Seton Hall University
17-14,10-10Big East
Providence
21-10,13-7Big East
Davis and Pirates Dominate No. 20 Providence Wire-to-Wire, 82-58
3/4/2023 2:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Seton Hall finishes the regular season with 17 overall wins and a 10-10 record in the BIG EAST, marking the eighth straight year that the Pirates finished .500 or better in one of the best basketball conferences in the country. Head coach Shaheen Holloway now has the most overall wins, BIG EAST wins and road wins of any first-year Seton Hall men's basketball head coach in program history.
The Pirates now head to the BIG EAST Tournament with momentum and as the No. 7 seed, they will face No. 10 seed DePaul Wednesday at Madison Square Garden at 5:30 p.m.
Junior Femi Odukale (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had another impressive performance at point guard, finishing with 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. Graduate student KC Ndefo (Elmont, N.Y.) posted 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks while senior Al-Amir Dawes (Newark, N.J.) chipped in with 11 points.
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How It Happened
Providence took its first lead of the game on a layup that made it 6-4 at the 18:15 mark in the first half and it would be the last lead the Friars would have the whole game. The Pirates responded with a dunk by senior Tyrese Samuel (Montreal, Quebec) and a fastbreak layup by senior Al-Amir Dawes (Newark, N.J.) off of a pass from Odukale that put them back in front, 8-6.
The Pirates finished the first half on a 17-2 run over seven-plus minutes. After a Providence layup trimmed its deficit to four, 27-23, with 7:25 left before halftime, Odukale banked in a three-pointer from the top of the key that kicked off the rally before the break. The Pirates shot 65 percent from the field in the first half (17-of-26), its best of the season.
The Friars clawed back in the second half and trimmed their 24-point deficit to 13, 57-44, with 11:57 to play that forced Shaheen Holloway to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Dre Davis answered the call like he did all game and converted a layup. After a stop on the defensive end, Dawes found Davis at the rim again for a dunk that pushed The Hall's advantage back to 17, 61-44, with 10:42 to go.
Providence forced a turnover on the next possession and turned it into two points that cut the Seton Hall lead to 15 but Davis came up big again, nailing another three-point basket that made it 64-46 Pirates. Back-to-back threes from Davis and Dawes' third trey of the day gave Seton Hall its largest lead up to that point, a 29-point advantage, with 3:17 to go, squashing any hope of a Providence comeback and handing the Friars its worst loss at home since 2004.
Inside The Numbers
- Seton Hall shot a season-best 62.5 percent from the field for the game (30-of-48) and a season-best 55.6 percent from behind the three-point line (10-of-18).
- The Pirates' defense held Providence to 40.4 percent shooting from the floor and 17.4 percent (4-of-23) from deep, its fourth-lowest percentage allowed all season and its second-lowest allowed in BIG EAST play (Georgetown, 16.7 percent).
- Seton Hall out-rebounded Providence, 32-26.
- The Pirates finished with 18 assists, their second most this season, and committed 11 turnovers.
- Both teams scored 36 points in the paint, had six steals and had three blocks.
News & Notes
- The Pirates now have four Quad 1 wins this season; Memphis, Rutgers, UConn and Providence.
- Three of those four wins came away from home.
- The win matches Seton Hall's largest win ever over an AP Top 25 team (24 at No. 19 Syracuse, Feb. 7, 1998).
- Seton Hall's 24-point win is its largest win ever at Providence and its largest win in the series with the Friars since the Pirates' 79-47 win over the Friars in the BIG EAST Tournament on March 6, 2012.
- The 24-point margin marks Seton Hall's largest road victory since its 84-55 win at Rutgers on Dec. 5, 2015.
- Davis' 24 points was the most by a Seton Hall bench player since Kadary Richmond's 27-point performance off the bench against UConn last season on Jan. 8, 2022.
- Ndefo now has 370 career blocks, the most of any active power conference player this season, and moves into a tie with Samuel Dalembert (2000-01) for ninth all-time in a single season at Seton Hall with 60 blocks.
- The Pirates are now 16-3 when they hold opponents under 70 points this season.
- The Pirates have held 10 opponents under 60 points this season.
