Seton Hall hopes spiral can end vs. struggling Xavier

Seton Hall has started to spiral, and its coach believes selfish decisions by his players are to blame.

The Pirates will be desperate to stop a four-game losing streak when they host Xavier on Wednesday in Newark, N.J.

Seton Hall had a fairytale 14-2 start to the season, doubling its win total from the year prior. Since then, the Pirates (14-6, 4-5 Big East) have lost in a variety of ways, all of them fairly close. After blowing a 15-point lead in a 65-60 loss at St. John's, they were held to 60 again in a seven-point loss at DePaul where they never led.

Shaheen Holloway implied after the most recent loss that his players are listening to outside forces and trying to show off rather than following the game plan.

"Everything was 1-on-1," Holloway said during his postgame radio interview. "Everybody, now, they start getting with their people and their people are telling them they need to start doing things, and nobody listens to the game plan. I don't recognize this team, I don't know this team. We're not playing like a team. We're not playing like Seton Hall."

Seton Hall shot a woeful 37.7% from the floor at DePaul. Adam "Budd" Clark and Tajuan Simpkins scored 14 points apiece. AJ Staton-McCray, the Pirates' top scorer at 11.8 points per game, was held to four on 1-of-6 shooting.

Xavier (11-9, 3-6) may present an opportunity for Seton Hall to find its offensive rhythm. The Musketeers allow 77.2 points per game and a Big East-worst 46.7% from the field.

The Musketeers have dropped five of seven after squandering a 12-point halftime lead in an 88-83 home loss to St. John's on Saturday.

"Disappointed, but told them to hold their heads high. St. John's is a championship program, we're gonna get there and proud of the effort from our guys," Xavier coach Richard Pitino said.

The result coincidentally marked the 900th career win for St. John's coach Rick Pitino, Richard's father.

"He'd have a lot more (wins) if he had stayed at Kentucky," Richard Pitino quipped.

He wrote off Xavier's deficit in rebounding, including 13-5 on the offensive glass, saying the Musketeers had been better on the boards recently.

Tre Carroll went for a career-high 31 points, Malik Messina-Moore had 18 and Filip Borovicanin tallied nine points, 10 rebounds and six assists to power Xavier. Carroll has scored 89 points in his past three games.

--Field Level Media