Pirates at Villanova Monday in BE Title Rematch

2017 BIG EAST Conference Game FS1 Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Marathon Seton Hall Pirates (12-5, 2-3 BIG EAST) vs. No. 3 Villanova (17-1, 5-1 BIG EAST)
Date/Time/Location	Monday, Jan. 16 \| 6:30 p.m. \| The Pavilion (Villanova, Pa.)
Television Broadcast	FS1 \| FOX Sports GO
Radio Broadcast	WMCA 570 AM \| Pirate Sports Network (FREE)
Game Notes	Seton Hall \| Villanova
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)

Seton Hall's most frequent opponent and rival awaits Monday evening as the Pirates head to Villanova for a rematch of the 2016 BIG EAST Tournament final, won by The Hall. This will be the 111th meeting between the two teams, and the Pirates are looking to snap a winless drought at The Pavilion, where they haven't won since 1994. However, the Pirates and Villanova have played some great games in recent history, and Seton Hall is the ONLY BIG EAST team to defeat the Wildcats in each season of the newly configured conference:

2014 BIG EAST Quarterfinals
2015 BIG EAST regular season game at Prudential Center
2016 BIG EAST final

The game is the main event of FS1's Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Marathon, and Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery will call all the action both on FS1 and FOX Sports GO. Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the radio call on WMCA 570AM, simulcast on the Pirate Sports Network (available at SHUPirates.com and the SHU Pirates Mobile App).

Pirate Points

>> Seton Hall climbed back from a 16-point deficit to draw even with Providence late in the second half, but Kyron Cartwright's three-point play with 32 seconds remaining pushed the Friars past the Pirates, 65-61, Saturday at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. SHU was led by junior Desi Rodriguez, who delivered 20 points and hit three consecutive game-tying field goals in the final 2:45 of the game. Angel Delgado posted his 11th consecutive double- double with 12 points and 16 rebounds, surpassing Eddie Griffin, who had 10 consecutive double-doubles in 2001.

>> The Pirates wrap up their three-game road stand over six days with Monday night's contest at Villanova. They are looking to end a 23-year drought at the Pavilion, where SHU hasn't won since Feb. 26, 1994. Although it is a 23-year drought, Seton Hall has only played at The Pavilion 14 times since 1994. It is however not the longest drought among the original BIG EAST members. St. John's has not won at "The Ski Lodge" since Jan. 13, 1993, which is a span of 11 games there.

>> The last time The Hall squared off with Villanova was at sold-out Madison Square Garden in the final of the 2016 BIG EAST Tournament. Isaiah Whitehead scored 26 points, including the game-winner, in a 69-67 triumph over the Wildcats to capture the program's first tournament title since 1993. Seton Hall is one of only two teams (Butler) to hand Villanova a loss over its last 30 games, and the Pirates are the ONLY BIG EAST team to defeat the Wildcats in each of the first three seasons of the new BIG EAST.

>> Although this week's Associated Press top 25 poll will come out too late for this update, it is fairly certain the Pirates will be facing a top-five Villanova team for the fourth time since 2014. The Pirates have two victories over a No. 3-ranked Wildcats team, the 2014 BIG EAST Quarterfinals and the 2016 BIG EAST Final. If Villanova cracks the top two this week, the Pirates will look for their first-ever victory over a top-two AP ranked team.

>> Villanova is Seton Hall's longest standing rival at 110 games, and since head coach Kevin Willard took over, the games have been tightly contested. In the 11 matchups, the average margin of victory has only been 7.2 points with four of the games decided by one possession in regulation and one game going to overtime.

>> 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 Monday as the conference's top rebounder with 12.4 per game, good for fourth in the nation, and has 5.3 more per game (84 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 last Wednesday. The 13 offensive rebounds are the most by any Pirates player in recent history and it is the first 13-offensive rebound game by a BIG EAST player since Kentrell Gransberry of USF had 13 vs. DePaul on March 3, 2007. He has three 20-point games this season, is averaging 14.7 points, shooting 55.1 percent, and has 13 double-doubles in 17 games including in each of the last 11. He is one of two players in the top-15 in the BIG EAST in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage.

>> The 6-foot-10 Dominican native is the BIG EAST's active leader in double-doubles with 36 (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 26 games when he doubles up (13-0 in 2015-16, 10-3 in 2016-17), and are now 29-7 during his career. He is averaging 16.3 points and 13.5 boards during his current 11-game double-double streak. Only five other players in the country have 11 or more total double-doubles this season. He has the longest active double-double streak in the nation. Following Saturday's 16-rebound performance, Delgado moved into seventh on the all-time SHU rebounding list with 832 career boards.

>> Rodriguez, the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week, scored a career-high 30 points at Marquette Wednesday night and 20 at Providence on Saturday. He, is averaging a league-best 22.2 points over five BIG EAST games, and is 20-of-35 (57.1 percent) from 3-point range during that span. He is in the top-15 in the BIG EAST in scoring (Ninth- 16.6), rebounds (13th-5.4) and steals (11th- 1.4) per game. He is second on the team with 23 steals and third with 31 assists. He has had six 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 18.5 points per game. The team's most consistent scorer has eight 20-point games and has scored in double figures in all 17 games thus far and 49 times throughout his career. He is shooting 47.7 percent (113-of- 237) from the field and 44.6 percent (37-of-83) from three-point range. His three-point percentage is good for fifth in the BIG EAST.

>> Carrington currently has a team-high 1,067 career points (tied for 36th 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. Rodriguez (54th- 879 points) and Delgado (56th- 876 points) will have the opportunity to break into the top-50 all-time scoring list later this week.

>> 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 8.3 rebounds per game over his last 12 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. Sanogo is second in the BIG EAST with 7.1 rebounds per game. 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 42.0 percent from the field, the third-best field goal defense in the conference, and are 32.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Pirates held Creighton, the nation's top three-point shooting team, to just 5-for-16 from deep. SHU furthermore kept DePaul 16.5 points under its season scoring average and improved to 6-0 when opponents shoot under 40 percent. The team's 7.5 steals per game is good for second most in the BIG EAST.

>> 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 15 of 17 games (including all five conference games), and leads the BIG EAST with 40.8 boards per game and a +7.8 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 (620-454).

>> Effort on the offensive glass has led to 13.6 second chance points per game, 4.9 more than opponents. Delgado has grabbed 75 offensive rebounds, and the Pirates have scored on the ensuing opportunity 44 times, which is 58.7 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, Creighton and Providence 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 4-3 when trailing at halftime and are shooting 50.5 percent (265-of-525) 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 6.0 in the final frame while scoring 41.1 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 17 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 3.6 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 sixth in the BIG EAST with a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio and 1.6 steals per game. He finished with nine assists and two steals and just three turnovers in last Wednesday's game at Marquette.

>> Sophomore forward Michael Nzei leads the team with 11 blocks and is a blistering 70.8 percent (34-of-48) from the field over 17.5 minutes per game off the bench. He has also shown the ability to throw it down and is second on the team with eight dunks this season.

>> SHU has seen consistent scoring from Carrington, Rodriguez and Delgado. The junior trio has combined to post 65.1 percent of the total scoring output for the Pirates. Additionally, SHU is 10-4 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: