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NEWARK — In the biggest win of the Kevin Willard Era, a 90-81 statement victory over No. 5 Xavier that all but solidified an NCAA Tournament bid for Seton Hall, the Pirates once again road the coattails of a star sophomore from Brooklyn’s Abraham Lincoln High School.
Only this time, it may not have been the player many would assume.
While Isaiah Whitehead continued on his First Team All-Big East pace, finishing with 22 points — his fifth 20-plus point performance over his last seven games — it was high school teammate Desi Rodriguez who stole the show in front of a sold-out crowd at the Prudential Center on Sunday.
Exactly one week after dropping a career-high 24 points in a win over St. John’s, Rodriguez set new personal bests with 27 points and 12 rebounds against Xavier. The southpaw shot 9-of-16 from the floor, 8-of-10 from the free throw line, and added three assists as well. His dunks were highlight-reel worthy.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Over his last five contests, Rodriguez is averaging 19.4 points and 6.8 rebounds on 54 percent shooting from the field and 78 percent from the charity stripe. Whitehead on Monday was named Big East Player of the Week, while Rodriguez was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll. “He’s just taking the shots they give him,” said Whitehead of Rodriguez. “He’s getting out in transition and really getting some easy looks. Then once you get a couple baskets to go, the confidence goes from regular to extreme. He’s just been playing real confident.” “He’s terrific,” added Xavier head coach Chris Mack, whose Musketeers came out flat fresh off an emotional 90-83 win over No. 1 Villanova Wednesday. “He’s a very, very touch matchup.” Indeed, the 6-foot-6 Rodriguez has become a matchup nightmare for opponents this season, sliding over to the small forward spot after playing power forward basically all of last year. Lethal in transition, Rodriguez uses his strong frame and physical nature to bully opponents on his way to the rim. He’s highly effective in post-up isolations, and his range has now extended to the three-point line. After attempting 12 three-pointers all last year, Rodriguez is shooting 39.4 percent (28-71 from behind the arc this season. “Desi scores in such a ton of different ways,” Willard said. “He’s kind of gotten back to getting out on the break and scoring.” Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Rodriguez and Whitehead share a sixth sense on the floor. The two first met in the summer prior to their junior year of high school, when Rodriguez transferred from Frederick Douglass Academy in the Bronx to Coney Island’s Lincoln High School, where Whitehead was already approaching legend status. It didn’t take long for the duo to hit it off. “Straight from there, we kind of just clicked,” Whitehead explained. “There’s really no explanation for it. That’s been my brother since then.” “We definitely got a great bond, me and Isaiah,” Rodriguez concurred. “We hang out a lot off the court, and that helps us on the court more.” Four of Whitehead’s five assists against Xavier resulted in baskets by Rodriguez, including an alley-oop dunk out of a timeout in the first half that almost brought the roof down at “The Rock.” Whitehead, a former 5-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American who is now a contender for Big East Player of the Year honors, made national headlines upon committing to Seton Hall (over St. John’s and others) in the fall of 2013. At the time, Lincoln coach Tiny Morton openly said he wanted a job on Steve Lavin’s staff at St. John’s, but Lavin never offered him one. Willard ultimately did in July of 2014 and Morton joined the Pirates staff for one season in a package with Whitehead. He has since returned to Lincoln. Rodriguez’s pledge to the Pirates at the City of Palms Classic shortly before Christmas that year was significantly more under-the-radar. At that time, Iona was recruiting Rodriguez and Oklahoma had just called to express interest. “I said, ‘You coming with me to Seton Hall,” Morton told SNY.tv on Sunday after Lincoln’s PSAL playoff victory at Baruch College. “[Rodriguez] said, ‘Ok.'” Morton added: “I only coached him for two years, I had Isaiah for four years. I saw some talent that he still had and I wanted to get a chance to still coach him.” Morton said he notified Willard about his desire to bring Rodriguez along (although Morton’s hiring didn’t become official until the following summer). Seton Hall assistant Fred Hill was also at City of Palms at the time recruiting Rodriguez. “[Rodriguez] didn’t know this but he just got a call from Oklahoma that same night [he committed], so I closed it down,” Morton said. “I called Coach [Willard], I said coach, ‘Let me know if I should bring him with me or not. Otherwise, he’s about to get recruited.’ [Willard] said, ‘You know basketball. If he belongs, bring him with you.'” Rodriguez, meantime, says he knew he and Whitehead could succeed together. “I knew we could make a lot of big things happen,” Rodriguez said. “We were doing real good in high school, and [Isaiah and I] didn’t want to break that bond. We knew we could follow that up in college.” That’s precisely what they’ve done, leading the way for a Seton Hall team that has won four straight, 8 of 9 overall, and well on its way to the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in a decade. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi on Monday listed the Pirates as a No. 7 seed playing in Brooklyn against No. 10 VCU. The way Seton Hall has been rolling lately, it’s about time we stop talking about the Pirates simply cracking the field of 68. The Pirates check off all the boxes to do some serious damage once they get there. It’s something Whitehead has discussed with Rodriguez before. “We’ve always thought, that if we got in there, we’d win a couple games,” Whitehead said. Morton, meantime, says he’s especially happy for Rodriguez. “I’m just more happy for Desi because he wasn’t as publiczed as Isaiah and Khadeen [Carrington] and Angel [Delgado],” Morton said. “He’s making his way right now.” Added one Division 1 coach who recruited Rodriguez, “I can’t believe he’s gotten this good.” (Adam Zagoria contributed reporting) Follow Mike on Twitter Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter And like ZAGS on FacebookDOUBLE THE #DUNKINDESI! You gotta see this @Sportscenter! #HALLin https://t.co/6Hg6110mSn
– Seton Hall MBB (@SetonHallMBB) February 28, 2016
