Pirates Invade MSG to Face Texas Tech in UA Reunion

2017 Under Armour Reunion Seton Hall Pirates (5-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) vs. No. 22 Texas Tech (6-0, 0-0 Big 12)
Date/Time/Location	Thursday, November 30 \| 6:30 p.m. \| Madison Square Garden (New York, N.Y.)
Tickets	Ticketmaster.com (Use promo code "LASTCHANCE" for Buy One, Get One FREE)
Television Broadcast	FS1 \| FOX Sports GO
Radio Broadcast	AM970 The Answer \| Pirate Sports Network
Game Notes	Seton Hall \| Texas Tech
Links	Twitter \| Facebook

MSG is like a second home to the Pirates. Since 2014, the Pirates have won four games over nationally ranked opponents, gotten to semifinal Friday of the BIG EAST Tournament three times and celebrated a 2016 BIG EAST Tournament championship.

MSG has been good to The Hall, and the Pirates look to continue their Garden momentum Thursday night against a tough and hot Texas Tech squad that is ranked No. 22 in the nation. The game is part of the Under Armour Reunion, and the Pirates are ready to "rep the family" once more. In last year's "Reunion" the Pirates topped a previously unbeaten, No. 16 South Carolina on Desi Rodriguez's layup with under 20 seconds remaining.

Tip time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast nationally on FS1, simulcast on FOX Sports GO, with Brian Custer and Donny Marshall on the call. As usual, the dynamic duo of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will deliver the radio broadcast on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on the Pirate Sports Network.

THINGS TO KNOW

The Seton Hall Pirates take aim at a second-consecutive win over a ranked team in the Under Armour Reunion series on Thursday night, after defeating No. 16 South Carolina in the event's inaugural season, 67-64 (Dec. 12, 2016). Desi Rodriguez connected on a game-winning layup with under 15 seconds to go to clinch the game for the Pirates.

Rodriguez is off to a scorching start, and led the team with a game-high 27 points as the Pirates left Barclays Center in Brooklyn with a 72-59 win over Vanderbilt in the third-place game of the NIT Season Tip-Off last Friday night. SHU held the Commodores scoreless for an 11-minute stretch and limited them to 33.9 percent shooting to come away with the win.

The Pirates return 90 percent of their scoring and rebounding from a team that won 21 games in 2016- 17, advanced to the BIG EAST Tournament semifinal, and reached the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season.

Led by eighth-year head coach Kevin Willard, the Pirates welcome back an incredible senior class that has the only active trio of 1,000 point scorers in Division I - Khadeen Carrington, Angel Delgado and Desi Rodriguez.

OFF THE BAT

Thursday is the first meeting between the Pirates and the Red Raiders since the first round of the National Invitation Tournament in 2010 at Prudential Center. Texas Tech emerged from the scrap with an 87-69 victory, despite 23 points and 12 rebounds from Jeff Robinson.

The 2017-18 non-conference slate for the Pirates includes matchups against six teams currently in the KenPom Top-100. The Hall squares off with four teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, including both games at the NIT Tip-Off, in addition to Louisville on Sunday and VCU on Dec. 9.

Angel Delgado, the Division I active leader in double-doubles (54), was a unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team pick after leading the nation in rebounding in 2016-17, pulling down an astonishing 13.1 boards per game.

Carrington and Delgado were named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST first team, and Rodriguez earned an honorable mention nod. The Pirates were picked second behind Villanova in the league's preseason poll.

The current batch of seniors is 6-3 at Madison Square Garden, including the 2016 BIG EAST title game. Over the last four seasons, the Pirates are 4-1 against ranked opponents at The Garden.

#PiratePursuit

The Pirates have flourished in the program's previous two seasons to the likes of which the program has not seen in over 20 years, and they are in pursuit of a truly special 2017-18 campaign.

The program has gone to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since reeling off four straight appearances from 1991-94.

Last year's campaign secured the program's first back-to-back 20-win seasons since 1992-93, and first back-to-back BIG EAST Conference winning seasons since 2003-04.

In the Polls

The Pirates enter Thursday receiving the most votes out of any team not ranked in the AP Top-25 poll, and is 25th in the KenPom ranking.

Seton Hall has been in the weekly national rankings 103 times in program history, and three times this season after previously finishing the 2015-16 campaign at No. 20.

This year marked the fourth time Seton Hall was ranked in the preseason top 25

2017-18: No. 23

2000-01: No. 10

1992-93: No. 6

1991-92: No. 9

Seton Hall's all-time record as an AP nationally ranked team is 147-49 (.750).

