The Pirate ship be sinking.

Seton Hall suffered a disastrous, and potentially season-crushing 97-93 loss to DePaul on Saturday night at the Prudential Center, with the Pirates dropping their third straight game while allowing the most points at home since 2006.

The same Seton Hall (12-7, 3-4) squad which knocked off Kentucky, Maryland, Miami and St. John’s — and carried a seven-game win streak into its first meeting with DePaul — has now dropped four of its past five games, including a pair to the Big East’s perennial cellar-dweller in the past two weeks.

The Blue Demons (11-6, 3-3) entered 1-9 all-time at Seton Hall, but upset the Pirates again by amassing an incomprehensible 42-19 edge on the glass. Sandro Mamukelashvili (10 rebounds) was the only Pirate to grab more than two rebounds.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow. You’re so used to winning. You feel like you got the chemistry down,” sophomore Myles Cale said. “We’ve got to [remember] where we came from, how we were winning, and just remember who we were.”

Seton Hall’s half of the boxscore should have made victory certain.

Quincy McKnight scored a season-high 25 points — on 9-of-11 shooting — with nine assists. Myles Powell had 24. Cale broke out with 19 points, on 7-of-11 shooting. The team hit 13-of-24 3-pointers and shot over 54 percent from the field, and led 49-48 at halftime.
But the interior void left by Angel Delgado’s graduation was never more evident.

Long Island native Femi Olujobi finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Paul Reed added 21 points and 14 rebounds as DePaul collected 16 offensive rebounds and converted 25 second-chance points.

“They really dominated the inside game,” coach Kevin Willard said. “We just couldn’t get a stop or a rebound in the second half.”
After DePaul took its biggest lead, 87-79, with just over three minutes remaining, the Pirates trimmed the deficit to three on multiple occasions. Each time, Seton Hall failed to respond with a stop.

Now, the young team which exceeded expectations for two months is left wondering how it just experienced two of the most disappointing weeks of their playing careers.

“It’s definitely a little bit of growing pains,” Willard said. “But I’ve got a lot of confidence in these guys. I have a lot of confidence going forward.

“We’re only seven games into conference play. It’s not like we’re 17. We’ve still got a lot of time. I think we definitely need a recharge emotionally.”

A week off will allow that.

But when Seton Hall returns next weekend at No. 22 Villanova, the season will be far closer to the brink than it ever could have seemed at 11-3.

“My freshman year we were [3-6 in the Big East], and last year we lost four in a row, and we found ourselves [with] our backs against the wall,” said Powell, referencing the team’s recent NCAA Tournament appearances. “What we did in the past, we never let our heads drag. … I’m not worried. Coach is not worried. I know we’re going to do better.

“We’re not losing faith. Our heads are still held high. We know we can get it done.”