NEWARK – Bobby Gonzalez is a Rex Ryan fan, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that has heard the respective coaches speak. They are confident. They are brash. They occasionally say things they shouldn’t say.
And they get results.
Gonzalez today posted the biggest win of his career at The Hall, a 64-61 upset of 9th-ranked Pittsburgh that was more shocking for the way in which the Pirates won than the actually victory.
Seton Hall got just 16 minutes and nine points from Jeremy Hazell, the Big East Conference’s leading scorer, yet still upset the Panthers. They suffered no letdown after Thursday’s 80-77 upset of Louisville. And they beat the Panthers in the kind of meat-grinder game not usually associated with The Hall’s up-tempo style.
“We beat them the way beat people,’’ Gonzalez said.
The Pirates, 12-6 overall and 3-4 in the Big East, almost beat themselves. Hazell was called for his second personal foul with 12:56 left in the first half. He said something ref Karl Hess didn’t like and Hazell was hit with a technical, which also counted as a third personal foul.
Hazell went to the Seton Hall bench where he wisely took a seat as far away from his coach as possible.
“I saw my hands going around his neck and squeezing the life out of his body,’’ Gonzalez said. “But I have a morals clause in my contract.’’
Hazell was whistled for his fourth personal just six seconds into the second half. This time it was Gonzalez who got called for a technical by Hesse.
No Hazell. No shot, right?
Wrong. Herb Pope of Aliquippa, Pa. took it to his home state team. Pope had 19 points and nine rebounds — clearly the best big man on the court. And small forward Jeff Robinson added 15 on 5-of-8 shooting.
But Pitt (15-4, 5-2) which is never out of any game until the coffin is closed and sealed shut, almost forced OT. Ashton Gibbs (23 points on 14-of-14 shooting from the line) missed two 3’s in the final 12.1 seconds.
Gonzalez, who turned Manhattan into a MAAC monster and a national nightmare for teams from BCS conferences, had the statement win he’s been building towards at The Hall. The Hall almost upset Syracuse and West Virginia early in the year.
“We knew it was coming,’’ said guard Eugene Harvey of Brooklyn, who has handled his new role off the bench with class. “But if you would told people it would have come with our leading scorer on the bench for a lot of the game and in a defensive style, they wouldn’t have believed it. But this team has come together.’’
Pittsburgh was the early-season surprise in the Big East. Despite losing DeJuan Blair, Sam Young and Levance Fields, the Panthers opened with wins at Syracuse and Connecticut. Maintaining that success is proving to be difficult.
“We had too many defensive letdowns,’’ Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We’ve seen it. We have not addressed it well enough.’’
Gonzalez, of course, had no trouble addressing the importance of this win, one he said earlier this season would come. When asked why he liked Ryan, he might have been speaking about himself.
“People might think, ‘Well, he’s making bold predictions,’’’ Gonzalez said. “And you have to back it up if you talk. I understand that. But I would rather be that way than be the other way. I just think that kids feed of that. I think kids want to play for him. The players, to me, look like they want to play for him.’’
