Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
VILLANOVA, Pa. — Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez opted to bench star shooting guard Jeremy Hazell for the last 4:o4 of Tuesday’s 81-71 loss to No. 2 Villanova after Hazell had put up a game-high 32 points on 12-for-23 shooting.
After Scottie Reynolds hit a 3-pointer to put the game out of reach at 76-66, Hazell missed a jumper and Gonzo pulled him. He never went back in.
“It’s not the way you want to play college basketball,” Gonzo said. “I wouldn’t be doing a good job of teaching him, I’m not helping him. So basically I took him out and I told him ‘Jeremy you can go 1-on-1 and you can be forceful, press and look for some shots but you can’t just come down every time and take bad double-clutch shots.’
“You don’t get points for degree of difficulty with guys tackling you and then complain to the officials because even the officials started getting frustrated with him. It was just a chance for me to be a leader and try to teach him something that could help him.”
Hazell was not made available to the media.
Seton Hall led 58-56 on a layup by Hazell with 12:51 left, but Villanova rattled off a 25-10 run to go up 81-68.
No other Seton Hall player reached double-figures besides Hazell and Gonzalez said his team couldn’t win playing that way.
He does, however, wish the Pirates could get another crack at the Wildcats on Seton Hall’s home floor.
“I wish we could’ve gotten Villanova twice,” he said.
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter.
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
VILLANOVA, Pa. — Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez opted to bench star shooting guard Jeremy Hazell for the last 4:o4 of Tuesday’s 81-71 loss to No. 2 Villanova after Hazell had put up a game-high 32 points on 12-for-23 shooting.
After Scottie Reynolds hit a 3-pointer to put the game out of reach at 76-66, Hazell missed a jumper and Gonzo pulled him. He never went back in.
“It’s not the way you want to play college basketball,” Gonzo said. “I wouldn’t be doing a good job of teaching him, I’m not helping him. So basically I took him out and I told him ‘Jeremy you can go 1-on-1 and you can be forceful, press and look for some shots but you can’t just come down every time and take bad double-clutch shots.’
“You don’t get points for degree of difficulty with guys tackling you and then complain to the officials because even the officials started getting frustrated with him. It was just a chance for me to be a leader and try to teach him something that could help him.”
Hazell was not made available to the media.
Seton Hall led 58-56 on a layup by Hazell with 12:51 left, but Villanova rattled off a 25-10 run to go up 81-68.
No other Seton Hall player reached double-figures besides Hazell and Gonzalez said his team couldn’t win playing that way.
He does, however, wish the Pirates could get another crack at the Wildcats on Seton Hall’s home floor.
“I wish we could’ve gotten Villanova twice,” he said.
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter.
