Pirates Look to End Trip With Win vs. Stanford Sunday

AdvoCare Invitational Game 6 // Neutral Game 3 Seton Hall Pirates (4-1) vs. Stanford Cardinal (4-1)
Date/Time/Location	Sunday, Nov. 27 \| 7 p.m. \| HP Field House (Kissimmee, Fla.)
Television Broadcast	ESPNU \| WATCH ESPN
Radio Broadcast	AM970 The Answer \| Pirate Sports Network (FREE) \| TuneIn Radio
Game Notes	Seton Hall
Links	Live Stats \| Twitter \| Facebook \| AdvoCare Invitational \| Bracket

The Pirates look to end their trip to Orlando on an exciting note as they close out the AdvoCare Invitational Sunday night in a fifth-place game against Stanford at 7 p.m. Roy Philpott and Brad Daugherty will have the call of the game for ESPNU and WatchESPN. Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will broadcast on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on the Pirate Sports Network through the SHU Pirates app for FREE.

Pirate Points

>> The defending BIG EAST Tournament champions are back for another run at the conference title and an NCAA Tournament appearance. The Pirates return 10 letterwinners and four starters including 65 percent of the team's scoring and 83 percent of the rebounding from its historic 2015-16 campaign. The Hall was picked to finish in a tie for fourth with Georgetown, but the Pirates are known for outplaying their preseason predictions. Picked to finish seventh at the start of last season, the Pirates went 12-6 and finished third, earning head coach Kevin Willard BIG EAST Co-Coach of the Year honors.

>> Tonight's game marks the eighth in the all-time series between Seton Hall and Stanford, but it is the first in 20 years. The last time the two teams met was Dec. 22, 1996, an 83-81 Cardinal win at the Meadowlands. The Pirates last defeated Stanford on Dec. 30, 1993, a 75-69 victory in the championship game of the Meadowlands Tournament, hosted by The Hall. The Cardinal lead the all-time series 4-3.

>> On Friday, the Pirates shot 50 percent from the field and continued their season-long dominance of scoring in the paint in a 90-79 victory over Quinnipiac. Starting for an injured Ismael Sanogo, Michael Nzei had a career-best day, delivering 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go with 12 rebounds. Desi Rodriguez was again unstoppable in driving to the basket; he had 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting and grabbed 11 boards. The Pirates finished the night out-scoring the Bobcats in the paint, 46-28.

>> The Pirates have a chance to come home with a winning record in an eight-team, in-season tournament for the fourth time under head coach Kevin Willard. Here are the previous results:

Nov. 17-20, 2011 - Runner-up at Charleston Classic (beat VCU & Saint Joseph's, lost to Northwestern
Nov. 21-24, 2014 - Paradise Jam Champions (beat Nevada, Gardner-Webb & Illinois State)
Nov. 19-22, 2015 - 5th Place at Charleston Classic (lost to Long Beach State, beat Bradley & Mississippi)

>> After winning Friday vs. Quinnipiac, Seton Hall has now played 74 consecutive regular season non-conference games without losing two in a row.

>> Thursday night was a slugfest between two of the best teams in the country as Florida (Kenpom 12) topped the Pirates (Kenpom 35), 81-76, behind 21 points from KeVaughn Allen and 20 from Canyon Barry. Khadeen Carrington scored a career-high 28 points in The Hall's defeat as he continues to be an unstoppable offensive force. Through five games this season, Carrington is shooting 56.9 percent from the field and 59.1 percent from three-point range and is averaging 22.0 points.

>> Dating back to last season, Carrington has averaged 18.9 points over his last 11 games. He enters tonight's game with 862 career points, which is 54th all-time in Seton Hall history. He will have a chance to become Seton Hall's 41st 1,000-point scorer later this season.

>> The top seven minute producers for the Pirates are all shooting 45.0 percent or better from the field and are a combined 148-of-279 (53.0 percent). Additionally, four different players (Carrington, Rodriguez, Delgado, Powell) are averaging 12.5 or more points per game. The team's overall field goal percentage of 51.0 is one of the highest in the nation.

>> Seton Hall has been able to dominate the paint offensively so far this season. The Pirates are outscoring their opponents inside by a +98 margin, 222-124. Twice already the Pirates have scored 50 or more points in the paint, including 52 against Fairleigh Dickinson and 50 at Iowa. Seton Hall's 222 paint points on the season represents 51.6 percent of the team's total scoring.

>> The Pirates have one of the toughest out-of-conference schedules in the country this season. Out of the 12 games, at least seven matchups are against teams that advanced to postseason play in 2015-16, including four NCAA Tournament squads (Fairleigh Dickinson, Iowa, Hawaii, California). Five of the games are against opponents with KenPom/RPI ratings in the top-75 last season. Seton Hall itself was a top 25 team last season in the RPI and KenPom ratings as well as the final Associated Press poll of the year.

>> What also makes Seton Hall's schedule difficult is that it will face its toughest opponents on the road or on a neutral court. The Pirates are one of only seven teams among the "Basketball Power Six" Conferences (ACC, BIG EAST, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) to have four guaranteed non-conference road/neutral games against other "Basketball Power Six" teams this season:

SETON HALL (4) - at Iowa, vs. Florida, vs. California, vs. South Carolina
Michigan State (4) - vs. Arizona, vs. Kentucky, vs. St. John's, at Duke
Purdue (4) - vs. Auburn or Texas Tech, at Louisville, vs. Arizona State, vs. Notre Dame
Wisconsin (4) - at Creighton, vs. Tennessee, vs. Georgetown or Oregon, at Marquette
Texas (4) - vs. Northwestern, vs. Notre Dame or Colorado, at Michigan, vs. Arkansas
Auburn (4) - vs. Texas Tech, vs. Boston College, vs. Oklahoma, at Connecticut
Florida (4) - vs. Seton Hall, vs. Duke, at Florida State, at Oklahoma

>> Sunday's game will mark a rare feat in Seton Hall history. The Pirates are facing a member of a "Basketball Power Six" conference in non-conference action for the third time in their first six games (Iowa, Florida, Stanford). That has not occurred since the 1995-96 season when three of the team's first five non-conference games were against Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue.

>> SHU is receiving votes in both preseason Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. The Pirates have made their way into the poll in three different seasons (2011-12, 2014-15, 2015-16) in six years under head coach Kevin Willard, including a No. 20 ranking in the final Associated Press poll of last season.

>> Freshman Myles Powell broke out with a huge performance only three games into his collegiate career as he scored a career-high 26 points, including eight in the final four minutes, to help SHU record a 91-83 victory at Iowa last Thursday night in a Gavitt Tipoff Games matchup at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Powell shot 9-for-14 from the field and connected on five of his seven three-point attempts. He was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week by the league office on Monday.

>> Powell's performance proved to be notable in recent Seton Hall history. He is one of only three Pirates freshmen since 2008 to score at least 25 points in a game, joining Jeremy Hazell, who did it four times in 2008, and Isaiah Whitehead, who accomplished it vs. Rutgers in December 2014. Hazell's 25+ point games as a freshman:
   • Jan. 3, 2008 vs. Connecticut – 28 points
   • Jan. 19, 2008 vs. Louisville – 29 points
   • Feb. 6, 2008 vs. Notre Dame – 26 points
   • Feb. 17, 2008 at West Virginia – 30 points