Pirates Begin Road Gauntlet At Xavier

Game 13: Xavier Musketeers (9-3, 1-0 BIG EAST) vs. Seton Hall Pirates (7-5, 0-1 BIG EAST)
Tuesday, Dec. 20 • Cintas Center (10,224) • 8:30 p.m.
TV: FS1 • Jason Benetti & Nich Bahe
Web: FOX Sports Live
Radio: SHU Pirates Mobile App / Pirate Sports Network / SXM app 976 / Dave Popkin
Game Notes: Seton Hall | Xavier

NOTES YOU NEED TO KNOW

Winners of three of its last four games, the Seton Hall men's basketball team will hit the road once again as they take on Xavier on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 8:30 p.m. on FS1.
Five of the Pirates' next seven games are on the road.
Junior Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.), is averaging 13.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.7 steals per contest over the last four games.
Richmond was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after averaging 18.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists last week.
A Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team selection, Richmond dropped a career-high 28 points, matched his career-high with nine rebounds and dished out five assists in the BIG EAST opener against Providence.
Richmond's 28 points was the second most by a Pirate in a BIG EAST opener since reconfiguration (Sandro Mamukelashvili, 32 vs. SJU 12/11/20)
On the defensive end, Richmond is averaging two steals per game, a clip that ranks third in the BIG EAST.
Seton Hall prides itself as being a defense-first program under first-year head coach Shaheen Holloway and the Pirates have won three of their last four games thanks to their defense.
The Pirates have allowed just 54.5 points per game over the last four games.
Through 12 games, Seton Hall has held six opponents to 55 point or less, the most since 2014-15.
61.5 points per game allowed is Seton Hall's best through 12 games since 2014-15 (60.3).
The Pirates' 61.5 ppg allowed ranks second in the BIG EAST and 34th in Division I.
The Pirates rank 28th in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency.
In Holloway's last 23 games as a head coach, his teams have allowed just 59.8 points per game and only five opponents have scored more than 70 points.
Seton Hall ranks second in the BIG EAST in both field goal percentage defense (38.7 percent) and three-point field goal defense (28.3 percent).
On Dec. 11, the Pirates retained the Garden State Hardwood Classic trophy with a 45-43 win at Rutgers.
The Pirates held the Scarlet Knights to 17 points in the second half, forced 19 turnovers in the game and tallied 12 steals.
The win over Rutgers gave the Pirates its second Quadrant 1 win of the season, joining their win over Memphis on Nov. 24.
Graduate student KC Ndefo (Elmont, N.Y.) was named the Joe Calabrese Game MVP after tallying nine points, eight rebounds, three blocks made three game-winning plays in the waning moments.
Ndefo is the NCAA's active career leader in blocks with 335.
After starting the season off slow from a blocks standpoint, Ndefo is averaging four blocks per game over the four last four contests.
In his first BIG EAST game against Providence, Ndefo had 11 points, two assists and three blocks.
The Hall is 139-22 (.863) since 2015-16 when its lead gets to seven points.
The Pirates look to generate offense at the free throw line and they rank 10th in the country in free throw attempts per game (26.1 FTA pg) and rank 14th nationally in free throw makes per contest (17.8 FTM pg).
Seton Hall's bench has outscored its opponent's reserves in 10 of its 12 games this season.
The Pirates lead the BIG EAST in bench points, averaging 27 points per game.
Junior Dre Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.) has been The Hall's glue guy coming off the bench where he averages 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and one assist per game.