Pirates Battle Providence Saturday at Noon on YES

2017 BIG EAST Conference Game Seton Hall Pirates (12-4, 2-2 BIG EAST) vs. Providence Friars (11-7, 1-4 BIG EAST)
Date/Time/Location	Saturday, Jan. 14 \| 12 p.m. \| Dunkin' Donuts Center (Providence, R.I.)
Television Broadcast	FOX Sports Networks \| YES Network in Metro New York Area
Radio Broadcast	AM970 The Answer \| Pirate Sports Network (FREE)
Game Notes	Seton Hall \| Providence
Links	Live Stats \| Twitter \| Facebook

Feature Story: Pivotal Pirate: Seton Hall's Delgado Doing It All (Gannett)

Getting to Know: Seton Hall's Rodriguez (BIGEAST.com)

In the second leg of a three-games, three-cities, six-days road trip, the Pirates are now tasked with facing Providence in a Saturday matinee at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. Both teams are coming off losses this week, and the Pirates are hoping to avoid dipping below .500 in BIG EAST play with Monday's showdown with Villanova looming. The Friars and Pirates have previously met 99 times in their history, dating back to a Feb. 26, 1927 contest won by the Pirates. With this game, Providence becomes the third program that Seton Hall has faced 100 or more times, joining Georgetown (101) and Villanova (110).

Saturday's game will be broadcast regionally through FOX Sports Networks, and you can click this link to see which station in your area will carry the game. In the Metro New York area, the game will be on YES Network, and Alex Faust and Tarik Turner are the broadcast team. Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the radio call on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on the Pirate Sports Network (available at SHUPirates.com and the SHU Pirates Mobile App).

Pirate Points

>> Down seven points with 46 seconds to go in regulation, Seton Hall made an incredible comeback to tie its game with Marquette on Wednesday, and send it to overtime, but the Golden Eagles found a way to hold on, defeating the Pirates, 89-86, at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Junior Desi Rodriguez set a new career high with 30 points, and fellow junior Khadeen Carrington poured in 22 points, including the game-tying jumper with 2.2 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime. Junior Angel Delgado delivered his 10th consecutive double-double with 14 points and 19 rebounds, which matched a career high.

>> SHU returns to Dunkin' Donuts Center on Saturday afternoon for the 100th all-time meeting with Providence and for the first time since it knocked off the No.12-ranked Friars 81-72 on Jan. 16 last season. It was the first win over a ranked opponent on the road for the Pirates in five years and 17th time in the program's history. Carrington scored 22 points off the bench and was a perfect 12-for-12 at the free-throw line. The Pirates went 9-of-10 from the free throw line in the final three minutes and sealed the game with blocks from Isaiah Whitehead and Ismael Sanogo in the final minute.

>> Providence holds a slight edge in the all-time series, 51-48. It is the third-longest running rivalry for SHU behind only Georgetown (101 meetings) and Villanova (110 meetings). On the road in the series, The Hall is 15-26 all-time but is 7-3 in its last 10 at Providence with an 8.0-point average margin of victory, and has won two of the last three. Head coach Kevin Willard is 6-6 overall and 3-2 on the road against the Friars. In the most recent meeting between the teams, the Pirates picked up their 20th win of the 2015-16 season with a 70-52 victory on Feb. 26, 2016 at Prudential Center. Whitehead recorded 25 points, nine assists, six rebounds and four blocks, and Delgado doubled-up with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

>> Saturday's game is the second of a three-game BIG EAST Conference road trip over six days for the Pirates. They are one of three teams in the BIG EAST tasked with three consecutive road conference games this season. Earning a road victory in the BIG EAST is one of the most difficult challenges in college basketball, and The Hall proved it can step up by going 6-3 in such games last season. The Pirates take aim at their first road conference victory of the 2016-17 campaign after an 0-2 start. SHU will wrap up its road stand with a matchup at No. 3 Villanova on Monday night.

>> As the Pirates enter the thick of BIG EAST play, they are expected to continue to rely on their big man, Delgado, to assert his presence in the paint. He enters Saturday as the conference's top rebounder with 12.1 per game, good for fourth in the nation, and has 4.7 more per game (70 total) than any other player in the league. He is third in the country with 4.6 offensive rebounds per game and grabbed 13 at Marquette Wednesday. He has three 20-point games this season, is averaging 14.9 points, shooting 55.7 percent, and has 12 double-doubles in 16 games including in each of the last 10. He is one of two players in the top-15 in the BIG EAST in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage. In four career games against Providence, Delgado is averaging 9.5 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

>> The 6-foot-10 Dominican native is the BIG EAST's active leader in double-doubles with 35 (third most in the country), and when he delivers one, good things happen for The Hall. Dating back to last season, the Pirates have won 23 of the last 25 games when he doubles up (13-0 in 2015-16, 10-2 in 2016-17), and are now 29-6 during his career. He is averaging 16.7 points and 13.3 boards during his current 10-game double-double streak. The last Pirate to double dip in 10 straight games was Eddie Griffin in 2001. Following Wednesday's 19 rebound performance, Delgado moved into 8th on the all-time SHU rebounding list with 816 career boards.

>> Rodriguez, the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week, scored a career-high 30 points at Marquette Wednesday night, is averaging 22.8 points over the last four games and is 16-of-28 (57.1 percent) from 3-point range during that span. He is in the top-15 in the BIG EAST in scoring (11th- 16.4), rebounds (13th-5.5) and steals (11th- 1.4) per game. He is second on the team with 22 steals and third with 29 assists. He has had five 20-point games and two double-doubles this season. His Player of the Week nod comes on the heels of a 25-point performance against DePaul on Jan. 7 in which he made each of his first 10 field goal attempts.