Won't Back Down

Since head coach Kevin Willard's arrival in 2010-11, The Hall has shown consistent ability to perform well against nationally ranked opponents, and can pick up its 14th win over an Associated Press top-25 team during his tenure. Dating back to Feb. 25 of last season, the Pirates have won seven of last their 11 games against nationally ranked opponents.

A Second Home

The Hall has enjoyed playing at its "home away from home" - Madison Square Garden over the past few seasons.

The current group of seniors is 6-3 at MSG

Over the last four seasons at The Garden, the Pirates have four wins over ranked opponents including a 2016 BIG EAST title:

3/13/14 - W, 64-63 vs. #3 Villanova

3/11/16 - W, 87-83 vs. #5 Xavier

3/12/16 - W, 69-67 vs. #3 Villanova

12/12/16 - W, 67-64 vs. #16 S. Carolina

In last year's BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal at The Garden, Angel Delgado nearly earned himself a triple-double, racking up 12 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists in a win over Marquette.

Carrington is averaging 15.7 points per game at MSG, and was named to the 2016 All-BIG EAST Tournament team.

Delgado averages 9.2 points and 8.9 boards at MSG, and earned a spot on last year's All-BIG EAST Tournament squad.

Rodriguez is shooting 50.0 percent and averaging 13.3 points per game at MSG.

Sanogo is averaging 6.3 rebounds and shooting 50.0 percent at MSG.

Building a Resume

The Pirates have a challenging non-conference slate that features matchups against six teams currently in the KenPom Top-100:

Indiana - 79 (W, 84-68)

Rhode Island - 52 (L, 74-75)

Vanderbilt - 62 (W, 72-59)

Texas Tech - 15

Louisville - 24

VCU - 91

A total of four non-conference opponents reached the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17 including Louisville, Vanderbilt, Rhode Island and VCU.

The Pirates have gone 10-2 during non-conference play in each of the past three years.

Unmatched Senior Scorers

Between Delgado, Rodriguez, Carrington and Sanogo, the Pirates entered 2017-18 with the most senior points returning in the country:

Seton Hall - 3,816 points - four players

Idaho - 3,736 points - six players

Purdue - 3,392 points - four players

Xavier - 3,088 points - three players

Bucknell - 3,026 points - three players

Drake - 2,988 points - six players

Pirates at the Point

Carrington's transition to point guard this season has been a success thus far, as he leads the team with 26 assists and has just nine turnovers, and has furthermore committed only 10 fouls while playing a team-high 174 minutes of lockdown defense.

In the season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson, the Pirates assisted on 22 of their 33 made field goals, which is the most in a game since Jan. 28, 2015 when the Pirates registered 23 at Marquette.

Seton Hall has finished with an even or positive assist-to-turnover ratio in five of six games.

Scoop n' Score

The Pirates have scored 106 points off 100 turnovers through the first six games of the season and have won the turnover battle in five of six games.

The Pirates have won nine consecutive games when they register a positive assist-to-turnover ratio and 14 of the last 15.

HOLD THE DOOR!

The Pirates pride themselves on defense, and have proven the ability to hold off late pushes by the opposition.

In fact, Seton Hall is 49-3 in its last 52 games (dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season) when holding a lead of seven or more at any point in the contest.

Halftime Adjustments

Over the past two games the Pirates are averaging a +11.0 scoring margin over the final 20 minutes

The defense has been locked in, as opponents are shooting just 23.3 percent (14-of-60) from the field and 10.0 percent (2-of-20) from three-point range during the second half of the previous two games (Vanderbilt, Rhode Island).

Big Man, Big Expectations

By now, it is no secret that Angel Delgado is one of the best players in the country. His on-court dominance has garnered national attention, and his play has earned him preseason All-America honors from multiple outlets including the Associated Press.

The Dominican native led the country with 13.1 rebounds per game last season, and was a unanimous First Team BIG EAST selection and AP All-America honorable mention.

In 2016-17, he recorded over 200 more rebounds than any other player in the BIG EAST, and set the conference's single-season rebounding record (253).

Against Vanderbilt, Delgado was held without an offensive rebound, snapping a streak of 71 games with one or more offensive boards.

He has grabbed one or more offensive rebounds in 101 of 104 career games.

Hot Cheese!

The man called "Cheese" - Myles Powell, has a smooth and savory stroke from long range, and is leading the Pirates in three-point buckets, shooting 16-for-40 (40.0 percent).

