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Bobby Gonzalez gets first victory over a Top 10 opponent

BY MIKE VORKUNOV

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

It's hard to tell for whom Sunday's win over No. 9 Pittsburgh was bigger for, Herb Pope or Seton Hall.

Pope, a native of nearby Aliquippa, Pa., was so excited for the game his coach was scared he would foul out before he could put his stamp on it.

Seton Hall, a punching bag for critics of their easy schedule and sour start to the conference schedule, needed the win to stay on the postseason bubble.

Both ultimately received what they came for.

The Pirates (12-6, 3-4) defeated the Panthers 64-61 at the Prudential Center by once again surviving another late-game charge, and they did so with Pope as the catalyst.

It was the first win over a top-ten ranked team under Bobby Gonzalez and the first for the school since defeating No. 8 Pittsburgh on March 3, 2006.

"This is a great win for us," said Gonzalez. "Obviously since I'd been here we had never beaten Jamie Dixon and Pittsburgh and a big part of what everybody says is that we play in the 80s, we get up and down. We can't execute in the half court, we can't defend in the half court. What was great about it for us is that we beat them the way they beat people."

The Panthers shot just 35.3 percent from the field, turned the ball over 20 times — 13 times due to Pirates' steals — and were held to their second-lowest point total all season.

Pope was in the mix of it all. He scored a team-best 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, all the while battling his own emotions.

His family came up for the game to see him play against the school located roughly a half hour away from where he grew up. Gonzalez was worried enough about Pope going into hyperdrive that he talked to him before the game to control his emotions.

"Herb Pope was sensational, which I was very happy for him because I was a little worried that he might be too juiced up and he wouldn't channel his energy properly playing against Pittsburgh," Gonzalez said.

Instead Pope played with a chip on his shoulder, going out to prove that his ties to Pittsburgh were stronger than those with the name written across their jerseys.

"It's the home town team so I get a lot of pressure added on," he said. "Everybody wanted to represent that I am a product of Pittsburgh. That I am from there. A lot of guys on the team can't say that they are from Pittsburgh, but they play for Pittsburgh. They're nationally ranked, they're the power team in this conference so I wanted to show that I can play with the big boys."

While Pope was able to maintain his composure, Jeremy Hazell could not. The guard picked up three fouls barely seven minutes into the game, the last a technical, which landed him on the bench for the rest of the first half.

Then six seconds after intermission he picked up his fourth foul. That led to Gonzalez receiving a technical foul in the aftermath.

"I was extremely upset," said Gonzalez of when Hazell picked up his fourth foul. "I saw my hands going around his neck and choking the air out of his body. Except for the fact I have a morals clause in my contract. But he tried to tell me he didn't do anything. I told him Jeremy you must have did something."

In all Hazell played a season-low 16 minutes and scored just nine points. Despite that Seton Hall was able to beat the ninth-ranked team in the country, something that Gonzalez would have been incredulous of if told before the game.

"For us to win the game with Jeremy on the bench and for Jeremy Hazell to only get nine points, it shows that we got a good team," said the coach. "We're becoming a good team. And we're also becoming a team that can win in different ways. It was in the 80s the other night against Louisville. Tonight we won in the 60s. That's a very good sign. That means you're becoming a good team."