MBB Visits #6/#6 Villanova Friday
2/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2014
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Coming off a pivotal road victory at Xavier, the Seton Hall men's basketball team hits the floor again on Friday at Villanova as the Pirates are set to take on the sixth-ranked Wildcats for the second time this season.
Seton Hall (13-9, 4-5) kicks off the second half of its BIG EAST schedule on the road where the team has scored three of its four BIG EAST victories to this point in the year. The Pirates get a second crack at a surging Villanova (20-2, 8-1) squad that is currently riding a four-game winning streak and came away with an 83-67 victory when the two teams met on January 8 at the Prudential Center.
Senior Fuquan Edwin (Paterson, N.J.) was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the third-consecutive week. He delivered team-highs of 18 points and six rebounds to help The Hall hand Xavier its first home loss of the season and snap the Musketeers 13-game unbeaten streak at the Cintas Center. Edwin also totaled three steals and has averaged 22.7 points and 3.3 steals over the last three contests.
Freshman Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) and junior Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) led a vastly superior bench effort for the Pirates last time out, finishing with 12 and 11 points respectively as the Seton Hall reserves outscored the Xavier bench 25-to-7. The Hall has received 25 points from its substitutes in each of its last two road wins, but defense has played a larger role in the team's success.
The Pirates limited Xavier to its lowest point total at home (60) since January of last season in their second away contest since recording a 67-57 win at Georgetown (1/18). Sandwiched in between the two triumphs was a narrow 77-76 defeat at St. John's in which Seton Hall held the Red Storm to 3-of-12 shooting from downtown.
Against Xavier, Mobley and Sina combined to knock down five out of nine 3-point attempts while the Musketeers, who entered the day as the second-best 3-point shooting squad in the league, shot just 2-for-14 (.143) from beyond the arc.
Seton Hall has now held its opponent under 30 percent from deep in all five of its conference road games, but will face a difficult task in extending the streak against a Villanova team that converts on over nine treys per game and has made at least 10 triples in four of the last five games.
The Wildcats sank 12 threes in the first matchup between the two teams, four of which came courtesy of Darrun Hilliard who is coming off an outing in which he combined with James Bell to score 44 points in an 81-58 rout of the Musketeers.
The win gave Villanova 20 for the season, marking the ninth time the program has reached the 20-win plateau under head coach Jay Wright. Half of those victories have come at home where the Wildcats have allowed as many as 70 points only twice all year.
Four Villanova players in Bell, Hilliard, Ryan Arcidiacono and JayVaughn Pinkston are averaging in double-figures scoring in BIG EAST play. The squad sits atop the rankings with an even 80 points per game in conference competition. Sophomore big man Daniel Ochefu has also stepped up on the offensive end since the start of the BIG EAST slate, knocking down 28 of his 35 field goal attempts for a league-best .800 shooting percentage.
Seton Hall has lost 11-straight at Villanova dating back to the 1993-94 season when then senior Bryan Caver tallied 21 points and grabbed eight boards to power The Hall past a Kerry Kittles-led Wildcats squad, 70-59. In order to end the streak, the Pirates will look to cut down on the 16 turnovers the team committed in the first matchup and keep the Wildcats off the charity stripe after allowing 19 points from the line as well.
A streak-stopping win would also give The Hall back-to-back BIG EAST victories for the first time this season. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at The Pavilion for the 104th all-time meeting with #6/#6 Villanova. A live telecast can be seen nationally on FOX Sports 1 while Seton Hall's radio team of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin have the call for 970 AM (WNYM) and through the Pirate Sports Network on SHUPirates.com.