When Powell gets hot, the Pirates feed off his energy and seem to play better as a collective. In fact, they are 9-5 over the course of his career when he makes three or more treys.

Cheese scored a season-best 21 points and went 5-for-7 from long range against Rhode Island on Thanksgiving

The Trenton native had himself an impressive debut campaign in 2016-17, finishing with 10.7 points per game while leading the team in free throw percentage (81.7).

#DowntownDesi

One of the best parts of Desi's game is his ability to provide outside scoring.

Last season, he made one or more three-point buckets in all 18 BIG EAST games, and is 9-for-27 (33.3 percent) to begin his senior campaign

He has been red hot thus far, and has been the top scorer in four of six games, and leads the team with 17.8 points per game.

The Bronx native was named to the BIG EAST weekly honor roll on Nov. 20 after averaging 19.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in the team's wins over Indiana and NJIT.

Owning the Glass

It helps to have the best rebounder in the country, but rebounding is truly a team effort, and the Pirates have proven the ability to dominate.

The Pirates have out-rebounded opponents 227-185 this season, and have had a positive margin in 10 of the last 11 games dating back to last season.

In 2016-17, The Hall out-rebounded its opponent in 26 of 33 games and went 17-9 in said contests.

In 13 games last year, the Pirates registered a double-digit rebounding advantage.

The Pirates have out-scored opponents in the paint this season 238-142.

Deeno Doing Deeno

Whether it is dribble-drive and slash to the hoop, or filling it up from long range, Khadeen Carrington has a natural scoring ability that ranks him among the all-time greats at The Hall.

Currently, Carrington is 25th on the all-time scoring leaderboard with 1,376 career points.

The Brooklyn native has scored 20 or more points 18 times in his career, and led the Pirates with 17.1 points per game last season.

He put on one of the best individual performances in program history with a career-high 41 points, capped by a last-second steal and breakaway slam, in an 87-81 home win over No. 20 Creighton last year.

Do Not Pass Sanogo

Largely considered one of the top defenders in the BIG EAST, Ismael Sanogo throughout his career has played a crucial role in shutting down top opponent scorers and limiting teams to below their scoring average.

Against Rhode Island, his presence in the second half allowed the Pirates to get back in the game, as they limited the Rams to just 21 points on 25.8 percent shooting over the final 20 minutes.

He was also a major factor in holding Vanderbilt scoreless for an 11-minute stretch in last Friday's victory, while contributing eight rebounds and four blocks.

He had an incredible run of defensive prowess in the 2016 BIG EAST Tournament, and was ultimately named to the All-Tournament team.

New Kid on the BLOCK

Freshman Sandro Mamukelashvili made his presence felt with four blocks in SHU's 82-53 win over NJIT at Prudential Center.

No Pirate had more than three in a game last season.

Against NJIT he also registered 11 points and nine rebounds.

The seven collective blocks for the team against NJIT were the most since it turned away seven against Central Connecticut State on Nov. 13, 2016, the second game of the season last year.

Dazzling Debuts

Freshmen Myles Cale, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Jordan Walker each played 18 or more minutes in their collegiate debut vs. FDU, and put on an efficient and effective display.

Cale led the rookies in scoring with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while filling the box score with five rebounds, four assists without a turnover, two steals and a block.

Walker was a perfect 2-for-2 from distance and finished with seven points, while Mamukelashvili totaled eight points and six rebounds (five offensive).

Additionally, all three freshman knocked down a three-pointer, and shot a combined 5-for-7 from downtown.

That's Usin' Your Noggin'

Junior Mike Nzei is one of the brightest all-around student-athletes at Seton Hall, and the economics major is a two-time All-Academic BIG EAST selection.

Unsurprisingly, his intellect translates to the court in terms of his efficiency and shot selection.

He led the team in field goal percentage in 2016-17, shooting an incredible 65.1 percent from the field (54-of-82), and would have been second in the BIG EAST if he registered enough attempts to qualify.

1,000 Point Club

Desi Rodriguez, Angel Delgado and Khadeen Carrington entered the season as the only trio of returners with 1,000 or more career points

In fact, all three reached the milestone in 2016-17, becoming only the program's second trio of 1,000-point scorers to be active in the same season, joining John Morton, Daryll Walker and Ramon Ramos of the program's historical 1988-89 national runner-up season

Delgado is the NCAA's active leader in career rebounds (1,109) and double-doubles (54), and is the only active 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound player in the country