Seton Hall at Butler

Halldan1 · Feb 23, 2021

Media release

Seton Hall (13-9, 10-6 BIG EAST, NET 51, KenPom 37) at Butler (7-13, 6-11 BIG EAST, NET 142, KenPom 132)

Wednesday, Feb. 24 • Hinkle Fieldhouse (Indianapolis, Ind.) • 7 p.m.

TV: CBS Sports Network with John Sadak & Julianne Viani

Radio: AM970 / XM 381 / Pirate Sports Network / TuneIn with Gary Cohen & Dave Popkin

Seton Hall ranks 37th in KenPom, has a NET ranking of 51 and has played nine games against “Quad 1” opponents, which is tied for most in the BIG EAST.
The Pirates’ 10 projected Q1 games rank second in the BIG EAST.
The Hall’s 16 projected Q1 + Q2 games ranks third in the BIG EAST.
Seton Hall’s six Q1 + Q2 wins are tied for third-most conference.
The Pirates’ six true road wins are tied for second-most among power conference teams.
The Hall’s 11 true road games played this season are tied for most among power conference teams.
The Pirates boast the 29th toughest schedule in Div. I, according to KenPom, and the most difficult in the BIG EAST.
The Hall’s NET non-conference strength of schedule ranks 22nd in the nation and seventh among major conference teams.

Seton Hall looks to get back on the right track on Wednesday when the Pirates travel to Hinkle Fieldhouse for a 7 p.m. BIG EAST contest.
A win would give Seton Hall its third season series sweep of the season after beating both Marquette and DePaul twice.
The victory over the Blue Demons on Feb. 17 gave The Hall its 10th BIG EAST win of the season, marking the fifth time in the last six seasons that the Pirates have collected at least 10 conference wins.
Seton Hall stands in third place in the BIG EAST with a 10-6 record and three games to go.
The Pirates’ five league victories as the road team ranks second in the conference.
Going back to last season, The Hall is 12-5 in its last 17 BIG EAST road games.
Including this year, Seton Hall is 27-16 in the month of February over the last five seasons.
Senior Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) ranks second in the conference in scoring (18.1 ppg), seventh in rebounding (7.3 rpg) and 13th in assists (3.2 apg).
Junior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) ranks in the top 15 in the BIG EAST in scoring (10th, 14.6 ppg), rebounding (11th, 6.6), free throw percentage (2nd, 86.2) and minutes (8th, 34.1 mpg).
The Hall is 4-0 in games where Rhoden is the team’s leading scorer.
Junior Ike Obiagu (Abuja, Nigeria) ranks fourth in the country with 62 total blocked shots and ranks ninth with 2.8 blocks per game.

The Pirates have won in three of the last four games at Hinkle Fieldhouse and seven of the last nine in the all-time series against the Bulldogs.
Four of the last six meetings in the series have been decided by two points or less.
In its last four contests at Hinkle, Seton Hall has averaged 42.8 points in the second half compared to Butler’s 31.8 points.
Seton Hall is 5-2 against Butler since LaVall Jordan’s first season in 2017-18.
The Pirates are looking to sweep the season series over the Bulldogs for the second consecutive year.
Sandro Mamukelashvili is averaging 19.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in his last two games against Butler

A point of emphasis entering the home stretch of the season for the Pirates has been getting back to the program’s roots of being a strong defensive team.
Seton Hall has done just that over their last five games where its also gone 4-1.
The Pirates have allowed opponents to average only 60 points per game and shoot just under 40 percent from the floor (39.6) over their last five games.
Opponents have scored 60 points or less in four games this season, the most since 2012-13 when The Hall allowed less than 60 points also in four games.
The Pirates have won their last 18 BIG EAST games when holding their opponent under 70 points.
It starts in the front court with senior Shavar Reynolds, Jr. (Manchester, N.J.) whose aggressive on-ball defense produces 1.6 steals per game, which ranks fourth in the BIG EAST.
Jared Rhoden also ranks in the top 10 in the conference in steals with 1.3 swipes per contest.
The paint is enforced by Ike Obiagu, who’s seven blocks away from becoming only the 17th player in program history to register 100 career swats.

Through the first three months of the season, the grit and stick-to-itiveness of last year’s Pirates as the visiting team has worn off on this year’s squad.
Seton Hall is 12-5 in its last 17 BIG EAST road games dating back to last season.
The Pirates are 5-3 in BIG EAST road games this season with wins at Marquette (70-63, 12/17/20), Xavier (85-68, 12/30/20), DePaul (76-68, 1/9/21), Providence (60-43, 2/3/21) and Connecticut (80-73, 2/6/21).
The Pirates’ five league victories as the road team ranks second in the conference.
The Hall also picked up a big win at Penn State on Dec. 6 where they trailed by 19 points, scored 50 points in the second half and came back to defeat the Nittany Lions, 98-82.
The Pirates are tied for second in the BIG EAST since 2015-16 with 27 wins in conference road games.

PIRATES GETTING IT DONE AT THE LINE

While the narrative among outsiders has been that Seton Hall struggles with free throws, the numbers show how the Pirates rank among the top teams in the conference in that area.
They currently are tied for third in the BIG EAST in free throw shooting at 74.8 percent (first among teams that have played at least 20 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 ranks in the top 35 nationally and leads the BIG EAST in both free throw attempts (31st, 460) and free throws made (16th, 333).
Since 2015-16, The Pirates are 94-15 (.862) in games where they have more FT attempts than their opponents.
Four Pirates own free throw shooting percentages at 75 percent or higher; Shavar Reynolds, Jr. (87.8), Jared Rhoden (86.2), Myles Cale (75.5) and Sandro Mamukelashvili (74.3).
Senior Bryce Aiken (Randolph, N.J.) is a perfect 23-of-23 from the charity stripe this season.
Currently, the most marked improvement belongs to Myles Cale, who at 75.5 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 59.6 percent clip from the line after shooting just 31.6 percent from the stripe as a freshman at Florida State.

Fishjam · Feb 23, 2021