the charge off the bench, chalking up 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and adding four rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

“Just played with a lot of energy, came and did our job on defense,” Coleman said. “It was energy, just energy. That’s it.”

This marked the most points by a Hall freshman since Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 17 in a 12-point loss at Xavier in 2018. Mamukelashvili now plays in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs.

"I don’t look at offense; I know everybody else looks at offense, but I look at energy and passion, and he brings both," Holloway said. "That’s why he’s been playing, and when you play like that, good things happen.”

If anything, Coleman's bailout of his elder teammates should earn Coleman a starting role going forward. It was telling that when the other four starters came back in, they were still looking to run the offense through him.

“My teammates trust me a lot and the work I’ve been putting in, it’s showing," Coleman said.

If Holloway really wants to send a message to his upperclassmen, who are not playing within the team concept, not valuing the ball and not defending particularly well, he’ll start Coleman Sunday at Missouri. As it was, Coleman finished the game in place of senior Dylan Addae-Wusu, who struggled on both ends for 12 minutes.

"If you watched my teams over the years, whether it was at Saint Peter’s or here, I like sparks off the bench," Holloway said. "Sometimes when you start and we go into a drop like we did tonight, who do I come off the bench with? Right now, I’m good with the starting five we have, but at the same time, these guys gotta work. I’m not playing that game anymore where it’s like I’m just constantly giving chances and chances. At the end of the day, you gotta earn it and tonight, the guys that came off the bench earned it, we needed it and it was good for us.”

All told, the Hall's reserves scored 34 points.

“I was cheering those guys from the bench," said postgrad center Jaden Bediako, who notched 11 points and 10 boards. "We needed them and we’ll need those guys throughout the season.”

Monmouth coach King Rice expressed surprise at how effective the Hall's subs were.

“I thought if we could get into their bench – no disrespect to those kids, but they just haven’t done it every night yet – so I thought that would give us an advantage," Rice said. "And tonight they’re Big East players and they did an incredible job. So I’m happy for those young guys that hit those shots tonight even though that hurt my team. When you see young kids who do very well, you’ve got to take your hat off to them.”

The Pirates are now 6-4 and survived the “buy game” portion of the non-conference schedule without a catastrophic loss. Seton Hall’s last “buy” game loss came in 2013, when FDU and Saint Peter’s both won at the Prudential Center.

Monmouth (5-5) is now 0-14 all-time against the Pirates. Postgrad guard Xander Rice, the son of Hawks head coach King Rice, tallied 20 points, 5 assists and 5 steals over 39 warrior-like minutes.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

1. More Malachi Brown please

The freshman guard was a surprise sub midway through the first half, checking in to run the point when Kadary Richmond picked up his second foul. And the last player added to the Hall’s 2023-24 roster proved to be its best in the first half.

“That’s why he’s here," Bediako said. "We bring guys in who will help us win.”

He chalked up five points, two assists, a steal and no turnovers in nine heady minutes. He played rugged defense, at one point challenging and stripping Monmouth’s 6-foot-9, 250-pound Nikita Konstantinovskyi in the lane. And the offense ran so much better with Brown at the controls – smarter passing, better spacing, more efficiency as the Pirates went on a 17-0 run on his watch. It's their biggest run this season.

"I’m proud of him, and that’s something he can build on," Holloway said. "Think about it: You’re playing against Al-Amir Dawes and Kadary Richmond every day in practice, two solid guards, right? That should give you confidence to play against anybody. And I thought the last two days, he stepped up to the challenge that I presented to him, and tonight, he came out and he played solid.”

No one is saying Brown should supplant Richmond as a starter, but he’s earned a real role in the rotation going forward. It was surprising Holloway didn’t play him in the second half until a late cameo. Seton Hall suffered as a result.

2. Still struggling with 3-point defense

After Rutgers shot 12-of-24 from deep against the Pirates, Monmouth was nearly as sharp for much of the night, hitting 8-of-18 before missing its last four attempts (two of them wide open).

The difference? Rutgers came into Saturday shooting just 30 percent from deep, so the bombardment came as a surprise. Monmouth came in shooting 39 percent, so locking down the arc should have been task No. 1 for the Pirates.

As everyone who follows college basketball knows, the simplest way to keep an underdog in the game is to let them bomb away from deep.

3. Advice from King

King Rice has been a mentor to Holloway, and they shared a long postgame embrace and discussion. Surely Rice knows how deflating Saturday's loss to Rutgers was for Holloway. What was said?

“Sha is a point guard – he’ll get after you in your face, and I’m the same way," Rice said. "What I’ve learned over these 13 years (at Monmouth), just keep working with your kids. Don’t get frustrated with them. I get frustrated with my team too often. You recruited them because you believed in them, and it’s hard sometimes when they don’t do it the way you want, but keep working with them.”

Both coaches indicated afterward that this series will continue.

4. Sparse crowd

After a lower-bowl sellout of 10,500 fans, including 1,500 students, left disappointed from Saturday’s loss to Rutgers, maybe 3,000 people showed up for Monmouth. And there were fewer than 200 students.

It was one of the smallest crowds for the Pirates here in recent memory, and Monmouth got a neutral-court environment as a result.

5. Must-win next

The Pirates wrap up the non-conference schedule with a Sunday contest against Missouri (7-3) in Kansas City, which is about two hours from Missouri’s campus (5 p.m. ESPN). With an 0-4 record against high-majors so far, the Hall has to win this to salvage a total non-conference wipeout.

The Tigers own a win at Pitt and losses to Kansas, Memphis and Jackson State. They are a Quad 2 opponent.

This is supposed to be the front end of two meetings, with the second somewhere in the metropolitan area next season, but those details are not finalized.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Seton Hall basketball holds off Monmouth as subs save the day