Pirates Set For Essex County Showdown With NJIT At The Rock - Seton Hall University Athletics
The Seton Hall men's basketball team welcomes fellow Essex County denizen NJIT to Prudential Center on Wednesday as the Pirates take on the Highlanders at 8:...
SETON HALL PIRATES (4-4) vs. NJIT HIGHLANDERS (1-8)
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Wednesday, Dec. 4 • 8:30 p.m. Eastern
Site: Newark, N.J. • Prudential Center (10,481)
TV: CBS Sports Network • Tom McCarthy & Chris Walker
Online: cbssports.com/watch/cbs-sports-network
Radio: SHU Pirates Mobile App • Gary Cohen & Dave Popkin • SHUPirates.com • Varsity Network App
Satellite: SiriusXM 380 | SXM App 970
Seton Hall All-Time vs. NJIT: 6-0
NOTES YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The Seton Hall men's basketball team welcomes fellow Essex County denizen NJIT to Prudential Center on Wednesday as the Pirates take on the Highlanders at 8:30 p.m.
- The Pirates are recently coming off of a third-place finish at the Charleston Classic where they went 2-1 with top-100 KenPom wins over VCU (40) and Florida Atlantic (96).
- Their third-place finish in Charleston was The Hall's best finish at an MTE since winning the Wooden Legacy in 2018-19.
- In three games at the Charleston Classic as a team, the Pirates shot 43 percent from deep (24-of-55) and held opponents to 25 percent (23-of-92) from beyond the arc.
- Isaiah Coleman was named to the Charleston Classic All-Tournament Team and the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after averaging 13.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in three games.
- Coleman posted his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds against VCU and had a career-high 20 points against Vanderbilt.
- Coleman later matched his career-high against Monmouth as he registered the second 20-point game of the season and his career on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor.
- The Pirates boast one of the top defenses in Div. I, ranking 14th in KenPom defensive efficiency, fifth in scoring defense (56.6 ppg) and 31st in field goal percentage defense (37.9 pct).
- Seton Hall is 6-0 all-time against NJIT with the last meeting coming on Nov. 18, 2017, a 82-53 Pirates victory.
- Holloway is 18-11 all-time against New Jersey schools as a head coach and is 1-1 this season.
- NJIT is led by second-year head coach Grant Billmeier, a 2007 graduate of Seton Hall who played on two NCAA Tournament teams for the Pirates and later coached his alma mater to five NCAA Tournament appearances and two BIG EAST championships.
- As an assistant coach under Kevin Willard, Billmeier helped mentor some of the best big men in Seton Hall history; Pirates' all-time leading rebounder and All-BIG EAST selection Angel Delgado, BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Romaro Gill, BIG EAST Player of the Year Sandro Mamukelashvili, Pirates' all-time leading shot blocker Ike Obiagu.
- Billmeier is one of five Seton Hall alums coaching Div. I men's basketball programs, tied for the second-most in the country with Indiana and behind only Duke with eight.
- The Pirates are 4-1 on the season when Chaunce Jenkins is their leading scorer.
- Jenkins has scored in double-figures in six of Seton Hall's eight games this season and he went over 1,000 career points on Nov. 13 against Hofstra.
- The Pirates were 9-4 in games decided by 10 points or less last season and are 3-2 in those contests this season.
- Head coach Shaheen Holloway's last three teams have finished in the top 33 nationally in KenPom's defensive efficiency rating:
2022-23 (Seton Hall): KenPom No. 20
2021-22 (Saint Peter's): KenPom No. 25
- With the Pirates entering Wednesday's game at 4-4, Holloway has stated that his team's get better as the season goes along and the numbers back that up:
November: 15-15*
December: 11-13
January: 22-11
February: 19-12
March: 18-4
Nov.-Dec.: 26-28 (.481) Jan.-March: 59-27 (.686)
* includes this season
- Among active players in Div. I, Dylan Addae-Wusu ranks 31st in games played (135), 17th in steals (189) and 47th in assists (373).
- Addae-Wusu and Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner share the lead among active players with 78 career BIG EAST games played.
- Similar to last season where the Pirates were picked to finish ninth in the BIG EAST preseason coaches poll but went on to finish fourth, Seton Hall was picked to finish 10th in the 11-team BIG EAST in this year's poll.
- The Pirates last season were the first BIG EAST team to ever finish at least five games over .500 in conference play and not make the NCAA Tournament.
- Holloway's teams have finished below .500 in conference play just once in six seasons when his first Saint Peter's team went 6-12.
