Samuel's Game-Winner Seals Seton Hall's 70-69 Victory Over Memphis - Seton Hall University Athletics
Samuel, who scored the Pirates' final seven points, finished with a team-high 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting from three and 4-of-4
shupirates.com
69 Memphis 2-2,0-0 AAC 
70 Seton Hall 4-1,0-0 Big East Score By Periods
|
Orlando, Fla. — Senior Tyrese Samuel (Montreal, Quebec) banked in a game-winning three-point basket from the top of the three-point arc that gave the Seton Hall men's basketball team a 70-69 victory in the quarterfinal round of the ESPN Events Invitational at Sate Farm Field House on Thursday evening.
Samuel, who scored the Pirates' final seven points, finished with a team-high 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting from three and 4-of-4 shooting from the free throw line. He also had a team-best 11 rebounds, giving him his third career double-double.
Seton Hall (4-1) advances to the semifinals where they will play Oklahoma at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
How It Happened
After allowing the first basket of the game, a three by Samuel got the scoring started for The Hall and it gave the Pirates its first lead of the game at 3-2.
A steal and a slam by junior Dre Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.) with under 10 minutes to play in the first half made it 17-11 Pirates and it forced Memphis to call a timeout. A 5-1 run by the Tigers cut their deficit to two, 18-16, but back-to-back buckets — a three by graduate student Jamir Harris (North Brunswick, N.J.) and a fast break layup by Davis off of a Harris steal — gave Seton Hall its largest lead of the game, 23-16. A 3:50 scoring drought to end the half plagued the Pirates as Memphis scored the final six points of the first half to lead by one, 31-30, heading into the break.
Both sides came out cold offensively at the start of the second half with only 19 combined points through the first 8:51 after halftime. With 9:46 to play and Pirates trailing by five, freshman Tae Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.) picked the right moment for his first career three-point basket as his trey cut Seton Hall's deficit to two, 46-44. However, the Tigers would create separation and lead by as much as five with with 3:14 to play.
After struggling from the free throw line in the first half, going 4-of-8 from the stripe, Seton Hall hit multiple clutch free throws down the stretch and hit on its last nine attempts. Trailing by four, 69-66, with 47 seconds to play, Samuel made both free throws that made it a one-point contest. After Memphis missed both of their free throws with nine second to play, the Tigers tracked down the offensive rebound off the miss but Harris came up with a steal, got it over half court with 2.3 seconds left and called a timeout. Following the timeout, junior Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) inbounded the ball to Samuel, who took a dribble to his left at the top of the three-point arc and banked in the three to win it.
Inside The Numbers
- Memphis shot 45 percent from the field (23-of-51) to Seton Hal's 41 percent (21-of-51) and the Pirates had the slight edge from three-point range, 29 percent to 28 percent.
- Both teams had nine offensive rebounds and the Tigers were plus-three on the glass (35-32).
- Memphis had the lead for 20:32 and Seton Hall had the lead for 16:45.
- The Pirates once again had the edge in bench points, 32-29, and had 16 second-chance points compared seven for the Tigers.
- Both teams had 17 turnovers and Seton Hall had 14 assists on its 21 made field goals.
- Seton Hall shot 77 percent from the free throw line (17-of-22) in the second half compared to its 4-of-8 first half total.
- Joining Samuel in double figures were Dre Davis (13 points) and senior Tray Jackson (Detroit, Mich.) (10 points).
- Both Richmond and junior Femi Odukale (Brooklyn, N.Y.) tallied five assists.
- Samuel, Jackson and graduate student KC Ndefo (Elmont, N.Y.) had two blocks a piece.
- Seton Hall improves to 4-1 on the season and 2-3 all-time against Memphis.
- It was the Pirates' first win over the Tigers since Jan. 22, 1953.
- After dropping the first game of its last two Feast Week tournaments (2021 Fort Myers Tip-Off, 2019 Battle 4 Atlantis), the Pirates come out on top in its first game at the ESPN Events Invitational.
- The last two times Seton Hall won its first game at a Feast Week event was the 2014 Paradise Jam and the 2018 Wooden Legacy; the Pirates took home the championship trophy both times.
- The Pirates improve to 4-3 all-time on Thanksgiving and have won four straight on Turkey Day.
- The Pirates improve to 32-13 in in-season tournaments and showcase games since 2010-11.
- Samuel's buzzer beater marked the Pirates' first true buzzer beater since Sandro Mamukelashvili's game-winning layup at the rim against Butler on Feb. 19, 2020.
The Pirates will take Oklahoma in the semifinals of the ESPN Events Invitational at 8 p.m. on ESPN2. Dave Popkin and Matt Ambrose will be on the call on the SHU Pirates Mobile App, SHUPirates.com and the Varsity Network app.
