Seton Hall University
18-9,9-8Big East
Xavier
17-11,7-10Big East
Rhoden and Jackson Dominate as Pirates Throttle Xavier, 82-66
2/26/2022 5:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CINCINNATI -Â Senior Jared Rhoden (Baldwin, N.Y.) scored a career-high 30 points, and the Seton Hall men's basketball team played as complete a game as it has all season with 52.7 percent shooting from the field and forcing 14 Xavier turnovers as the Pirates throttled the Musketeers, 82-66, for a huge road win Saturday at Cintas Center.
Seton Hall has now won six of its last eight games and picked up its sixth "Quadrant 1" win of the season, three of them now on the road. The Pirates are 18-9 overall and 9-8 in the BIG EAST.
Rhoden was spectacular all day, going 8-for-14 from the field and 12-for-13 from the free throw line. He was joined in double figures by junior Tray Jackson (Detroit, Mich.), who was perfect from the field, making all six of his shots, including all five three-point attempts, to finish with 17 points. Sophomore Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) chipped in 12 points, all of them coming in the second half, and seven assists.
How It Happened
Seton Hall jumped out to a six-point lead early, 18-12, before Xavier stormed back and went out in front by one, 19-18, with under 10 minutes to play in the first half. On the next possession tough, the Pirates would pull ahead on a dunk off a pick n' roll by junior Tyrese Samuel. Xavier cut its deficit to one again, 27-26, with 4:23 to play in the first half but the Pirates responded with a 5-0 run that pushed their lead back to six, 32-26.
With just over two minutes remaining before halftime, Jackson nailed another three ball and after two missed free throws by the Musketeers, graduate student Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) converted a reverse layup that gave Seton Hall a 39-31 lead going into the locker room.
The Pirates trailed for 50 seconds in the first half and led wire-to-wire in the second half. Two free throws by Richmond opened the second half scoring but Xavier cut its deficit to seven, 43-36, with 18:12 left. The Hall responded with an alley-oop slam from Cale to graudate student Ike Obiagu (Abuja, Nigeria) and Jackson's fourth made three in as many attempts gave the Pirates a 12-point lead, 48-36, with 17:22 to play, forcing Xavier to call a timeout.
The only other time Xavier threatened was when they made it a six-point contest, 55-49, with 12:37 left but back-to-back buckets by Samuel and graduate student Jamir Harris (North Brunswick, N.J.) made it a double-digit advantage again for the Pirates, 59-49. The Pirates stayed in control for the remainder of the game by shutting down a tired Xavier squad defensively and Rhoden sinking eight free throws from the 4:30 mark onward.
Inside The Box Score
- The Pirates shot 53 percent from the field, its second-highest clip in BIG EAST play, 42 percent from three-point range and 84 percent from the free-throw line.
- Xavier shot well for the game, too, shooting at a 46 percent rate from the floor and 41 percent from three but converting on only 13-of-23 free throws.
- The Pirates had a slight edge on the glass, 31-30, but won the turnover battle by forcing 14 miscues and giving the ball away 10 times.
- Seton Hall turned those 14 turnovers into 17 points.
- The Hall had the edge in the paint, scoring 32 points to the Musketeers; 24.
- Seton Hall led for 35:54 and led by as much as 19 with 3:53 to play in the game.
- Xavier has lost by double-digits in a BIG EAST game at Cintas Center only 10 times and Seton Hall is responsible for four of those defeats.
- The Pirates have now won four-straight games at Cintas Center.
- Rhoden's career-high of 30 points came on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor, 2-of-3 shooting from three and 12-of-13 shooting from the charity stripe.
- The Hall is 130-19 since 2015-16 when its lead gets to seven points.
- After going 3-5 in January, the Pirates are now 6-2 in the month of February.
- The Pirates are over .500Â in the BIG EASTÂ at 9-8 for the first time this season.
- Seton Hall improves to 15-10 all-time vs. Xavier.
- The Pirates have held their last three opponents to 66 points or less.
Seton Hall will head into the final week of the regular season with the home finale at Prudential Center on Wednesday, March 2 against Georgetown at 7 p.m. It will be Senior Night, and Pirates fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:30 p.m.
Also, the Georgetown game is the last in a four-game collectible t-shirt series. The THIS IS OUR STATE t-shirt will be on sale at the Bookstore Pop-Up Shop on the concourse, and the first 1,000 students in attendance will receive a free version of the shirt. Tickets can be purchased at SetonHallTix.com/SHUvsGU.
