Amid Seton Hall turmoil, Willard praises Jaren Sina

How do you fix a dysfunctional locker room? Is it even possible?

That's the question Seton Hall basketball coach Kevin Willard faces after the abrupt departure of starting guard Jaren Sina rocked the program Wednesday.

"The mood and the attitude of the team is pretty good," Willard said during Thursday's Big East teleconference. "Everybody is just frustrated about losing."

The Pirates (15-9 overall, 5-7 Big East) have lost seven of their last 10 games, but their problems appear to run deeper than that as they prepare to visit Providence Saturday.

In a phone interview shortly after he and Willard agreed to part ways, Sina described the locker-room situation as untenable.

"It's not a good situation for me right now," he said.

Various reports and observers paint a picture of a roster divided in two: veterans against newcomers. The tension between the star guards in each of those factions, junior Sterling Gibbs and freshman Isaiah Whitehead, has been rising since Whitehead returned from a foot injury two weeks ago.

The Setonian, Seton Hall's student newspaper, reported that Gibbs and Whitehead got into a heated argument during a timeout in Tuesday's loss to Georgetown -- a story corroborated by others. Multiple outlets also reported that Gibbs and Sina did not get dressed with their teammates in the postgame locker room.

Asked what it says that a player averaging 32 minutes per game would leave in the middle of the season, Willard replied, "I can't speak for the fan base and the public."

He added, "We wish Jaren the ultimate best. He's a terrific young man. I enjoyed coaching him every second . . . He'll find success wherever he goes. That's the most important thing."

Sina was a Big East all-rookie selection last year. This season he struggled to shoot consistently, hitting just 32 percent from beyond the arc, but his confidence may have been shaken by the goings-on behind the scenes.

"We'd love to still have Jaren on the team, but most important, I'm excited for Jaren that he'll have an opportunity to play basketball somewhere and have a great education," Willard said. "He's nothing but the best. I love the kid to death."

It's worth noting that Sina and Gibbs are friends and were roommates last year. Gibbs, a likely first-team All-Big East selection, is on pace to graduate this spring because he sat out a year after transferring from Texas. As a postgraduate player, he theoretically could transfer elsewhere and be eligible to play immediately.

Just about any program in the country would clear out a starting spot for a good student who averages 17.1 points per game, shoots 46 percent from 3-point range and owns an assist-to-turnover ratio well north of 2-to-1.

Adding to the potential complications for Seton Hall is that Gibbs and Sina are homegrown, having starred at Seton Hall Prep and Gill St. Bernard's, respectively. They're well-regarded within New Jersey grassroots circles.

Those who know Sina expressed shock that he didn't finish the season.

"I've known Jaren for almost 10 years and he's been fantastic in every way," said Gill St. Bernard's athletics director Dave Pasquale, who coached Sina as a high school freshman. "He's a terrific kid with a tremendous work ethic . . . a wonderful ambassador for our program and our school. Not only was he a great player here, but he was a super teammate, competitor, and leader. He's the kind of kid who looks you in the eye when he speaks and treats everyone around him cordially and respectfully."

Sina will have a long list of suitors, including some successful mid-major programs.

Seton Hall plays Providence (17-8, 7-5) Saturday at 4 p.m. Backups Desi Rodriguez, Stephane Manga and Haralds Karlis are likely to get Sina's minutes.

"We have to replace a fine young man and a terrific player, but that's something we have to deal with," Willard said. "Guys have to step up, and I have a lot of confidence that these guys will."

Staff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannett.com