Players Mentioned
Pirates Battle Rival Rutgers in NCAA 1st Round
3/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
No. 9 SETON HALL (28-5) vs. No. 8 RUTGERS (22-9)
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) • Saturday, March 21 • 6:30 PM
Broadcast: ESPN2 (Play-by-play: Bob Wischusen; Color: LaPhonso Ellis)
Radio: WSOU 89.5 FM (Play-by-play: Clayton Collier; Color: Matt Valentine)
Seton Hall Game Notes 
| Rutgers Game Notes | ESPN3 | | NCAA Tournament Central
The Seton Hall University women's basketball team is dancing for the first time in 20 years as the No. 9 Pirates will face No. 8 Rutgers in the NCAA First Round on Saturday, March 21, at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn., at 6:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN 2 in local markets and will be available nationwide on ESPN3.
In a game of this magnitude there is no shortage of story lines. Seton Hall is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995, and the third time in program history. First round opponent Rutgers is a long-time rival, but the teams had not met yet this season after playing a classic double overtime game in the third round of the WNIT last March.
The Scarlet Knights, who have qualified for the NCAA Tournament 23 times, return to the Big Dance for the first time since 2012. One of Seton Hall's star guards, Daisha Simmons, started her career at Rutgers five years ago before transferring to The Hall this season.
And Seton Hall finally reaps the rewards of a complete program overhaul, that saw the team win just 27 games from 2010-13, while setting a school record with 28 wins this year, in just head coach Anthony Bozzella's second year on the job.
While that provides a rich background for the most important game Seton Hall has played since the mid 1990's, ultimately it comes down to what happens on the court. The Pirates and Scarlet Knights do play contrasting styles, but there are some similarities.
Seton Hall will look to dictate a fast up and down game, forcing Rutgers to play at a pace that doesn't really suit them. However, both teams like to create turnovers and score points in transition. Seton Hall in particular thrives when it comes up with easy buckets on the fast break, averaging 10.8 steals and 17.7 points off turnovers per game. The Scarlet Knights average 10.5 steals per game and are 13-3 this year when coming up with at least 10 steals.
Both squads rely heavily on three players to provide a bulk of the scoring, but where Seton Hall should have an edge is from the 3-point line and its overall depth. Kahleah Copper (16.3 ppg), Betnijah Laney (15.9 ppg) and Tyler Scaife (14.6 ppg) lead Rutgers, while the slightly higher scoring Pirates, who rank 17th in the NCAA averaging 75.8 ppg, see Tabatha Richardson-Smith (17.8 ppg), Ka-Deidre Simmons (17.4 ppg) and Daisha Simmons (16.9 ppg) account for 68.8 percent of SHU's scoring.
However, Janee Johnson gives Seton Hall another outside shooting threat, hitting 52 3-pointers this year, averaging 8.6 ppg, and Tiffany Jones comes off the bench to give the Pirates 6.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
During last year's meeting in the WNIT, Seton Hall played 38 strong minutes, leading 60-52 approaching two minutes to play, but Rutgers ended regulation on a 10-2 run to force overtime, before ultimately prevailing 91-79 in double OT.
Richardson-Smith scored 28 points and nailed five 3-pointers while Ka-Deidre Simmons added 16 points for SHU, but it was not enough to overcome a 35-14 scoring deficit at the line. On Saturday night, Seton Hall will need a 40 minute effort to keep dancing into the second round.
SETON HALL STATUS
- Seton Hall is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history and the first since 1995. The Pirates are playing in the postseason for the seventh time in program history, and after qualifying for the WNIT last year, are playing postseason basketball in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2003-04.
- Seton Hall earned an at-large berth out of the BIG EAST Conference. The Pirates were BIG EAST Regular Season Co-Champions with a 15-3 mark and were the runner-up in the BIG EAST Championship, falling to DePaul 78-68, last week in Rosemont, Ill.
RUTGERS STATUS
- In its first season in the Big Ten Conference, Rutgers earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament with a 22-9 overall record.
- The Scarlet Knights enter the NCAA Tournament with a 2-3 record over their last five games, and they lost to Northwestern in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Championship.
- Rutgers is making its 24th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its first since 2012. The Scarlet Knights boast an all-time NCAA record of 35-23. They last made it to the tournament's second round in 2011 after picking up a win over Louisiana Tech.
LAST TIME VS. RUTGERS
- Seton Hall and Rutgers last faced one another in the Third Round of the WNIT last season, with the Scarlet Knights pulling out a 91-79 win in double overtime.
- The Pirates led 60-52 approaching two minutes to play, but the Scarlet Knights ended regulation on a 10-2 to force overtime.
- SHU guard Ka-Deidre Simmons was whistled for a non-shooting foul with 0.2 to play and Briyona Canty hit 1-of-2 at the line to tie the game and force an extra period.
- After playing to a 10-10 draw in the first OT, SHU eventually saw four of its top-six rotation players, including three starters, foul out, and the Scarlet Knights won the second overtime session 19-7.
- Seton Hall saw three players score in double figures with Tabatha Richardson-Smith finishing with 28 points while knocking down five 3-pointers. Tyler Scaife led all scorers with 29 points.
NCAA TOURNAMENT QUICK HITS
- Seton Hall is making its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its first in two decades, since advancing to the Second Round in 1995.
- The Pirates' best NCAA Tournament finish was a trip to the Sweet 16 in 1994. Seton Hall is 3-2 all-time during NCAA Tournament competition.
- This year's No. 9 seed is actually the lowest the Pirates have received in the tournament. Seton Hall was a No. 4 seed in 1994 and a No. 6 seed in 1995.
- SHU is 1-2 all-time in the NCAA's on a neutral floor. The Pirates hosted first and second round action in 1994, beating Vermont and Texas in Walsh Gym.
Anthony Bozzella IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
- Seton Hall head coach Anthony Bozzella is making his second appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the first since 2001 when he led LIU Brooklyn to its first NEC title in just his first season.
- Bozzella is 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament. In 2001, his LIU Brooklyn team fell to Connecticut in the first round.
QUITE THE TURNAROUND
- Seton Hall head coach Anthony Bozzella, who has a proven track record of turning programs around, has engineered quite the resurgence for the Pirates this year.
- Seton Hall, which had won 27 games total in the three years prior to Bozzella's arrival, has won a program record 28 this year and is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in two decades.
- Bozzella is 48-19 at Seton Hall with a pair of postseason appearances and 20-win seasons. Before last season, SHU had not played postseason basketball since a WNIT berth in 2007 and had not won 20 games since 1994-95.
- The Pirates now have seven postseason appearances in program history (3 NCAA, 4 WNIT) with two of those coming under Bozzella's watch.
- This year, Seton Hall won the BIG EAST Regular Season title for the first time and advanced to the conference championship game for the first time since 1995.
