Pirates Host Rutgers in Garden State Hardwood Classic Saturday Night - Seton Hall University Athletics
One of the best rivalries in college basketball will be renewed on Saturday evening as Seton Hall hosts Rutgers for the 2023 Garden State Hardwood Classic at...
Game 9: Rutgers Scarlet Knights (5-3) vs. Seton Hall Pirates (5-3)
Saturday, Dec. 9 • Prudential Center (Newark, N.J.) • 8:30 p.m.
TV: FS1 • John Fanta & Jim Spanarkel
Web: FOX Sports App
Radio: SHU Pirates Mobile App / Pirate Sports Network / SiriusXM 391 / SXM app 971 / Gary Cohen & Dave Popkin
Game Notes: Seton Hall | Rutgers
Follow Along: Instagram | X | Live Stats
Notes You Need To Know- One of the best rivalries in college basketball will be renewed on Saturday evening as Seton Hall hosts Rutgers for the 2023 Garden State Hardwood Classic at 8:30 p.m. at Prudential Center.
- The two schools are separated by an approximate 27- mile drive.
- The Garden State Hardwood Classic trophy is custom-made and handcrafted from wood salvaged from the Asbury Park boardwalk in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and features the names of the winners engraved on the back.
- The Joe Calabrese MVP Award is given to the player of the game on the winning team of the Seton Hall-Rutgers game, and the award is named after the former journalist who passed away in 1999 and was a fixture in New Jersey sports journalism for 38 years.
- Head coach Shaheen Holloway went 4-1 all-time against Rutgers as a player.
- Holloway is 16-9 all-time against New Jersey schools as a head coach.
- Dawes was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after his career-high 25-point performance against Northeastern where he also grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists.
- Dawes ranks 17th in Division I among active players in career three-point field goals made.
- Isaiah Coleman was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week for the second time this season after scoring 11 points, grabbing three rebounds and tallying three steals.
- Coleman is the first Seton Hall freshman to earn multiple BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors since Khadeen Carrington, Angel Delgado and Isaiah Whitehead all accomplished the feat in 2014-15.
- Jaden Bediako has two double-doubles so far this season and has scored in double-figures in six of Seton Hall's first seven games, his most through seven games in his four-year career.
- Bediako leads the BIG EAST and ranks 10th in the country with 4.0 offensive rebounds per game and he ranks sixth nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (19.4 percent).
- The Pirates lead the BIG EAST and rank 38th nationally in steals per game (9.1 spg) and they're paced by Dylan Addae-Wusu, whose 16 steals leads the conference.
- Seton Hall has been highly efficient from the free throw line through six games where they've shot 79 percent (103-of-130), a clip that ranks second in the BIG EAST and 12th nationally.
- Dre Davis' 91 percent clip (19-of-21) paces the Pirates from the charity stripe.
- Seton Hall is 42-31 all-time against Rutgers and the Pirates are 23-7 against the Scarlet Knights in home games.
- The Pirates have won the last four meetings against Rutgers at the Prudential Center by an average score of 14.5 points.
- Over the last 28 meetings, 22 games have been decided by six points or fewer and five contests have gone to overtime.
- Rutgers is Seton Hall's eighth most-played opponent (73).
- Rutgers' Director of Athletics Pat Hobbs was the former dean of the Seton Hall Law School who led the search to hire Kevin Willard in Spring 2010, and Holloway followed Willard from their previous stop at Iona.
- Holloway is cousins with Rutgers associate head coach Brandin Knight.
- Knight attended Seton Hall Prep and his father, Melvin, is in the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame following a standout career on the court where he finished with 775 career points and 243 career rebounds.
