Richmond stars in exhibition win over NJIT
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NEWARK – It’s tempting to overreact to college basketball exhibitions, but one thing can be said with certainty off of Seton Hall’s 68-60 win at NJIT Saturday: Pirate standout Kadary Richmond gave everyone their money’s worth.
The senior point guard racked up 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists and shot 9-of-10 from the field, controlling the action and, in truth, passing the rock well enough for at least 15 assists.
Senior wing Dre Davis (19 points, 7 rebounds) and postgrad guard Al-Amir Dawes (13 points) paced the Pirates, who trailed by as many as 10 and pulled away from the scrappy Highlanders in the final few minutes.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
1. Take exhibitions in stride
Resist the temptation to draw sweeping conclusions from an October exhibition. Coaches experiment in these settings, and they also hold stuff back.
For example, though Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway started what will probably be his standard starting lineup of Richmond, Davis, Dawes, Dylan Addae-Wusu and Jaden Bediako, he rode an atypical lineup for a key first-half stretch: Dawes at the point with subs Jaquan Sanders, freshman Elijah Coleman, Sadraque Nganga and freshman Arda Ozdogan. (Freshman forward David Tubek, who is expected to be in the rotation, continues to be sidelined by an undisclosed injury).
On the NJIT side guard Elijah Buchanan – who scored 25 in a recent scrimmage against Marist – limped off after a first-half collision. He probably could have returned if the game counted but was held out as a precaution.
2. NJIT executed superbly on offense
For a team projected to finish last in the America East Conference – a total rebuild in Grant Billmeier’s first year at the helm – the Highlanders looked like a cohesive unit on the offensive end. The screening, spacing and ball movement in their motion offense gave Seton Hall fits in the first half.
NJIT shot 7-of-14 from 3-point range in the first half, and most of those were clean looks, to take a 38-33 lead into the break. Postgrad guard Adam Hess (finished with 16 points) had a hot hand and freshmen guards Tariq Francis (11 points, 4 assists) and Jake Goldberg (12 points) played well. Senior guard Mekhi Gray (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) played well, electrifying the crowd with a big-boy swat of Dawes in the open court.
Seton Hall defended better in the second half as Addae-Wusu wore down Hess.
On the whole, though, this was a nice showcase for NJIT, which does not look like a last-place team. Far from it.
3. Seton Hall’s bigs, bench struggled
Bediako drew two fouls in the first four minutes and two more in the opening two minutes of the second half. His backup, Elijah Hutchins-Everett, racked up four fouls before the 12-minute mark of the second half.
Between them, they committed eight fouls and grabbed just three rebounds in 19 minutes of court time.
NJIT’s 6-foot-10, 230-pound postgrad postman Kjell de Graaf (5 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 5 fouls drawn)…
Read More: Richmond stars in exhibition win over NJIT 2023-10-29 00:29:35