Seton Hall to Play at Michigan in 2021 Gavitt Games Matchup
6/24/2021 2:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK -Â The Seton Hall men's basketball team has drawn a Nov. 16 date with Michigan in the sixth annual Gavitt Tipoff Games, the BIG EAST and Big Ten announced Thursday. The game will be played at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., to be televised on either FS1 or Big Ten Network with game time to be determined.
This will be Seton Hall's fifth appearance in the Gavitt Tipoff Games, a unique early-season series played between the two conferences and named in honor of Dave Gavitt, founder of the BIG EAST and basketball visionary. So far, the Pirates are 2-2 in Gavitt Games competition, defeating Iowa on the road in 2016, taking down Indiana at Prudential Center in 2017, falling at Nebraska in 2018 and losing a nail biter contest to Michigan State at Prudential Center in 2019. Meanwhile, Michigan is 2-1 in the Gavitt Tipoff Games, having lost at home to Xavier in 2015, defeated Villanova on the road in 2018 and beaten Creighton at home in 2019. The entire series between the two conferences was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Seton Hall and Michigan have only met twice in their history with both games occurring in 1989. On April 3, 1989, the Pirates and Wolverines met in the NCAA Championship final at Kingdome in Seattle, Wash. The Pirates had a one-point lead in overtime with under five seconds remaining but were whistled for a non-shooting foul, and Michigan's Rumeal Robinson made both free throws to secure the national championship. In the only rematch since that national championship game, the two teams met on Dec. 23, 1989 in Las Vegas, Nev., where the Wolverines won again, 91-86.
The Gavitt Tipoff Games began in 2015 and is played annually on consecutive days early in the college basketball season. Throughout the series, each BIG EAST team is scheduled to participate a minimum of six times, while Big Ten programs are slated to take part a minimum of four times. Teams from both conferences already meet in some traditional rivalry games, such as the Garden State Hardwood Classic between Seton Hall and Rutgers, and those matchups will continue outside of these Gavitt Tipoff Games.
Seton Hall is 9-5 against Big Ten teams in the Kevin Willard era, including road wins at Iowa in 2016, at Maryland in 2018 and at Penn State in 2020.
After splitting the games in each of the first three years of the event, the Big Ten won the 2018 and 2019 Gavitt Tipoff Games by margins of 5-3 and holds a slim 22-18 edge over the BIG EAST.
2021Â Gavitt Tipoff Games
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Monday, Nov. 15
Providence at Wisconsin
Illinois at Marquette
Tuesday, Nov. 16
Seton Hall at Michigan
Creighton at Nebraska
Wednesday, Nov. 17
Michigan State at Butler
St. John's at Indiana
Thursday, Nov. 18
Ohio State at Xavier
Rutgers at DePaul
