Seton Hall coach: Talk of discord in locker room ‘overblown’

Reports of a fractured locker room and a freshmen against upperclassmen dynamic at Seton Hall are greatly exaggerated, according to the team's coach.

"There's a lot of rumors, but inside really what's going on is we've had some frustration over losing and guys wanting to win," Kevin Willard told The Post in a phone interview. "It's been as simple as that. All that other stuff, which we have no control over, it's been overblown and really wrong."

Seton Hall (15-11, 5-9 Big East), ranked as high as No. 19 six weeks ago and now fighting just to reach the NIT, will enter Saturday's matchup at St. John's losers of five straight games and eight of 10.

Sophomore guard Jaren Sina decided to transfer last week and has left the program, junior guard Sterling Gibbs — Sina's close friend — and freshman Isaiah Whitehead were seen getting into a heated argument in a loss to Georgetown on Feb. 10 and have clashed. Senior forward Brandon Mobley called out his teammates for me-first play following a loss to Marquette on Feb. 7.

The Pirates will be without Gibbs, their leading scorer, for the next two games after they suspended him for a flagrant 2 forearm he landed to the face of Villanova guard Ryan Arcidiacono in an ugly loss to the Wildcats on Monday.

Willard stopped short of calling Whitehead and Gibbs best of friends, but said they are far from enemies.

"Have my two best players bumped heads a few times? Of course they have," Willard said. "But it's a minor thing. You have two competitive guys playing hard. It got turned into something major by everyone on the outside. It all boiled down to frustration over losing, over losing games."

As for the argument the two were seen having in the Georgetown game, Willard said it was "extremely overblown."

"We've had arguments in the huddle the beginning of the year, middle of the year, [and now]," the fifth-year coach said. "It's not just Isaiah and Sterling. We've had arguments between other guys. They're hungry. They want to compete. They want to win.

"It's about basketball, 'Hey, this is what we're not doing.' It's never been personal."

Though disappointed with the ugly turn the season has taken, Willard said he knew there would be bumps along the way. Four of his top six players are freshmen, and two of them — forward Desi Rodriguez and guard Khadeen Carrington — have seemed to hit a rookie wall.

Add in the fact Whitehead — the McDonald's All-American from Coney Island — missed five weeks with a stress fracture in his right foot, roles had to be defined and redefined upon his return.

"Everybody has the same thought process: You were the No. 19 team in the country, and now you are here," Willard said. "We're a young team going through some real tough times. I thought we would struggle early in the year. I thought we would go through some growing pains much earlier than we are going, but when you lose one of your best players before the conference season it's tough."

Willard said Mobley (hyperextended knee) practiced on Wednesday and expects him to play Saturday against St. John's. On Thursday Red Storm coach Steve Lavin said forward Chris Obekpa (right mid-foot sprain) and guard D'Angelo Harrison (calf strains) will be game-time decisions.

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