Pirates Head To Marquette For Tuesday BIG EAST Showdown

Game 14: Marquette Golden Eagles (9-4, 1-1 BIG EAST) vs. Seton Hall Pirates (7-6, 0-2 BIG EAST) Tuesday, Dec. 27 • Fiserv Forum (17,341) • 8 p.m. TV: FS1 • Jeff Levering & Stephen Bardo Web: FOX Sports Live Radio: SHU Pirates Mobile App / Pirate Sports Network /SiriusXM 385, SiriusXM App 975 / Dave Popkin & Kim Adams NOTES YOU NEED TO KNOW

Winners of three of its last five games, the Seton Hall men's basketball team will hit the road once again as they take on Marquette in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 8 p.m. on FS1.
Seton Hall is entering a stretch where four of its next six games are on the road.
Including the game at Xavier on Dec. 20, the Pirates are in a stretch where five of their next seven games are on the road and four of those five games are 8 p.m. Eastern starts or later.
Through two BIG EAST games, junior Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) is averaging 22.5 points on 65 percent shooting from the floor, 6.5 rebounds and five assists per game.
Richmond was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Dec. 19 after averaging 18.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists in two games the previous 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 on Dec. 17.
Richmond's 28 points was the second most by a Pirate since in a BIG EAST opener 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.
Richmond was high school teammates with junior Femi Odukale (Brooklyn, N.Y.) at South Shore High School.
Odukale missed the BIG EAST opener with an injury but he returned against Xavier and contributed eight points, nine rebounds and four assists.
In the three-point loss at Xavier, Seton Hall held the Musketeers, one of the top offensive teams in the country, to their lowest three-point shooting percentage this season (25 pct.) and their second-lowest point total of the season (73).
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 five games thanks to their defense.
The Pirates have allowed just 58.2 points per game over the last five games.
Through 13 games, Seton Hall has held six opponents to 55 point or less, the most since 2014-15.
62.4 points per game allowed is Seton Hall's best through 13 games since 2014-15 (61.3).
The Pirates' 62.4 ppg allowed ranks second in the BIG EAST and 45th in Division I.
The Pirates rank 20th in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency.
In Holloway's last 24 games as a head coach, his teams have allowed just 60.3 points per game and only six opponents have scored more than 70 points.
Seton Hall ranks second in the BIG EAST in both field goal percentage defense (39.2 percent) and three-point field goal defense (28 percent).
Graduate student KC Ndefo (Elmont, N.Y.) is the NCAA's active career leader in blocks with 339.
After starting the season off slow from a blocks standpoint, Ndefo is averaging four blocks per game over the last five contests.
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 (25.8 FTA pg) and rank 17th nationally in free throw makes per contest (17.5 FTM pg).
Seton Hall's bench has outscored its opponent's reserves in 11 of its 13 games this season.
The Pirates lead the BIG EAST in bench points, averaging 26.2 points per game.
Senior Al-Amir Dawes (Newark, N.J.) passed the 1,000 career point threshold at Xavier on Dec. 20.