>> The Hall is paced offensively by Carrington, who is second in the BIG EAST with 18.9 points per game. The team's most consistent scorer has eight 20-point games and has scored in double figures in all 16 games thus far and 48 times throughout his career. He is shooting 48.0 percent (107-of-223) from the field and 46.2 percent (36-of-78) from three-point range. His three-point percentage is good for third in the BIG EAST.

>> Carrington currently has a team-high 1,054 career points (38th all-time in school history), and became the 41st student-athlete in school history to reach the 1,000-point threshold after a 27-point performance at Creighton. Earlier this season he passed former teammate and current Brooklyn Nets guard, Isaiah Whitehead, with 17 points against Columbia. Delgado (55th- 864 points) and Rodriguez (56th- 859 points) will have the opportunity to break into the top-50 all-time scoring list later this month.

>> Largely considered one of the top defenders in the BIG EAST, and described by head coach Kevin Willard as the team MVP day in and day out, junior forward Ismael Sanogo has also proved his worth on the glass and is on a rebounding tear. He is averaging 8.6 rebounds per game over his last 11 contests and pulled down a career-high 16 in the Garden State Hardwood Classic victory over Rutgers on Dec. 23. He also grabbed 12 boards in a victory over then-ranked No. 16 South Carolina at The Garden. In his latest defensive triumph, Sanogo had a critical steal in the final seconds of the first matchup with Marquette, and prevented the Golden Eagles from even attempting a game-tying shot.

>> SHU prides itself on defensive tenacity and it shows. Opponents are shooting just 41.7 percent from the field, the third-best field goal defense in the conference, and are 31.9 percent from beyond the arc. The Pirates held Creighton, the nation's top three-point shooting team, to just 5-for-16 from deep. Last Saturday, SHU kept DePaul 16.5 points under its season scoring average and improved to 6-0 when opponents shoot under 40 percent.

>> The Hall has been dominant down low all season and leads the BIG EAST in several rebounding categories. SHU has out-rebounded its opponent in 14 of 16 games and leads the BIG EAST with 40.9 boards per game and is tied for the lead with a +7.7 rebounding margin. It is also atop the league standings with 13.6 offensive rebounds per game and pulled down a season-best 27 at Marquette. The Pirates are outscoring opponents in the paint by 9.8 points per game (588-432).

>> Effort on the offensive glass has led to 13.8 second chance points per game, 4.8 more than opponents. Delgado has grabbed 73 offensive rebounds, and the Pirates have scored on the ensuing opportunity 44 times, which is 60.3 percent of total chances. The team has scored 91 second chance points off his offensive boards alone. The Pirates grab an offensive board on 36.6 percent of all available chances, the best in the BIG EAST. Additionally, The Hall has done a nice job on the defensive glass. It limited Columbia and Creighton to just four offensive rebounds, and allowed just six against Rutgers, who entered the game averaging 15.7 offensive boards.

>> The Pirates have shown the ability to finish games strong. They are 4-2 when trailing at halftime and are shooting 50.7 percent (251-of-495) in the second half overall, and 54.1 percent (186-of-344) during the 12 games they have won. Additionally, SHU is outscoring opponents by 6.2 in the final frame while scoring 41.6 points. Meanwhile, Seton Hall and its strong defense have also proven to be well equipped at holding leads. The Pirates are 36-1 in their last 37 games (dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season) when holding at least a seven-point lead at any point in the contest.

>> Freshman sharp shooter Myles Powell has shown flashes of brilliance through the first 16 games of his career. He posted an impressive season-best 26 points in SHU's victory at Iowa (Nov. 17), just three games into his career, to snap the Hawkeyes 41-game home winning streak over non-conference foes. He went 9-for-14 from the field, 5-for-7 from beyond the arc, and was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week on Nov. 21. 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. He has canned three or more triples in five different games this year.

>> A valuable role player in the back court, senior Madison Jones leads the team with 3.7 assists per game. In his debut with the Pirates he dished out a career-high 10 helpers en route to a 91-70 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson. He posted a career-high 15 points versus Delaware, and ranks seventh in the BIG EAST with a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio and 1.7 steals per game. He finished with nine assists and two steals and just three turnovers in Wednesday's game at Marquette.

>> Sophomore forward Michael Nzei leads the team with nine blocks and is a blistering 72.1 percent (31-of-43) from the field over 17.9 minutes per game off the bench. He has also shown the ability to throw it down and is second on the team with six dunks this season.

>> SHU has seen consistent scoring from Carrington, Rodriguez and Delgado. The junior trio has combined to post 64.6 percent of the total scoring output for the Pirates. Additionally, SHU is 10-3 this season when they all score in double figures.

>> Seton Hall faced a difficult non-conference schedule with six games against members of the "Basketball Power Six" conferences and came away with a 4-2 record. Seton Hall is one of 10 "Basketball Power Six" teams (out of 75) to secure four non-conference wins or more so far over other "Basketball Power Six" schools:

1. Creighton – 6
2. Butler, UCLA, Wisconsin – 5
5. SETON HALL, Xavier, Kansas, Baylor, Virginia, Clemson – 4

>> Furthermore, five of Seton Hall's six non-conference games against the "Basketball Power Six" came on the road, where the Pirates came away with three victories (Iowa, California, South Carolina). Among the 75 "Basketball Power Six" schools, the Pirates' three road/neutral victories ranked in a tie for fourth: