On a day Seton Hall honored its 1992-93 Big East championship team, the present-day Pirates reminded that group — and everybody else in Prudential Center — just how far removed the program is from those halcyon times.
Seton Hall fell behind by twenty points, digging a hole far too deep to climb out of in a 65-59 defeat to No. 24 Cincinnati, the Pirates’ seventh loss in eight games.
“It’s very tough. It’s miserable,’’ said Brandon Mobley, who had a team-high 16 points off the bench, but lost Cincinnati sharpshooter Sean Kilpatrick on defense for a 3-pointer that clinched it. “The coaches do a great job of telling us what we need to do, we just have to go out there and do it. Each night it’s something different. … Each game we’re there and we let it slip away.’’
The Pirates (13-9, 2-7) lost in front of Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo, who coached that title team, as well as Terry Dehere, Jerry Walker, Arturas Karnishovas, Luther Wright and Bryan Caver, a reunion of the only Hall team to sweep the Big East regular-season and tournament crowns. And they did it authoritatively, allowing a 22-0 run that spanned intermission to fall behind 48-28 five minutes into the second half.
Seton Hall rallied behind Mobley, Eugene Teague (11 points) and Fuquan Edwin (16 points). Mobley — who may need offseason shoulder surgery — hit a 3 to get the Pirates within 56-52. But he had a miscommunication with Edwin that left Kilpatrick wide open for a corner 3 that gave Cincinnati a seven-point cushion with 1:50 left.
“You find out who you really are when things don’t go your way, when your back’s against the wall,’’ said Seton Hall’s Brian Oliver, scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting. “We’ve got to make it work, find a way as a team. We need to all be on the same page. That’s going to [happen] when people put aside egos, kick aside their own things.’’
Coming on the heels of a 20-win campaign, this season’s struggles have left the players frustrated and Carlesimo begging the fan base for patience.
“Those of you there then know how long it took us,” Carlesimo said. “It was a long time until we turned the corner. When [Tom Sullivan, Bruce Hamburger, Mike Brown] were able to convince players like this to come to the Hall, we turned the corner. When Kevin [Willard] gets some players like this, we’re going to hang some more banners in this building.’’
Kilpatrick had a game-high 21 and Cashmere Wright added 17 for Cincinnati (18-4, 6-3).