Media release
- Seton Hall ranks 43rd in KenPom, has a NET ranking of 54 and has played seven games against “Quad 1” opponents, which is tied for most in the BIG EAST.
- The Pirates are projected to play 11”Q1” games this season, the most in the BIG EAST.
- The Hall’s 17 projected “Q1” and “Q2” games are tied for most in the conference.
- The Pirates boast the 19th toughest schedule among Power Six programs so far, according to KenPom, and the second-most difficult in the BIG EAST.
- The Hall’s NET non-conference strength of schedule ranks 21st in the nation and third among major conference teams.
- Following its second postponement in three games, Seton Hall will face No. 17 Creighton at the Prudential Center on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.
- The Bluejays will be the first of two top 20 opponents that Seton Hall will face this week.
- The Pirates have won eight of their last 11 games and are playing their first home game since their 68-60 win over Butler on Jan. 2.
- Seton Hall is 4-1 this season when following a loss.
- The Pirates are 142-64 (.689) all-time at Prudential Center.
- Since 2015-16, the Pirates are 35-15 (.700) against BIG EAST competition in the building.
- The Pirates have won their last 15 BIG EAST conference games when holding their opponent under 70 points.
- The Pirates rank second in the BIG EAST in free throw percentage (73.7) and rank second in free throw attempts (338 FTA).
- Junior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) ranks in the top 10 in the BIG EAST in scoring (7th, 15.8 ppg), rebounding (10th, 6.9), free-throw percentage (7th, 83.1) and minutes (8th, 34.3 mpg).
- Senior Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) ranks fourth in the conference in scoring (18.1 ppg), ninth in rebounding (7.0 rpg) and 13th in assists (3.3 apg).
- Junior Ike Obiagu (Abuja, Nigeria) ranks eighth in the country with 42 total blocked shots and ranks 13th with 2.8 blocks per game.
- Seton Hall leads the series with Creighton, 14-9, though the Pirates’ record against the Bluejays since Creighton joined the league in 2013-14 is 8-8.
- The Pirates have won four of the last six meetings against Creighton at the Prudential Center.
- The all-time series dates back to 1949.
- Seton Hall and Creighton have finished with identical BIG EAST records in each of the last four seasons. 13-5, 9-9, 10-8, 10-8
- Through the first 15 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 five players in the Power Six conferences to register multiple 30-point games this season, joining Stanford’s Oscar da Silva, Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu, Iowa’s Luka Garza and Minnesota’s Marcus Carr.
- Mamukelashvili is the only player in the BIG EAST who is averaging at least 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists per game.
- At No. 3 Villanova on Jan. 19, he finished one rebound shy of a double-double in a night where he posted nine boards, 23 points and five assists.
- Mamukelashvili picked up BIG EAST Player of the Week honors, his fourth conference accolade of the season, on Jan. 4 after leading the Pirates with 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals in the win at Xavier (Dec. 30) and had game highs of 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists in the win over Butler (Jan. 2).
- 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 he’s been getting it done in the assist column this season 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.
- St. John’s didn’t have an answer for Mamukelashvili on Dec. 11 when he scored a career-high 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the floor and pulled down nine rebounds
- In the comeback win at Penn State on Dec. 6, Mamukelashvili dropped 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.
- 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 second in the BIG EAST in free throw shooting at 73.7 percent (first among teams that have played at least 10 games), and five of the team’s returners from last season are all shooting a higher percentage this season than their career average.
- Seton Hall leads the BIG EAST and ranks 31st in the country in free throw attempts with 338
- Since 2015-16, The Pirates are 90-14 (.865) in games where they have more FT attempts than their opponents.
- Three Pirates rank in the top 15 in the conference in free throw shooting percentage; Shavar Reynolds, Jr. (3rd, 86.1), Jared Rhoden (7th, 83.1) and Sandro Mamukelashvili (t-15th, 75.0).
- Currently, the most marked improvement belongs to Myles Cale, who at 76.3 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.
- Big man Ike Obiagu is shooting at a 62.2 percent clip from the line after shooting just 31.6 percent from the stripe as a freshman at Florida State.
