By ADAM ZAGORIA
NEW YORK — Isaiah Whitehead still keeps pretty close tabs on his old Seton Hall teammates and he’s not completely thrilled with what he’s seen so far this season.
The Pirates (17-5, 6-3 Big East) have high hopes for a deep run come March, but have fallen out of the AP Top 25 and have blown leads in several games. They have a huge opportunity on Sunday when they travel to Philadelphia for a pre-Super Bowl showdown with No. 1 Villanova (21-1, 8-1), winners of eight straight.
“I think they’re playing solid, they could be much better,” Whitehead told me Tuesday night before his Nets lost to the Knicks, 111-95, at Madison Square Garden. “They let teams get on certain runs, they need to close the game better I think.”
Whitehead, who left for the NBA after his sophomore season at Seton Hall, remains in close contact with classmates Khadeen Carrington, Angel Delgado and Desi Rodriguez.
“Yeah, I text them a lot, just saying be seniors,” said Whitehead, who is averaging 7.5 points and 2.0 rebounds for the struggling Nets (19-33). “Just control the game, you shouldn’t have to be coached. There should never be a feud between players and coaches.
“I read it on Twitter. I guess there was something between Desi and Coach, or something like that. That should never be the [situation]. Desi knows it so…”
Whitehead was referring to the Jan. 17 incident at Creighton where Rodriguez had words for coach Kevin Willard, and Willard played him only six minutes in the 80-63 loss.
“Des, he’s been playing so well, so many minutes (this season), he had that look on his face where he just didn’t want to be out there,” Willard told Seton Hall radio announcer Gary Cohen after the game. “When he gets that way, you just kind of let him regroup and refocus, and it just never happened. But he’s done an unbelievable job. When you’re playing the minutes he’s playing, sometimes mentally, you just don’t have it. It’s not the end of the world, he’ll get it back.”
Rodriguez responded by Tweeting: “Haha really funny, why wouldn’t I want to be out there battling with my guys. I love these dudes they are my brothers, we will be just fine trust me.”
Since that incident, the Pirates are 2-1, winning their last two over DePaul and Providence. Delgado became the all-time leading Big East rebounder in the DePaul game.
“Super proud of Angel, too, you can throw that in there,” Whitehead said.
Whitehead also calls sophomore Myles Powell the team’s X-factor.
“He’s having a great year,” he said. “He’s definitely our X-factor. For us to win he has to play well.”
The Pirates now face a critical four-game stretch: at Villanova, Marquette (Feb. 7), at Georgetown (Feb. 10) and at Xavier (Feb. 14). If the Pirates hope to finish among the top three of the Big East, they will need to do well during this stretch.
“It’s gotta be their year,” Whitehead said. “It’s not about it being their year, it has to be. They gotta play like it’s their like last year and they want to do something special.”
Asked if the seniors will feel the season was a failure without a deep March run, Whitehead said: “Oh, yeah for sure. Just knowing those guys, the competitors they are and they believe in themselves.”
Does he ever wonder what it would be like if he were still out there wearing the blue and white?
“Not really, the NBA is great,” he said. “The pay is great. It’s definitely great. But if I was, it definitely would’ve been crazy.”
Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
