Pirates Head to Illinois on Monday Night
12/8/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2013
SETON HALL (7-1) at ILLINOIS (5-5)
Champaign, Ill. (State Farm Center) • Monday, Dec. 9 • 8:00 PM (ET)
Webcast: www.fightingillini.com (Play-by-play: Chester Peterson)
Radio: 89.5 FM WSOU (Play-by-play: Ryan Flannery; Color: Vincent Coughlin)
Seton Hall Game Notes
| Illinois Game Notes | Live Video |
The Seton Hall University women's basketball team hits the road for just the second time this season to face the University of Illinois at the State Farm Center on Monday night at 8 p.m. (ET). Seton Hall has won four-straight games and is a perfect 7-0 at home. The Pirates are coming off a 97-68 win over UMass Lowell on Saturday afternoon. The Pirates' only other road game of the season was an 88-67 loss at No. 21/17 South Carolina back on Nov. 17.
SETON HALL STATUS
Seton Hall wrapped up a four-game homestand with a 97-68 win over UMass Lowell on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Tabatha Richardson-Smith and redshirt sophomore Ka-Deidre Simmons both recorded double-doubles in the win. Richardson-Smith scored a game-high 27 points to go along with 12 boards while Simmons scored 15 points and dished out a career-high 12 assists. The Pirates have four players averaging double figures with redshirt sophomore Sidney Cook averaging a double-double at 10.2 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.
ILLINOIS STATUS
Illinois is coming off a 79-56 loss at Colorado on Saturday, which was the Illini's fifth-straight game away from home. The Fighting Illini have lost three straight and four of their last five, but are 4-0 at the State Farm Center this year. Amber Moore leads three players averaging double figures with 17.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
SETON HALL VS. BIG TEN
Seton Hall is 5-17 all-time against the current members of the Big Ten Conference, but the Pirates have never faced Illinois. The Pirates' last match-up with a team from the Big Ten was at Michigan last season. Seton Hall has two wins on the road against Big Ten foes, both coming against Northwestern. The Pirates beat the Wildcats on the road in 1994 and again in 2007. The 66-51 victory over Northwestern on Dec. 6, 2007, is Seton Hall's last win against a Big Ten foe.
UMASS LOWELL STAT RECAP
Seton Hall's 97 points scored against UMass Lowell tied for the fourth-highest single-game total in program history and were the most for the Pirates since setting the school record of 102 points in 1987. The Pirates made 37 field goals against UMass Lowell which represented a season-high and tied for the fifth-most in school history. SHU dished out a season-high 25 assists in the win over UMass Lowell. The Pirates' season-high 13 steals led to a season-best 33 points on the fast break; SHU did not have more than 10 fast break points in any of its first seven games of the season.
SEEING DOUBLE
Redshirt junior Ka-Deidre Simmons and sophomore Tabatha Richardson-Smith both recorded a double-double in the win over UMass Lowell on Dec. 7. It was the first time the Pirates had two players finish with a double-double in the same game since a 53-52 win at Marshall on Nov. 16, 2009. Richardson-Smith finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds, Simmons scored 15 points to go along with 12 assists.
RICHARDSON-SMITH BIG EAST RANKS
Sophomore Tabatha Richardson-Smith is leading Seton Hall with 21.1 points per game which ranks second in the BIG EAST. She also ranks first in the league in steals per game (2.6), second in 3-pointers per game (2.9) and 3-point shooting percentage (.479) and fourth in rebounds (9.0).
DROPPING DIMES
Redshirt junior Ka-Deidre Simmons dished out a career-high 12 assists in the win over UMass Lowell on Dec. 7. It was the second time in her career she recorded a double-digit assist game, breaking her old career-high of 10 assists, achieved last season against New Orleans. The 12 assists tied for the second-highest single-game total in school history and were the most for a Pirates since Christine Koren finished with 12 assists against Rutgers on Jan. 25, 1997.
REBOUNDING MACHINE
Since returning to the starting lineup against Savannah State on Nov. 29, redshirt freshman Sidney Cook has pulled down double-digit rebounds in three-straight games. Cook is averaging 14.0 rebounds per game over the past three games, and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds against UMass Lowell. She is the only Seton Hall player averaging a double-double this season with 10.2 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.
BIG ON THE BOARDS
Rebounding has been a key to Seton Hall's early season success, the Pirates are averaging 51.4 rebounds per game which ranks first in the BIG EAST and SHU is second in the league in rebounding margin at +11.5. The Pirates entered the season with the school record for rebounds in a game at 63, a mark that has been topped twice already this year, most recently when the Hall pulled down 66 boards in a win over UMass Lowell on Dec. 7. Seton Hall is 7-0 when outrebounding an opponent this season.
QUAD DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Seton Hall has already seen four different players record at least one double-double this season, which is the most for the Pirates since the 2004-05 campaign. That year it took the Pirates 16 games before the fourth-player registered a double-double, but this season the Hall needed just seven games to accomplish the feat. With six double-doubles already this season, Seton Hall already has two more than it recorded during the entire 2012-13 campaign.
PAINT IT BLUE & WHITE
Seton Hall scored a bulk of its points in the season opening win over Longwood in the paint, outscoring the Lancers 36-10 on the interior. The Pirates have outscored their opponents by a 302-180 margin in the paint this year. SHU outscored UMass Lowell 58-24 in the paint which was the seventh time this season the Pirates saw at least 30 points come in the painted area. The Hall is averaging 37.8 points per game on the interior this season.
