Big East play had begun. Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard gathered his players in a huddle with less than four minutes remaining, trailing DePaul by three.
He couldn’t have drawn it up any better.
The Pirates, filled with transfers and underclassmen, hadn’t played many, if any, Big East games. Now, the team was in a good position to win the first conference game Wednesday, and had an even better opportunity to learn.
“I just told them, ‘This is what it’s like every night in this conference and very rarely do you get blown out or do you blow someone else out. Every night you’re going to be up five, down five, with three minutes to go. You’re going to have to understand that,’ ” Willard said. “Three minutes to go in a Big East game is like starting at halftime in a non-conference game. It was a real good teaching lesson. I think our guys really understood, or are starting to understand, what this league is going to be like for the rest of the year.”
With 6.9 seconds left, Fuquan Edwin drove through the lane to hit the game-winning shot and gave Seton Hall its seventh straight win. Even with a soft non-conference schedule, a 12-2 start seemed like a stretch for the Pirates after falling short of an NCAA Tournament berth last season and losing Jordan Theodore and Herb Pope, the team’s two leading scorers, and respective leaders in assists, rebounds and blocks.
“This is where I was hoping we would be, this is where I thought we could be,” Willard said. “If we were going to be here, I wasn’t sure that we were going to be.”
The Pirates have only one senior and five of the players had never played at Seton Hall before this season. They needed to learn each other’s games, but first, they mostly needed to learn about each other. Spending time at restaurants in Madrid and beaches in the Canary Islands, the Pirates used a preseason tour in Spain to develop a chemistry that has carried back across the Atlantic.
With the new group, Willard, in his third year, felt as though he practically had a new job.
“With Jordan and Herb, you could pretty much yell at them, say whatever you want and they’d give you a look and it’d bounce right off them. But with young kids, they take a lot of things to heart, so I’m constantly reminding myself to be a lot more positive and be a lot more upbeat when things aren’t going well,” Willard said. “They’re not as tough just for the fact of having not been through all the games. Sometimes it’s tough, but I think it works better with young guys.”
Despite a slew of injuries and, at times, having only seven players available (which will occur again today against Notre Dame), the team’s scoring has been balanced, with four players averaging double-figures and the team shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 38.5 percent on 3-pointers.
Edwin, who led the nation in steals last season, has shown incredible growth on the other end, leading the team with 17.7 points, while leading the Big East on 51.7 percent 3-point shooting.
On a team lacking veterans, Edwin embraced the opportunity to become a leader. And he’d seen how.
“It didn’t really come natural, but I’ve seen it growing up with Jordan on my team in high school and college,” Edwin said. “He’s always shown good leadership and I just followed his example and I still talk to him. I knew my role was going to be different, so I worked hard and I knew I would have to step up and lead this team.
“The confidence is sky-high right now. A lot of people doubted us, but we’re ready to shock a lot of people.”
GAMES OF THE WEEK
Rutgers at St. John’s, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
If the Red Storm has any chance at making some noise in the Big East, D’Angelo Harrison is going to need help. The sophomore was sensational Wednesday, scoring 36 points in an overtime loss at Villanova, but talented freshman Jakarr Sampson was invisible, only scoring two points. For Rutgers, the matchup is the only one in a four-game stretch against a unranked opponent.
Louisville at Seton Hall, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
The Pirates don’t have much to lose but a tremendous amount to gain, going up against a legitimate national championship contender. The Cardinals are ranked No. 4 in the country, have won eight straight games and are led by Brooklyn’s Russ Smith, who is averaging 20 points per game.
Wagner at LIU Brooklyn, Thursday, 7 p.m.
The Seahawks have won five of their past six games, but have struggled in recent years in trying to slow down the Blackbirds offense. Even though Jamal Olasewere and C.J. Garner return for LIU after two-game suspensions, this marks Wagner’s best chance to solve the puzzle. LIU has lost four straight games and look lost offensively without the injured Julian Boyd.
howard.kussoy@nypost.com