Jeremy Hazell's shooting hand holding up well

Bobby Gonzales' prayers have been answered. If you recall, the Seton Hall coach said after beating St. John's that he would ask for a little divine intervention for the speedy return of shooting star Jeremy Hazell, who suffered a deep gash in the webbing of his shooting hand that required eight stitches to close.

The Hall survived that game without Hazell for the final 28 minutes, and he had a rough time in a loss three days later at West Virginia, scoring nine points on 2-of-10 shooting. But Hazell looked a lot more like himself in a 76-70 win over Rutgers Tuesday night at the Prudential Center.

He scored 25 points on 9-of-22 shooting, including a hot 5-of-14 effort from three-point range. As Gonzales noted, he called timeouts twice in mid-second half to set up plays for Hazell, and they resulted in back-to-back threes that maintained a 57-43 cushion.

"With stitches in his hand, Jeremy Hazell still found a way to get 25," Gonzales said. "That's Jeremy. That's having a money guy, a go-to guy."

Hazell's going to be big for Seton Hall over the final three games of the regular season. The Pirates (16-10, 7-8 Big East) need to win two of three to finish .500 in the conference and gain NCAA at-large consideraiton.

Hazell, whose right hand was dressed in a clean bandage after a game in which he just wore tape over the wound, said he has no idea how long it will be before the stitches come out. "During practice, I get used to it," he said. "It's just taped. It's not 100 percent, but it's there. I feel great right now."

On Sunday, Seton Hall plays its final home game against Marquette (17-9, 8-6), which some believe is a team that is in the NCAA tournament at the moment. "We're right there," Hazell said of the Pirates' NCAA aspirations. "We're not looking past anybody. Marquette is a very important game, and we're just going to cherish this victory tonight and get ready for them on Sunday."