November 11th, 2018: UT San Antonio at Seton Hall (Tip-Off tournament)

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Seton Hall came on strong and never faltered in a 84-53 win over the Roadrunners of UTSA. Shadeen Samuels had 23 points to lead the Pirates. Marie Benson had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Roadrunners.

For long days, fantastic passing, hard bleachers, cleaning up the place, slashing, and orange things, join your intrepid and backwards blogger after the jump.

On we go, because basketball never stops, and also, it would be very silly not to see the Seton Hall game when we're, y'know, at Seton Hall. And while I can be very silly, especially when sleep deprived, I'm not silly in this regard.

UTSA is very orange. Our gear is all-white everything. Looks like Kimi Evans is sitting out this game again.

That awkward moment when your co-worker realizes that the keys on the bleacher are, in fact, yours. You know that face. The gritted teeth. The wince. (Sorry I didn't say anything earlier, D.)

At halftime, Seton Hall is up big on UTSA, 55-23. Everyone's scoring. Femi Funeus looks really good, and Shadeen Samuels is doing quite a number of Shadeen things. Marie Benson has been the Roadrunners' lone bright spot, and even she's been hampered by foul trouble.

I just got a look at the all-tournament trophies. They are cheap and hideous.

Brief pregame ceremony honoring Ela Mukosiej, who's an assistant at UTSA and a Seton Hall alumna (which explains why they're here, I would think). Explains why Phyllis Mangina is here, too, since she was the coach at that time.

Guys, you might want to do a better job of cleaning out the bleachers. I killed a pen on Tuesday and found part of it here on Sunday.

Lemons into lemonade: Inja Butina got knocked to the floor with no call on a defensive stand, which put her in perfect position to grab the rebound when it hit the floor.

Once again, the competition wasn't exactly lighting up the court, but Seton Hall certainly looked good. That frontcourt is going to be something special.

The Roadrunners used everyone that they used for pretty much about the same amount of time. I don't know if that was because of the margin, because of Marie Benson's early foul trouble, or because that's how they roll in San Antonio.

I liked what I saw out of Timea Tóth on defense- she's got good length and she seems to know how to use it to deflect and rebound. Mandi Cooks came in and got her offensive rebound pretty quickly. Kourtney Kekec did some really good work on the boards, scoring on a putback, and got stronger as the game went on.

I don't remember if Deja Cousin was the one who kept shooting the airballs, but she wasn't hitting the long balls she took. I think by the end of the game I was seriously flaking on the scorecards- cut me some slack? I'm really wiped. I don't even remember Charlotte Ellmore coming off the bench in the first half, but she clearly must have done, because she played 20 munutes and didn't start. I don't think she made much of an impression, in that case.

For a long time, Marie Benson was the only UTSA player who could score at all. She did a nice job getting inside and putting up layups, but she had a propensity to foul, and getting the charge early in the second quarter for her third foul killed anything that might have vaguely resembled momentum. Barbara Benson's goggles and choice of hairdo have the unfortunate, and presumably unintended, effect of making her look like the nerdy younger sister. She did most of her work in the fourth quarter, when Seton Hall was sagging off the defense. Tija Hawkins came off as herky-jerky- long limbs and height, but not the world's greatest amount of coordination for either. She threw up some shots in the fourth, but I'm pretty sure a lot of those were from when Femi Funeus had four fouls and had to back off on defense.

Ryann Stearns had a really nice deflection to break up a sure fast break for Seton Hall. She's feisty. I like that in a player. I honestly don't remember any impact Karrington Donald had on the game. I'm sure she must have done something, but she didn't do enough to make her memorable. (And that's harder when your team doesn't have names on the back of their jerseys. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.)

The end times are upon us, WNBA fans. Danielle Robinson hit a three. Wait, no, not that one, we're okay. Sorry, Pirate Danielle, you're in for a long four years of this. She's definitely the most froshy of our three freshmen, but I can see the flexibility and the strength she might be able to give us if she develops over the next few years. Diandra DaRosa seemed to take more pleasure in getting good passes than in scoring buckets, which is perfectly acceptable. Frustrating when you want the team to light the tree, but acceptable. At least she got one to go down. Kaity Healy canned a couple of back-to-back threes that got the crowd roaring. I'm still disappointed in her newfound tendency to commit stupid fouls, though. Kaela Hilaire found the in-between gear she was missing the other day against Wagner, and there was a great play where she made the extra pass (to Desiree, I think, but don't hold me to it) that I don't think she would have made on the break last year.

The more I see of Desiree Elmore, the more I like her. I think some time on the bench getting used to the system will do her a lot of good, and then she'll be an amazing complement to Shadeen Samuels once our guard logjam graduates. (I'm really starting to wonder if Tony thought that part of the plan through, to be honest.) I'd like her to do a better job of finishing at the rack, but that might just be an off day. Selena Philoxy got called for a lot of fouls that I, naturally, disagreed with. She's tough, and she's physical, and she killed it on the offensive glass. I love what she brings to the floor, and I love the joy she brings off it. Femi Funeus looks very promising, except for her hands. She's got to do a better job of catching passes and holding on to the ball. But in pretty much every other way, she looks far more advanced than a freshman. The idea of her and Kimi and Shadeen in the frontcourt is glorious and terrifying at the same time.

Whitney Howell played scared for much of the game, or at least that's what it looked like. She was tentative and got caught looking at the ball more than once. The rim didn't like her- she should have had at least three points, except for puck luck. Shadeen Samuels got a couple of early threes to go down, which might have encouraged her to take the ones in the second half that didn't go down. She's amazing as a slasher, and so quick on defense. I wish she'd play, or be played, more to her strengths, instead of to the fads of her position.

Victoria Cardaci's shot wasn't going down, but she made up for it with defense. If she can do that on a regular basis, I'll be okay with her starting. I'm just not enthusiastic about starting her if she doesn't. Inja Butina was a little more hesitant than I would have liked, but brought hustle on both ends of the floor. It's hard to argue with someone who's rebounding while down on the ground.

I love the speed of our offense, and the ball movement was amazing. There were some plays that made you yearn for the hockey-style assist to be tabulated- the sequence with Kaela, Desiree, and Victoria comes to mind. And the defense looks good too. We'll face bigger tests than this, but it's good to see the chemistry working so well so fast, with as many new players to integrate into the scheme as we have.

It looked like we had one experienced ref and a couple of rookies. That seems to be a trend in the early going this season. I guess there are worse times to let the rookies get their sea legs. I'm still not sure how running into a screen is a foul on the player doing the running, but I guess that's why I'm not an official.

Shoutout to the folks who showed up to back the Roadrunners. It's a long trip from San Antonio.

I know we play our tougher competition on the road, or at least at neutral sites, but I'm still looking forward to seeing us against stronger competition to see if we're really all we're cracked up to be.