Cale, Rhoden Fuel Pirates Over Hoyas, 78-67

Wednesday, December 23

Newark, N.J.

5 p.m.

Seton Hall University

6-4,3-1Big East

Georgetown

3-5,1-3Big East

Georgetown

Seton Hall

12/23/2020 6:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

NEWARK, N.J. – Senior Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) and junior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) combined for 56 points, and the Seton Hall men's basketball team had an outstanding defensive first half that catapulted the Pirates to a 78-67 win over Georgetown Wednesday night at Prudential Center.

Cale erupted for a career-high 30 points on an efficient 10-for-16 shooting from the field, while Rhoden recorded his third double-double of the season by matching his career-highs with 26 points and 12 rebounds.

Junior Ike Obiagu (Abuja, Nigeria) had a strong defensive game collecting nine rebounds and a career-high nine blocks, which ties the overall Prudential Center record with Hasheem Thabeet of UConn originally set in 2009. Obiagu's rim protection was a big reason why the Pirates held the Hoyas to just 19 points on 8-of-36 shooting (22.2 percent) in the first half.

Seton Hall heads into the holiday break a healthy 3-1 in the BIG EAST, giving the Pirates a 3-1 start or better to conference play for the fourth straight season and fifth time in the last seven.

What Happened:
Cale and Rhoden got The Hall off to a strong start offensively, each scoring six points as the Pirates tallied 12 of the game's first 15 points. The Pirates' impressive start extended to 17-5 on a three-pointer by sophomore Tyrese Samuel (Montreal, Quebec) with 12:55 remaining in the first half.

The story of the first half, however, was the Pirates' defense. The Pirates held Georgetown to just 2-for-18 shooting from the floor during the first 10:24 of the game while building their lead. The Hoyas were limited to just 19 first half points on only 22.2% shooting thanks in large part to seven first-half blocks by Obiagu. The Pirate lead grew to as many as 17 points, before they ultimately settled on a 33-19 advantage at the break.

Both teams came out shooting well from the field to open the second half, but no one was hotter than Cale. The senior connected on six of his first seven shots in the second half, including a trifecta of three-pointers. His old fashioned three-point play with 13:37 left in the game gave The Hall a commanding 55-36 lead.

The Hoyas used a late 8-0 run to cut their deficit to nine points with just 2:23 remaining, but couldn't get closer.

Big games from MC, Ikey and Jared propel us to our third conference win of the season 👊#HALLin 🔵⚪ pic.twitter.com/wdVia14tEx
— Seton Hall Men's Basketball (@SetonHallMBB) December 24, 2020

Inside the Numbers:

Seton Hall was 28-for-62 (45.2%) from the floor for the game, while Georgetown was 24-for-70 (34.3%). The Hall was 9-for-25 (36.0%) from three-point range, while the Hoyas were 7-for-17 (41.2%).
Georgetown out-rebounded The Hall, 48-to-37, with an edge on the offensive glass, 16-to-6.
Seton Hall was 13-for-18 (72.2%) from the free-throw line, while the Hoyas were 12-for-13 (92.3%).
The Hall forced more turnovers, 14-to-9, and had more points off turnovers, 7-to-5.
Cale had a career-high 30 points on 10-for-16 shooting from the floor, 5-for-9 from three-point range and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. His previous career high was 23 at Maryland nearly two years to the day.
Rhoden tied his career-high with 26 points on 10-for-19 shooting. He also tied his career-high with 12 rebounds to go with four assists and two steals.
Obiagu had nine rebounds and a career-high nine blocks, which matches the overall Prudential Center record, which was originally set by UConn's Hasheem Thabeet in 2009.

News & Notes:

The victory improves Seton Hall to 6-4 overall and 3-1 in BIG EAST play, while Georgetown drops to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in conference play. It's the fourth consecutive year and fifth out of the last seven that the Pirates have won three of their first four BIG EAST games.
Seton Hall has now won 10 of its last 12 games against Georgetown, including the last six meetings at Prudential Center. Furthermore, head coach Kevin Willard is now 13-6 all-time against the Hoyas.
Rhoden's double-double is his third of the season and the fifth of his career. Rhoden has now scored in double-figures in nine of 10 games this season.
Seton Hall is now 141-64 (.688) all-time at Prudential Center. Since 2015-16, the Pirates are 34-15 (.694) against BIG EAST competition in the building.
The Pirates are now 106-14 (.883) since 2015-16 when having a lead at any point in the game of at least seven points.
With the victory, Head Coach Kevin Willard has tied former Villanova coach Steve Lappas for 11^th on the BIG EAST All-Time wins list (regular season + tournament) with 97 career victories.
With four points today, senior Bryce Aiken (Randolph, N.J.) reached 1,100 points for his career, including his time at Harvard. He also had a team-high six assists on the night.
Seton Hall improved to a perfect 6-0 this season when outshooting its opponent.
It's the second time this season that the Pirates have had two players score at least 20 points in a game.
Senior Sandro Mamukelashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) surpassed Andre Sweet (2002-05) for 69th all-time in Seton Hall scoring history. He now has 809 career points.
Cale jumped four former Pirates to move into 71st place all-time in Seton Hall scoring history, now standing at 799 points.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action on Wednesday, December 30 when it travels to Cincinnati, Ohio for a contest at Xavier. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on FS1, while Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will call it on the radio on AM 970 The Answer, simulcast on the Pirate Sports Network.