Kadary Richmond, Dre Davis and Al-Amir Dawes aren’t walking through that door.
Neither are Isaiah Whitehead, Angel Delgado and Khadeen Carrington.
This is the team Seton Hall has for the time being and more and more it looks like Isaiah Coleman’s team.
The sophomore wing went for a career-high 25 points with 9 rebounds — his fourth 20+-point outing of the season — but could not lead the Pirates over the hump in a narrow 61-60 loss to Georgetown in their Big East home opener at Prudential Center.
Coleman was coming off his previous career-best of 22 points in the loss to Villanova on Dec. 17.
The Hall (5-8, 0-2 Big East) has dropped four straight and five of six.
Following a shot-clock violation by the Hoyas, The Hall got the ball back with 10.2 seconds remaining while trailing 61-60.
Dylan Addae-Wusu dribbled up court but couldn’t get a shot off as he lost the ball on the perimeter when he got tied up by Georgetown big man Thomas Sorber. It was The Hall’s fourth loss this season on the final possession.
“It just didn’t work, the play just didn’t work,” Coleman said. “They were guarding me, I was trying to get the ball and it just didn’t happen.”
Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway said there were “two options” off the final possession and “neither one of them worked.”
“One was try to get it to [Coleman], if not Dylan just had to go,” he said. “We just ran out of time, I guess. I don’t know.”
He added: “We need somebody who wants to be the closer, and wants that role.”
The Hoyas (10-2, 2-0) were coming off a 24-point beatdown of Creighton at home and a win over Syracuse at the Dome and have now won three straight.
No other Pirate besides Coleman reached double-figures Addae-Wusu added 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, while Chaunce Jenkins scored 9 points with 5 boards
Sorber, the 6-foot-10 Georgetown freshman and Trenton, N.J. native, went for 19 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists with NBA scouts from the Hawks, Spurs, Warriors, Timberwolves and Jazz in attendance.
He showed his versatility by hitting several 15-foot face-up jumpers, backing Seton Hall big man Godswill Erherience down for a layup and throwing down a dunk. Sorber, who turns 19 on Christmas, said he had 27 family and friends in the building.
“The best is yet to come for this guy,” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said of Sorber. “The best is way yet to come.”
Jayden Epps added 15 and Micah Peavy 10 for Cooley’s club, which continued to play without sophomore guard Malik Mack (knee).
After trailing 61-50, The Hall answered with an 8-0 run — including a Gus Yalden layup that sent the crowd into applause — and cut it to 61-58 on a pair of foul shots by Scotty Middleton.
After the Hoyas missed two free throws, Coleman drove to the basket and missed a layup, but Yacine Toumi grabbed the offensive rebound.
On the ensuing inbounds play, Coleman alertly put in a layup to make it 61-60 after Sorber blocked a driving layup by Jenkins.
“It’s demoralizing, it’s demoralizing,” Cooley said of Seton Hall continuing to lose close games. “He’s a great coach…Coach Holloway will do a great job putting his team in position.
“[Losing] three or four games at the buzzer, those can go any way and now we’re having a totally different discussion.”
The Pirates are off until they visit Xavier on New Year’s Eve day.
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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.
