Seton Hall Suspends Gibbs Two Games

Gibbs is a big key for Seton Hall. Photo Credit: Jim O' Connor/USA Today Sports

  
Seton Hall took immediate action on guard Sterling Gibbs flowing his incident in the game against Villanova.

By: Michael Hanley (@Magic20099)

The university suspended Gibbs two games in response to the elbow he threw right in Villanova guard Ryan Arcidiacono during Monday night's game between the two Big East schools. It was an unfortunate moment in a game that got away from the Pirates quickly as Villaova got the easy win.

Gibbs will miss Seton Hall's games against St. John's on the road Saturday and a home game vs Creighton on February 28th. Those are two critical games for Seton Hall who currently at 15-11, 5-9 in Big East play, are squarely on the bubble in terms of making the NCAA Tournament.

 They need those two games and allot more to really make a strong case to swipe an at large bid into the big dance. Now without Gibbs, that task just became an even larger mountain for Kevin Willard and his term to climb and overcome with just mere weeks left in the regular season. 

Here is the statement Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard gave concerning this incident involivng Sterling Gibbs:

"Sterling demonstrated poor sportsmanship last night, and he recognizes that what he did was wrong and that he must be held accountable for his actions,” Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard said in a statement. “This was out of Sterling's character, and I believe this incident does not define the type of person he is or will become. Sterling will learn and grow from this unfortunate event.”

Big East Commissioner Val  Ackerman also gave a statement regarding this situation:

"We support Seton Hall's decision to suspend Sterling Gibbs for his actions in the Villanova game. Unsportsmanlike acts like the one that occurred last night have no place in the Big East or college sports," 

Both gentleman expressed the sentiment felt around the college basketball community and its fans after they got to see video of the incident. This was a foolish and irresponsible action for Gibbs to take on his own, not thinking of the consequences it would cause himself but for his coaches and teammates as well.

Now he is a young man still growing and developing not only as a basketball player but as a person as well. These moments happen and occur especially to those not yet fully mature.

Gibbs to his credit did apologize to Ryan Arcidiacono over Twitter after the game last night and in a pure first class move, Arcidiacono accepted the apology gracefully. Both have move don from this incident and are instead focusing on classes, school work and basketball of course.

Sterling Gibbs was the leading scorer on this Pirates team, averaging 16.7 points per game. Add to that he also is the team's leading three point shooter at a 44.4 percent clip and leads the team in assists at 3.7 per game.

That is a significant loss for Seton Hall and will be one that is going to be difficult to fill just with all the little things Gibbs did for this team. Their is opportunity left for Seton Hall to make a run but these next two games will test the belief and fortitude of this team and just how much they can push themselves until Gibbs is back in the starting  lineup.