Three days after he took a gunshot wound to the side of his body and was attacked by four men during a robbery-gone-bad in Harlem, Jeremy Hazell will be on the bench for Seton Hall’s Big East opener Tuesday night.
“Jeremy’s doing fine,” Pirates coach Kevin Willard said Monday by phone. “He’s at home, he’s resting, he’s doing fine. He will actually be at the game [Tuesday].”
The Pirates (6-6) host South Florida (6-7) in their Big East opener (7 p.m., SNY), three days after Hazell was attacked by four men at the Carver Houses on E. 104th St. after returning from a Christmas Day party.
“I just got to the front door of my building when these four dudes came up to me,” Hazell told the Daily News Monday.
“One of them had a hand in his pocket and told me to sit down on this bench. I didn’t want to, and he said if I didn’t he was going to shoot me.”
Hazell told the Daily News he pushed the robber in the chest and took off down 105th St., when four shots were fired, one of which hit him below the armpit and exited his body.
He flagged down an FDNY Ambulance at the corner of 105th and Park.
“They worked on me there and then took me to the hospital,” he told the paper.
Hazell was taken to St. Luke’s -Roosevelt, treated and released.
Police said no arrests have been made in the case.
Willard didn’t know about the shooting until after Seton Hall lost to Richmond, 69-61, on Sunday.
A preseason first-team All Big-East pick who hopes to play in the NBA, the 6-foot-5 Hazell has already been out since Nov. 19 with a broken left wrist suffered against Alabama and Willard said Sunday Hazell, who would be 25 next season, could redshirt the season.
Hazell is slated to meet with his wrist doctor Jan. 10, at which point more will be known about his future.
After being given permission to skip the Richmond game to be with family, Hazell is expected back at The Rock on Tuesday.
Likely to receive a huge ovation.
“It’s an unfortunate incident but Thank God he’s OK and nothing serious,” Willard said.
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