Media release
MC PLAYING LIKE A SENIOR
- The Hall has won six of its last seven games and has started 4-1 in the BIG EAST for the eighth time in program history.
- The Pirates have started 4-1 or better in league play in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1998-99 and 1999-00.
- In each of the last six seasons, the Pirates have started the New Year with a win, dating back to a 2015 overtime victory vs. Villanova at Prudential Center on Jan. 3, 2015.
- Seton Hall is 141-64 (.688) all-time at Prudential Center. Since 2015-16, the Pirates are 34-15 (.694) against BIG EAST competition in the building.
- The Pirates ranks third in the BIG EAST with a 73.4 free-throw percentage.
- Senior Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Dec. 28 after dropping a career-high 30 points against Georgetown on Dec. 23.
- Junior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for his 26 point and 12 rebound performance against Georgetown.
- Senior Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) ranks sixth in the BIG EAST with 18.2 points per game. He also ranks 11th with 6.7 rebounds, 13th with 3.2 assists and fifth with 34.5 minutes per game.
- Junior Ike Obiagu (Abuja, Nigeria) leads the country with 35 blocked shots and ranks seventh with 3.2 blocks per game
- Jared Rhoden ranks in the top 10 in rebounding (5th, 7.6 rpg), scoring (10th, 15.5 ppg) and free throw percentage (sixth, 81.5 pct.).
- The Pirates have won six of the last eight games in the all-time series against the Bulldogs.
- Seton Hall is 5-2 against Butler since LaVall Jordan’s first season in 2017-18.
- The last meeting between the two programs saw Sandro Mamukelashvili score the game-winning basket at the buzzer on an alley-oop inbounds play that gave Seton Hall a 74-72 victory at the Prudential Center on Feb. 19.
- The average margin of victory in the Butler-Seton Hall games played at Prudential Center is 4.9 points with Seton Hall winning by one possession in each of the last two.
- Through the first 11 games of his senior season, Sandro Mamukelashvili is living up to the preseason accolades and expectations bestowed upon him.
- “Mamu”, as he’s affectionately known, was named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST first team and watch lists for the Naismith Trophy and the Karl Malone Award in the preseason.
- The Georgian is one of only four players in the Power Six conferences to register multiple 30-point games this season, joining Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu, Iowa’s Luke Garza and Minnesota’s Marcus Carr.
- Despite being the center of attention for opposing teams’ defenses, Mamukelashvili has still be effective, as was the case against Xavier (Dec. 30) when he dropped 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had three steals in the win.
- He was named to the BIG EAST’s Weekly Honor Roll for the third consecutive week on Dec. 21 after averaging 18.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.5 assists in two conference games.
- Mamukelashvili has also been getting done in the assist column as he dished out a career-high seven assists in the Pirates’ gritty 70-63 road victory at Marquette on Dec. 17 and six dimes against Providence.
- In the comeback win at Penn State, Mamukelashvili dropped a career-high 30 points – 22 of which came in the second half – to go along with five rebounds and four assists.
- Mamukelashvili is Seton Hall’s first power forward/center to register multiple 30-point performances in a season since Arturas Karnisovas in 1993-94.
- He led the Pirates with 22 points and 10 rebounds against Louisville for his eighth career double-double.
- His second double-double in three games came against Rhode Island where he put up 25 points and 10 rebounds.
- Seton Hall’s 85-68 victory over Xavier on Dec. 30 was arguably the Pirates’ most complete performance of the season.
- Sparked by a 15-0 run that ended the first half, the Pirates shot 52 percent from the field and held the Musketeers to 21 percent shooting from beyond the arc (5-for-24).
- Seton Hall out rebounded Xavier, 42-28, had six players in double figure scoring and shot a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line.
- The Pirates’ last perfect night from the FT line (min. 10 attempts) was a 12-for-12 outing vs. Providence (1/15/19). The only other perfect games from the charity stripe since at least 1990 came on Jan. 12, 1991 vs. Syracuse (12-for-12) and Feb. 19, 1991 vs. Niagara (13-for-13).
- While the narrative among outsiders has been that Seton Hall struggles with free throws, in fact the numbers show how the Pirates are improving in that area.
- They currently rank third in the BIG EAST in free throw shooting at 73.4 percent, and five of the team’s returners from last season are all shooting a higher percentage this season than their career average.
- Currently, the most marked improvement belongs to Myles Cale, who at 78.6 percent is shooting more than 20 percent better at the line than he did last season and more than 12 percent better than his career average.
MC PLAYING LIKE A SENIOR
- After an up-and-down junior campaign, Myles Cale has become a more consistent performer and a team leader on and off the court for the Pirates.
- A starter in all 11 games this season, Cale was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Dec. 28 after dropping a career-high 30 points against Georgetown on Dec. 23.
- He’s tied for eighth in the BIG EAST with 15.5 points per contest in league games.
- Cale has scored in double figures in five straight games and has eight double figure scoring games this season, already two more than his final total from last year.
