NEWARK – The Seton Hall Pirates (5-0) took care of the New Haven Chargers (2-4) Tuesday, finishing their five game homestand with a 68-45 win. The Pirates are now 5-0 for the first time since the 2014-2015 season.
Early on in the season, the new look Pirates have played fairly well against teams they were supposed to defeat on paper. With the many transfers who have arrived in South Orange looking for big opportunities, one player has stood out in particular.
Jacksonville transfer Stephon Payne has seemingly burst onto the scene thanks to his play in the front court. Entering Tuesday’s contest, the senior forward has done his part, helping out one of the best blocking units in the country. Even though the Pirates only registered two blocks vs New Haven, Payne found other ways to contribute.
Shooting six-for-eight from the field and grabbing a season-high 11 rebounds, Payne earned his first double-double of the season. During his junior season at Jacksonville, Payne posted five double-doubles. Tonight looked like more will be in his future at the Hall.
“I thought he [Stephon Payne] did a good job,” head coach Shaheen Holloway said following the game. “We knew that they [New Haven] was going to trap us, so I told our guys to be aware of the trap. I thought we got in the lanes early and got some easy buckets. Plus he had a couple put backs, offensive rebounds. So, he’s playing well. He’s playing really well.”
While most of the attention entering the season was directed towards a transfer like guard Adam “Budd” Clark from Merrimack, one transfer guard is asserting himself well. Off the bench, Elon transfer Tajuan Simpkins has proven to be one of the Pirates’ best scorers early in the year.
Entering Tuesday, the guard had been lighting it up from the perimeter, shooting an impressive 46.2 percent from outside. His improvement with his three-point shot has been noticeable and it was on full display vs New Haven. Essentially acting like the team’s six-man, Simpkins shot a fantastic 80 percent from three and earned a season-high 18 points in the process.
Now averaging 13.2 pts/g, Simpkins is becoming that player who could anchor the second unit. Potentially, he could carve a place in the starting five now that Coach Holloway has seen his team play five nice games in a row. Simpkins, though, wants to do what’s best for him and the team.
“I’m just here to do whatever the coach need me to do,” Simpkins said postgame. “Obviously, that’s just my role being off the bench. I’m just [going to] stick with that. Just keep continue to be good and I’m just going to go with what’s working.”
On the New Haven side of things, it has been an adjustment for the new Division One team from Connecticut. Entering on a two game winning streak, the Chargers had some confidence to take down the Pirates. But, like their matchups vs UConn and Penn State, they were no match for a team from one of college basketball’s best conferences.
No matter where they shot the ball, it was another disappointing outing for one of the Division’s worst offensive rated teams. There were also a ton of mistakes that contributed to their blowout loss, coughing up the ball 14 times.
Offensively, the Chargers’ leading scorer, Jabri Fitzpatrick, was locked up by the Pirates. Shooting one for nine from the field and giving the ball away three times, Seton Hall gameplaned for him well and it showed.
The Pirates are now in a good place heading into next week’s Maui Invitational. With the easiest part of their non-conference schedule wrapped up, no. 25 NC State and Will Wade await the Pirates on Monday. Tipoff for that contest is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
