There’s no doubt this fan is Hall-in.
A shirtless Seton Hall fan has gone viral after being photographed Thursday getting his bare chest and stomach written on with a blue market in a concourse of Madison Square Garden.
The fan perhaps helped galvanize the fourth-seeded Pirates to a 72-61 win over No. 5 Creighton in the quarterfinals Thursday and set up Round 3 against St. John’s in the semifinals Friday night.
Seton Hall likely needs to win the Big East Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament, with either Georgetown or UConn awaiting in the finals Saturday night.
“I tried to explain to the guys the last couple of days, that’s what the Big East Tournament is all about,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said in a video posted to the Big East’s YouTube channel.
“There is no better place to play than Madison Square Garden.”
College fans are known for going wild lengths to show their support, even baring it all — like this fan — in hope of securing a victory.
Seton Hall needs all the help it can get after some stumbles in the Big East had it on the outside looking in entering the conference tournament.
The Pirates went 10-4 against non-UConn, St. John’s and Villanova teams in conference play, but loses to non-tournament teams in DePaul (twice), Butler, Creighton did not help their resume.
ESPN has the Pirates in the “next four out” category, meaning they are going to have to help themselves especially since some conference will have bid-stealers, like the MAC after previously undefeated and conference No. 1 seed Miami (Ohio) lost Thursday.
Seton Hall’s win over Creighton featured the Pirates building a seven-point halftime lead before the Bluejays countered with an early second-half flurry to grab a four-point lead.
Seton Hall used an 18-9 run in the final five minutes to pull away.
The Pirates now get a third shot at beating a St. John’s team it lost to by five (road) and seven points (home), respectively, during the regular season.
“That’s what we came here to the Big East for,” guard Adam “Budd” Clark said. “That’s what we came to Seton Hall for, to play in the big games on a big stage in the Garden. You can’t ask for anything better.”