Seton Hall-Rutgers 65th Edition Sunday on ESPNU
12/7/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2013
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - A rivalry will be renewed in primetime on Sunday at 8 p.m. as Seton Hall and Rutgers are set to square off on the hardwood for the 65th time in a series that dates back nearly 100 years. The Pirates will head to The RAC for the first installment of an eight-year agreement between the two schools.
No longer BIG EAST foes, The Hall and RU, now a member of the American Athletic Conference, officially announced the terms of an agreement that keeps the rivalry going through 2020 earlier this year. Each team will play four of the games on their home court with Seton Hall hosting Rutgers at the Prudential Center in December of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. Rutgers' four home games will be held at the Rutgers Athletic Center in December of 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
With Seton Hall standing at 5-3 overall following a 91-82 victory over reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) champions LIU-Brooklyn on Thursday night, the Pirates will look to end a three-game losing streak in the series while handing a Scarlet Knights squad that fell to George Washington in its last time out its third consecutive loss.
Rutgers snapped a streak of five consecutive wins for SHU at The RAC with a 57-55 victory in Piscataway a year ago, prevailing in a game that characteristically went down to the wire. Seton Hall was in possession with a 13 seconds remaining and a chance to tie the game, but a turnover helped RU secure the narrow win. Rutgers went on to defeat The Hall, 56-51, in the regular season finale at the Prudential Center, taking the last of what were 35 BIG EAST showdowns between the two schools. Seton Hall posted a 20-15 record against RU in their time as conference foes and had won six of the previous eight overall prior to the current three-game streak in favor of the Scarlet Knights.
The Pirates travel down the turnpike riding the momentum of a bounce back victory that saw the team post its highest point total in 48 games. The 92-point outburst was fueled by a season-high 14 3-pointers for The Hall, one game after the team scored 54 points in a loss against Fairleigh Dickinson. The win was also the 99th for Kevin Willard in six-plus years as a head coach and simultaneously moved the Seton Hall program within one victory of the 1,400-win mark in school history.
The outside shooting of senior Brian Oliver (Glassboro, N.J.) was the story of the night as the 6-foot-7 swingman overcame an 0-for-4 start from behind the arc to finish with a career-high eight treys after stepping in for an injured Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) in the opening minutes. Oliver has been one of the most potent long range threats in the BIG EAST this season and after matching former Pirate and 3-point savant Jeremy Hazell for the third-most triples in a single game in Seton Hall history, he now ranks second in the league with 25 makes from behind the arc and an average of 3.1 treys per game.
Edwin, who led the squad in scoring at 15.3 points per game entering the contest with the Blackbirds, was making his 53rd consecutive start and the 100th of his career. He suffered an ankle injury after just one minute of action. The current BIG EAST leader in steals, Edwin did record a steal in the early going and has now recorded at least one steal in 70 of his last 75 appearances since the start of the 2011-12 season.
Four Pirates scored in double-figures as center Eugene Teague (Vineland, N.J.) posted 12 points and 10 rebounds in the second half alone to finish with his second double-double of the season. Teague's final line featured 17 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Teague had been limited to 14 minutes against FDU due to a stomach flu. Back at full strength against LIU-Brooklyn, he continued his assault on the offensive glass by pulling down eight offensive rebounds. Through eight games, the Vineland native has hauled in 27 boards on the offensive end, and now ranks second in the BIG EAST with 3.4 offensive rebounds per contest and is fourth overall with an average of 7.6 total rebounds per game.
Point guard Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) recorded 16 points and five assists, his fifth game with at least 16 points and four helpers this season, while forward Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) registered 14 points and seven rebounds in his third consecutive start.
Making the second start of his career as part of the Pirates' eighth different starting lineup in eight games, freshman Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) contributed six points and led the team with a career-high six assists against only one turnover. As a team, the Pirates doled out 15 assists while totaling only six giveaways.
Normally one of the team's main facilitators, sophomore Tom Maayan (Galil, Israel) aided the 3-point barrage by matching a career-high with two trifectas in the game. SHU led a 15-team BIG EAST in 3-point field goals made last season and will enter Sunday night's matchup ranked third in the conference with 62 triples and an average of 7.8 per game.
Defending the arc will go a long way towards deciding a winner when Seton Hall and Rutgers clash on Sunday as the Scarlet Knights boast four players who have made at least 15 3-pointers this season - Jerome Seagears, Myles Mack and a pair of transfers in D'Von Campbell (UTEP) and J.J. Moore (Pittsburgh) - but rank last in the AAC in 3-point field goal defense; allowing opponents to connect on 35.5 percent of their attempts.
In a 93-87 loss to George Washington in their last game, Mack and Seagears both scored over 20 points and each finished 5-for-7 from long range. Rutgers' leading scorer Kadeem Jack, a 6-foot-9 redshirt junior forward, went 6-for-8 from the floor to finish with 12 points but only grabbed three rebounds. Frontcourt running mate Wally Judge snatched 10 boards but RU was out-rebounded for what was the fourth time in the team's five losses. Both Jack and Judge rank in the top-six in the AAC in rebounding at over 7.0 boards per game and combine to collect nearly 40 percent of Rutgers' total rebounds.
All four of RU's victories have come at home for first year head coach Eddie Jordan, a Rutgers legend and a member of the school's 1976 Final Four team who returned to Piscataway this season after 19 years as a coach on the NBA level.
Despite the new set of circumstances surrounding the matchup, expect a contentious, hard-fought battle between these two Garden State foes on Sunday night that will likely go down right to the final buzzer as 17 of the last 19 meetings have been decided by six points or less or in overtime.
The Seton Hall-Rutgers game will tip-off at 8 p.m. Sunday and can be viewed live nationally on ESPNU or the WatchESPN app. Seton Hall's radio team of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will also be on hand and will have the call for a radio broadcast on 970 AM and SHUPirates.com
