Seton Hall Opens BIG EAST Tournament Against DePaul On Wednesday - Seton Hall University Athletics
Coming off of arguably its biggest win of the season at No. 20 Providence on Saturday, the Seton Hall men's basketball team will look to carry its momentum i...
Game 32: [10] DePaul Blue Demons (9-22, 3-17 BIG EAST) vs. [7] Seton Hall Pirates (17-14, 10-10 BIG EAST)
Wednesday, March 8 • 5:30 p.m. • New York, N.Y. • Madison Square Garden (19,812)
TV: FS1 • Tim Brando & Bill Raftery
Web: www.FOXSports.com/Live
Radio: SHU Pirates Mobile App / Pirate Sports Network / SiriusXM 134 or 202, SiriusXM App 965 / Gary Cohen & Dave Popkin
Game Notes: Seton Hall | DePaul
Follow Along: Instagram | Twitter | Live Stats
NOTES YOU NEED TO KNOW- Coming off of arguably its biggest win of the season at No. 20 Providence on Saturday, the Seton Hall men's basketball team will look to carry momentum into the BIG EAST Tournament as the seventh-seeded Pirates open their postseason against No. 10 seed DePaul on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
- Down to eight healthy scholarship players, junior Dre Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.) came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting while junior Femi Odukale (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists in a dominant 82-58 road win at No. 20 Providence.
- The win marked the 11th time this season that Seton Hall has held a team under 60 points.
- The Pirates rank 75th in the NET with four Quad 1 wins (Memphis, Rutgers, UConn, Providence) and a 6-12 record against the first two quadrants.
- Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway's first season is statistically stacking up to be the best in program history among rookie head coaches:
1. Shaheen Holloway (2022-23) - 17
2. George Blaney (1994-95) - 16
3. Tommy Amaker (1997-98) - 15
3. Richie Regan (1960-61) - 15
Most BIG EAST Wins
1. Shaheen Holloway - 10
2. Tommy Amaker - 9
3. George Blaney - 7
3. Kevin Willard - 7
- Holloway's six true road wins are the most for a first-year head coach at Seton Hall since Bill Raftery also registered five road wins in 1970-71.
- Despite starting 0-3 in BIG EAST play, Holloway took a group of four returners and five newcomers and guided The Hall to a .500 record in league play for the eighth consecutive season.
- Seton Hall has played one of the most difficult schedules in DI as KenPom ranks the Pirates' slate the 19th toughest and its NET SOS ranks 26th.
- Seton Hall ranks second in the BIG EAST in scoring defense (65.1 ppg), field goal percentage defense (41.5 pct) and three-point defense (30.6 pct).
- In BIG EAST play, Seton Hall ranks second in scoring defense (67.6 ppg) and third in field goal defense (43.2 pct) and three-point defense (32 pct).
- Seton Hall also ranks third in the BIG EAST and in the top 50 nationally in both steals per game (8.4 spg) and turnovers forced (14.5 tpg).
- The Pirates rank 21st in KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency.
- The Pirates are 16-3 this season when they hold their opponents to under 70 points.
- Graduate student KC Ndefo (Elmont, N.Y.) is the anchor of Seton Hall's defense and he has the most blocks of any active player in a power conference with 370.
- Ndefo's 60 blocks is tied with Samuel Dalembert (2000-01) for ninth all-time in a single season at Seton Hall.
- After missing six games with a right ankle sprain, junior Dre Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.) is averaging 15.3 ppg on 18-of-23 shooting from the floor (78 pct) and 6-of-7 shooting from three over the last three games.
- Senior Tyrese Samuel (Montreal, Quebec) has blossomed under Holloway, setting career highs in scoring (10.7 ppg), rebounding (5.5 rpg), field goal percentage (56 pct.), steals (34) and assists (24).
- Starting point guard Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) has missed the last three games with a back injury that he suffered seven minutes into the game at No. 20 UConn on Feb. 18.
- Filling the void at point guard for Richmond is high school teammate Femi Odukale (Brooklyn, N.Y.); the duo won multiple PSAL City titles for South Shore HS at Madison Square Garden.
- Odukale was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after averaging 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 3.0 steals in a 1-1 week for The Hall.
- He registered his first career double-double vs. Villanova on Feb. 28 (14 pts, 10 reb) and tallied 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the win over the Friars on March 4.
- Holloway is 15-5 all-time as a head coach in the month of March, including a 1-0 mark this season.
- Holloway is 6-2 as a head coach in conference tournaments and is 4-0 in first round games.
