Pirates Open WBIT with No. 4 Missouri, Thursday

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2026
2026 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL INVITATION TOURNAMENT (WBIT)
SETON HALL (19-12) vs. #4 MISSOURI (16-16)
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Walsh Gymnasium
7:00 p.m. ET

LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
(Ryan Johnston & Lauren DeFalco)
LIVE AUDIO: 89.5 FM WSOU or WSOU.net
(Jack Pine & Chris Heite)
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GAME NOTES: SETON HALL | MISSOURI
WBIT PROGRAM

THE GAME
Seton Hall will return to historic Walsh Gymnasium on Thursday, March 19 when it opens play in the 2026 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) and hosts No. 4 Missouri. Tip time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.

MEDIA
The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Ryan Johnston and Lauren DeFalco on the call. As usual, the game will also be available over the airwaves at 89.5 FM WSOU or wsou.net. Jack Pine and Chris Heite will describe the action on the radio. Live stats will also be available.

WSOU is also airing a post-game "Hall Line" show following its women's basketball games. Be sure to tune in after the final buzzer.

WBIT
This is the third year of the WBIT, and Seton Hall is the only team in the country to have participated in all three tournaments. The Hall is 1-2 over the first two years with a victory over Quinnipiac in last year's first round and losses to Saint Joseph's in 2024 and Portland in 2025.

LAST GAME
Jordana Codio (Winter Garden, Fla.) and Zahara Bishop (Minneapolis, Minn.) scored 13 points apiece, but the Seton Hall women's basketball team fell to Villanova, 62-48, in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena on March 8.

Villanova led this one wire-to-wire, scoring the first 12 points of the game and leading by as many as 21 points. The Hall mounted significant rallies twice, but never was able to cut the lead to single digits. After the tough start, the Pirates were outscored by the Wildcats by only two points for the final 34 minutes of the game.

Codio finished with 13 points and four rebounds, while Bishop had 13 points and a team-best seven rebounds.

Seton Hall All-Time vs. the Tigers: First Meeting

AGAINST MISSOURI
Seton Hall and Missouri will meet for the first time ever on Thursday in the opening round of the WBIT.

SCOUTING MISSOURI
Missouri enters the WBIT with a 16-16 overall record, which included a 4-12 mark in Southeastern Conference (SEC) play. Most recently, the Tigers were bounced from the SEC Tournament with a 65-48 loss to Alabama in the opening round. Missouri has lost seven straight games, but still garnered the No. 4 seed in our quadrant of the WBIT, joining No. 1 BYU, No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 George Mason. Scheduling conflicts prevented the Tigers from hosting despite the seed.

Missouri's Grace Slaughter was named to the All-SEC Second Team and finished sixth in the conference with 18.6 points per game to go with a team-best 6.7 rebounds per contest. The high-scoring Tigers also have Shannon Dowell averaging 15.3 points per game and Jordana Reisma with 10.3 points per contest. As a team, Missouri ranks fifth in the SEC with a .349 three-point shooting percentage and is the top free-throw shooting team in the league at .779.

UP NEXT
With a victory over Missouri, Seton Hall will play the winner between No. 1 BYU and Alabama A&M. If BYU wins, the Pirates will play the Cougars on Monday, March 23. The Hall would face Alabama A&M on Sunday, March 22. Either contest would be streamed by ESPN+. 89.5 FM WSOU or wsou.net will also carry the game.