Balanced team effort leads Seton Hall to win over Ole Miss in Charleston
For immediate release – Nov. 22, 2015
Charleston, S.C. - Six members of the Seton Hall men’s basketball team scored at least eight points, and the Pirates defense held Ole Miss to under 40 percent shooting, as The Hall came up with a huge 75-63 win over the Rebels in the fifth-place game of the 2015 Gildan Charleston Classic Sunday at TD Arena.
The win gives the Pirates their fourth in five games to open the season and gives the program a win over a “Power 5” school for the sixth consecutive season. Ole Miss falls to 3-2 on the year.
Sophomore Isaiah Whitehead (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led all scorers with 17 points, 12 coming in the second half. He also had five assists. Sophomore Desi Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y.) added 12 points, and sophomore Khadeen Carrington (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had 10 points and five assists.
Turning Point
After a great first half that saw 15 lead changes, the Pirates turned on the offense and the defense mid second half. Up 46-45, The Hall came through with a 12-3 run started when redshirt freshman Michael Nzei (Makurdi, Nigeria) had a big block on Martavious Newby’s layup attempt. Whitehead then dished to Nzei for a layup and a four-point swing. On the next trip down, sophomore Angel Delgado (Bajos De Haina, Dominican Republic) had a put-back layup, and after another stop on defense, Whitehead again found Nzei underneath for a layup and a five-point lead.
Whitehead punctuated everything with a three-pointer at 9:49 that gave the Pirates a 55-47 edge, and after Delgado blocked two shots over the next three possessions, Whitehead slammed the door on the Rebels with a three-pointer at 8:18 that put The Hall on top, 58-48.
Ole Miss did cut the deficit to five late, but the Pirates kept pouring it on with paint points, including a huge put-back by sophomore Ismael Sanogo (Newark, N.J.) at 6:08, and the Pirates defense held the Rebels to 2-for-8 shooting with two turnovers in the final six minutes.
Inside the Numbers
Seton Hall returns home to face another SEC team as the Pirates host Georgia Saturday at Prudential Center at 7:30 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on FS1, and Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the call on AM970 The Answer. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Seton Hall Athletics ticket office at (973) 275-HALL or clicking here.
For immediate release – Nov. 22, 2015
Charleston, S.C. - Six members of the Seton Hall men’s basketball team scored at least eight points, and the Pirates defense held Ole Miss to under 40 percent shooting, as The Hall came up with a huge 75-63 win over the Rebels in the fifth-place game of the 2015 Gildan Charleston Classic Sunday at TD Arena.
The win gives the Pirates their fourth in five games to open the season and gives the program a win over a “Power 5” school for the sixth consecutive season. Ole Miss falls to 3-2 on the year.
Sophomore Isaiah Whitehead (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led all scorers with 17 points, 12 coming in the second half. He also had five assists. Sophomore Desi Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y.) added 12 points, and sophomore Khadeen Carrington (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had 10 points and five assists.
Turning Point
After a great first half that saw 15 lead changes, the Pirates turned on the offense and the defense mid second half. Up 46-45, The Hall came through with a 12-3 run started when redshirt freshman Michael Nzei (Makurdi, Nigeria) had a big block on Martavious Newby’s layup attempt. Whitehead then dished to Nzei for a layup and a four-point swing. On the next trip down, sophomore Angel Delgado (Bajos De Haina, Dominican Republic) had a put-back layup, and after another stop on defense, Whitehead again found Nzei underneath for a layup and a five-point lead.
Whitehead punctuated everything with a three-pointer at 9:49 that gave the Pirates a 55-47 edge, and after Delgado blocked two shots over the next three possessions, Whitehead slammed the door on the Rebels with a three-pointer at 8:18 that put The Hall on top, 58-48.
Ole Miss did cut the deficit to five late, but the Pirates kept pouring it on with paint points, including a huge put-back by sophomore Ismael Sanogo (Newark, N.J.) at 6:08, and the Pirates defense held the Rebels to 2-for-8 shooting with two turnovers in the final six minutes.
Inside the Numbers
- Seton Hall shot 49 percent for the game and 40 percent from three-pointrange, making eight of 20 from downtown. Ole Miss was held to 38 percent shooting overall, and 24 percent (5-for-21) from three-point range.
- Sophomores again led the way for the Pirates, accounting for 53 of the team’s 75 points and 15 of the team’s 16 assists.
- Whitehead led all scorers with 17 points, his fourth game of at least 17 points in five tries this season.
- Delgado finished with eight points, a game-high 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks.
- Carrington had 10 points and five assists on the day.
- Senior Derrick Gordon (Plainfield, N.J.) had nine points for a second straight game.
- In only 16 minutes, Nzei finished with nine points, five rebounds and a block.
- Rodriguez had 12 points, reaching double figure scoring for the fifth straight game to open the season.
- Nine different Pirates in total scored at least a point in this game.
- Seton Hall had 36 points in the paint to Ole Miss’ 26.
- The Pirates had 16 assists to 12 turnovers on the day.
- Seton Hall had 10 fast break points while Ole Miss had none.
- In total, there were seven ties and 22 lead changes in this game.
- Seton Hall went 2-1 in the Gildan Charleston Classic for the second time, also finishing 2-1 in 2011 when the team was runner-up in the tournament.
- Willard’s Pirates have now defeated a “Power 5” school at least once for the sixth consecutive year.
- This was Seton Hall’s first win over an SEC school since taking down Auburn, 81-59, on Dec. 2, 2011.
- Derrick Gordon has now appeared in nine games at the Charleston Classic for three different schools. He finished with a 9.9 points per game average over the three tournaments (89 points).
Seton Hall returns home to face another SEC team as the Pirates host Georgia Saturday at Prudential Center at 7:30 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on FS1, and Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the call on AM970 The Answer. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Seton Hall Athletics ticket office at (973) 275-HALL or clicking here.
