NEWARK — Khadeen Carrington was Robin to Isaiah Whitehead’s Batman for Seton Hall last season, a strong sidekick in the backcourt for the First Team All-Big East guard. Carrington knew he would have to pick up the mantle once Whitehead left for the NBA, and has discussed the transition throughout the season with coach Kevin Willard.
With Seton Hall’s season in need of saving against No. 20 Creighton on Wednesday, Carrington finally became the Caped Crusader and delivered a performance for the ages.
Carrington had the best game of his Seton Hall career with 41 points, five rebounds, seven assists and four steals with just one turnover to seal the Pirates’ 87-81 victory at Prudential Center, providing a major boost for their previously fading NCAA Tournament hopes.
“These are the games that I live for,” Carrington said. “Games like this, we’re on the bubble. We need these wins. This is when I’m going to go my hardest.”
Carrington’s 41 powers Seton Hall past Creighton
It was just the 13th time in Seton Hall history that player scored 40 or more points, and the first time since Sterling Gibbs dropped 40 on Nov. 24, 2014 against Illinois State. Carrington’s total is tied for the eighth in Seton Hall history. His 41 points are the most scored by any Big East player this season.
Ten of Carrington’s points came in the game’s final minute.
“I know how important these games are down the stretch and I just try to stay aggressive every play,” Carrington said. “I haven’t been doing that a lot of games this year, and I had to change that. So I did that tonight.”
The junior guard from Brooklyn made the first three shots of the game, and from that point on knew that he was working with something special in arguably Seton Hall’s biggest game of the season.
“The third three, that’s when I knew I was on,” Carrington said. “I mean, I just caught it and it was like no conscious. I just put it up there and it went in. That’s when I knew I was hot.”
Forward Ismael Sanogo predicted that Carrington would have a heroic game in pregame — he just thought that his teammate would be a different, more mild-mannered super hero.
“I told him before the game, he’s Clark Kent. Every time we need a big bucket, he’s there and he gives it to us,” Sanogo said. “I expect that from Khadeen. I think he’s the best scorer in this league, if not one of the better scorers in the country. So this is normal for me, he does it in practice all the time. So it’s nothing new.”
Carrington was 10-of-15 from the field, and 3-of-5 from 3-point range. But it was his work at the free throw line that was likely most essential — he made 18 of 22 shots from the charity stripe and helped ice the game down the stretch with some crucial free throws.
“More than anything, I love how efficient he was,” Willard said. “He rebounded, he defended. That was the best game I’ve seen him play from an all-around standpoint. I just think his efficiency was off the charts.”
Of all the incredible plays Carrington made, from deep jumpers and wild layups, the one he said was his favorite came with 18.6 seconds remaining. He had just made two free throws when Creighton rolled the ball out instead of dribbling it up to save time. When the Bluejays hesitated to grab it off the ground, Carrington dove on the court and grabbed the ball before slamming it for an emphatic dunk.
Hey @ESPNAssignDesk…we think you’ll want this on @SportsCenter #SCTop10 tonight. #HALLin pic.twitter.com/jc0y6mjwAx
— Seton Hall MBB (@SetonHallMBB) February 16, 2017
“At the end, diving on the floor, I was just timing the ball,” Carrington said. “And I saw him turn his head at the last minute, I just dove.”
Seton Hall’s NCAA Tournament stock took a major blow last Saturday when the Pirates fell to St. John’s at Madison Square Garden, and Carrington shot 5-for-16 from the field while netting 14 points.
But something Carrington said to Willard in the aftermath of that loss had the Pirate coach feeling confident going into Wednesday.
“I knew we were going to be in good shape when we were walking back to the locker room after the press conference and he said, ‘Coach, don’t worry, I’ll get it back,'” Willard said. “I had no worries.”
It was Whitehead who stepped up and carried the offense in Seton Hall’s biggest games last season. Pirates forward Desi Rodriguez joked that he had flashbacks to Whitehead’s best games as Carrington took over on Wednesday. And Willard added that as brilliant as Whitehead was last season, he never was quite as efficient as Carrington was against Creighton.
Carrington wasn’t necessarily Whitehead against Creighton. But he certainly wasn’t Robin, either.
“He’s found a good rhythm,” Sanogo said. “He definitely upgraded from Robin to Batman.”
Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Schneider. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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