Balanced Offensive Attack Leads No. 12 Pirates Past Wagner in Opener

Tuesday, November 5

South Orange, N.J.

6:30 p.m.

Seton Hall University

1-0,0-0Big East

105

Wagner

0-1,0-0NEC

Wagner

Seton Hall

105

Balanced Offensive Attack Leads No. 12 Pirates Past Wagner in Opener

11/5/2019 10:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

South Orange, N.J. - Senior All-America candidate Myles Powell (Trenton, N.J.) dazzled the Walsh Gymnasium crowd with 27 points, and sophomore Ike Obiagu (Abuja, Nigeria) made some big blocks to go with 11 points as a balanced No. 12 Seton Hall men's basketball scoring attack blew past Wagner, 105-71, in the 2019-20 season opener Tuesday night.

Powell and Obiagu were two of Seton Hall's five double-digit scorers. Sophomore Jared Rhoden scored 12 points, junior Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) had 11 points and senior Quincy McKnight (Bridgeport, Conn.) posted 10 points as well as seven assists.

Seton Hall finished the game shooting a whopping 61.7 percent from the field.

💯 + 5 = 1-0 #HALLin pic.twitter.com/WPARg44ERv
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) November 6, 2019

Turning Point
Seton Hall was comfortably ahead the entire game, cruising on alley oop dunks and three-pointers, but Wagner did narrow the gap to 12 points with 10:30 to go in the second half. That meant it was time for Powell to make his move, and he did so in a grand way. On the wing, he drew contact from Wagner's Curtis Cobb and hit a near-impossible, off-balance three-pointer to send the crowd into a tizzy. He completed the four-point play with a free throw, sparking a 35-10 run that pushed the game out of reach.

To 3⃣, the impossible 3⃣‼️ @Myles_MBP_23 😱

Fellow Jersey boy @TheRealJRSmith ❤️s it too.#HALLin pic.twitter.com/DuQWp8QUKx
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) November 6, 2019

Inside the Numbers

Seton Hall shot 61.7 percent from the field for the game, making 37 of 60 field goal attempts. The Pirates were 37.5 percent from three (9-for-24) and 68.8 percent from the free throw line (22-for-32).
Wagner shot 41 percent from the field (25-for-61) but was only 5-for-23 from three (21.7 percent) and went 16-for-26 (61.5 percent) at the charity stripe.
Seton Hall forced 21 Wagner turnovers and turned them into 31 points.
The Pirates had 20 assists against only 10 turnovers.
Powell was tremendous as usual, going 7-for-13 from the field, 4-for-9 from distance and 9-for-11 at the line for his 27 points.
Obiagu had a strong Pirates debut with 11 points on 4-of-4 from the field. He blocked three shots that all sent the fans into a frenzy.
McKnight was solid with his 10 points and seven assists.
Fellow point guard sophomore Anthony Nelson (New York, N.Y.) had six assists.
Rhoden made four of his six field goal shots to finish with 12 points.
Mamukelashvili had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists, one of which was an epic no-look pass to Obiagu in the first half.
Junior Shavar Reynolds, Jr., (Manchester, N,J.) had nine points.
In his collegiate debut, freshman Tyrese Samuel (Montreal, Quebec) actually led the team with six rebounds.

🚨 🚫👀 🚨#HALLin

cc: @marchmadness | @BIGEASTMBB pic.twitter.com/byv6Wg482g
— Seton Hall Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) November 6, 2019

News & Notes

Seton Hall has now beaten Wagner 11 straight times in the series and leads 25-6. This includes a 19-1 record in home games.
The Pirates are now a perfect 15-0 in their last 15 home openers. They haven't lost a home opener since Nov. 19, 2004 vs. Richmond.
This is Seton Hall's first 100-point game since a 104-79 win at Massachusetts on Dec. 11, 2010.
The last time Seton Hall scored 100 points in a season opener was Nov. 17, 2000 vs. Rider, a 104-76 win.
The 105 points is the most since putting 134 on VMI on Dec. 12, 2009.
Grant Billmeier served as the acting head coach for the game.
Seton Hall is now 156-53 all-time when nationally ranked and 14-2 all-time when specifically ranked No. 12 by the Associated Press.
The Pirates have now won 25 consecutive regular season home games inside Walsh Gymnasium, dating back to 1989.
Powell surpassed Ken House (1969-72) for 11th place in Seton Hall scoring history. He now has 1,690 points. He also tied Darius Lane (1999-02) for third all-time in three-pointers made with 273.

Up Next
Seton Hall will look to go 2-0 on the young season when it hosts Stony Brook Saturday, Nov. 9 inside sold-out Walsh Gymnasium. The game time is 2:30 p.m., and the game will air on FOX Sports Networks, locally on the YES Network. Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the radio call on AM970 The Answer.