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Sterling Gibbs is back. After averaging just over seven points across his last three games, Seton Hall’s standout sophomore guard torched Rutgers for 27 points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal. He got pretty friendly with Rutgers’ student section after a late and-one, too.
With Fuquan Edwin on the sidelines, Gibbs knocked down seven of his 12 attempts from the field and converted on all ten of his free throw attempts. And despite tight perimeter defense from the Scarlet Knight guards, Gibbs coughed up just two turnovers in 32 minutes of handling the rock.
Gene Teague, for the second game in a row, was a man amongst boys. The massive senior pulled down a game-high 16 boards and chipped in an efficient 16 points (6-of-8 FG) while anchoring Seton Hall’s defense. Teague has combined for a beastly 32 rebounds and 33 points in his last two games.
Coming off of a 26-point performance in a win over LIU Brooklyn, Brian Oliver notched 11 points before getting tossed with less than eight minutes left in the game for laying out RU’s Junior Etou while chasing a rebound. The flagrant 2 foul -- which was more of a good acting job, really -- warranted immediate ejection, and gave Rutgers a burst of energy as the Scarlet Knights cut Seton Hall’s lead to one.
Haralds Karlis, who didn’t hesitate to heave up two bricks from beyond the arc extremely late in the game, somehow corralled an errant three-pointer from Gibbs, who then calmly sank two foul shots to extend the Pirates’ lead.
Rutgers was led by Myles Mack’s 20 points and four assists, while Jerome Seagears went for 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Rutgers made it a close game more than once late in the second half, but couldn’t close the deal.
Seton Hall outshot the Scarlet Knights from the field (47.9/38.7 percent), beyond the arc (42.9/31.6 percent) and from the charity stripe (81.5/68 percent).
Grading the Pirates
| Player | Grade | Comments |
| Sterling Gibbs | A+ | Gibbs returned to his early-season form on Sunday, lighting up RU for 27 points. He drained 10 free throws, and helped ice the win for the Pirates. |
| Gene Teague | A+ | In his past two games, Teague is averaging 16 boards and 16.5 points. The senior big man is dominating, and will look to keep rolling against NJIT. |
| Brian Oliver | B | Oliver got ejected because a defender flopped. That was unfortunate, but he did connect three times from long range and made his first non-three FG of the season. |
| Haralds Karlis | C+ | Karlis gets the C+ grade only because of his clutch rebound. He threw up two highly questionable bombs late in the game that could've cost the Pirates big time had he not snagged that rebound while falling out of bounds. |
| Jaren Sina | B- | Sina was solid in 30+ minutes, but attempted just four shots during that span and got exposed on defense a few times. With Edwin out, he's been called upon for more PT, and will have to look for his shot more often going forward. |
