Seton Hall loses to previously winless Monmouth as woeful offense continues to struggle

Monmouth hadn’t won a game yet in this young college basketball season.
Thanks to Seton Hall, now they have.
The Hall’s offensive struggles continued in a dismal 63-51 loss to the Hawks at Prudential Center on Saturday afternoon. Monmouth sophomore guard Abdi Bashir, who gave Rutgers 38 in a recent loss, killed The Hall with 28 points and made 6-of-9 from deep.
Isaiah Coleman led The Hall with a career-high tying 20 points. Chaunce Jenkins, The Hall’s leading scorer, shot 4-of-12 for 12 points.
“Just low energy all week, we didn’t really come out like we really wanted to be there,” Coleman said.
Seton Hall had been 15-0 all-time against Monmouth (1-8) coming in. The Hawks had lost eight games this season by an average margin of 14 points.
“I thought today was a total letdown and it’s not good,” Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway said.
“They just outplayed us and that’s sad and that’s on me….Anything that happens, that’s on me.”
The Pirates (4-4) have now lost to local mid-major opponents Fordham, Hofstra and Monmouth.
“[Holloway] gave us an opportunity that we truly needed,” said Monmouth coach King Rice, whose team has yet to play a home game this season as it attempts to make money with buy games. “We needed the money. We were 0-8, so we needed the game.”
Playing without fifth-year guard Dylan Addae-Wusu (flu), the Pirates erased any good feelings coming out of the Charleston Classic, where they went 2-1 with wins over VCU and Florida Atlantic.
“A lot of guys were banged up from the trip,” Holloway said.
The Hall entered ranked 350th among 355 Division teams at 58.1 points per game, and the numbers continued to be brutal.
The Pirates shot 19-of-53 from the field, 5-of-21 from deep and 8-of-16 from the line.
At one point in the second half, Manny Okorafor and Garwey Dual combined to miss five straight foul shots as The Hall trailed 51-41.
“They punched us in the mouth first and we didn’t respond,” Coleman said.
That was followed by Bashir’s sixth 3-pointer of the game that pushed Monmouth’s lead to 54-41.
As Okorafor got set to shoot another foul shot with 5:10 remaining, fans implored him to “Bend your knees” and then applauded when he made the first one before missing the second.
Without Addae-Wusu, who was unable to practice all week with the flu, Shaheen Holloway started Garwey Dual at the point. He went 1-of-2 with 2 points and 2 assists.
As a team, The Hall dished 11 assists against 10 turnovers.
“Boo,” one fan yelled in the final minutes. “I came to this for free, and I want my money back.”
They next face NJIT (1-7) on Wednesday night.
“That’s on us, I’ll take it,” Coleman said of the loss. “We’ll be better.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.