Game Preview: Hall hosts No. 16 Marquette in crucial game (3/6/19)

Date: March 5, 2019

By Dalton Allison

Aiming to bolster their case for making the NCAA Tournament, Seton Hall men’s basketball (16-12 overall, 7-9 conference) will welcome the No. 16 Marquette Golden Eagles (23-6 overall, 12-4 conference) to the Prudential Center on Wednesday.

Seton Hall is coming off the heels of a crushing 77-71, double overtime loss to Georgetown on this past Saturday. The team, which is known for heavily relying on Myles Powell for the majority of their scoring, leaned especially hard on the guard against the Hoyas. Powell scored 35 points, while the rest of his team scored 34 points combined.

The game began with an extremely messy first half from both sides. Despite their inability to hold onto the ball, Seton Hall actually held the lead going into halftime, 28-24. Things went downhill drastically however in the second half, and Georgetown was able to get back into the game and eventually tie it before the end of regulation before falling in double overtime.

The Pirates were outdone in many aspects of the game. In total, they turned the ball over 19 times throughout the course of the game. This led to Georgetown taking advantage of the mistakes committed. Off of the 19 turnovers that Seton Hall committed, Georgetown scored 21 points.

In addition to getting taken advantage of in terms of turnovers, Seton Hall was also beat on transition in Capital One Arena. Seton Hall scored only six points in transition, which was either a sign of effective defensive planning on behalf of Georgetown, or the inability to adapt from Seton Hall.

The Pirates also missed many opportunities for second chance points, while Georgetown fully exploited them. Despite only being outrebounded by two to the best rebounding team in the Big East, Seton Hall still allowed 21 second chance points. This is something that can’t happen against an elite team like Marquette.

The one positive that Seton Hall can take from the game is that they received fantastic bench production. This mostly came from freshman Jared Rhoden, who scored half of Seton Hall’s 18 bench points in the game. This could make a difference, because in the last game against Marquette on January 12^th, a 70-66 loss, Seton Hall scored only two points from the bench.

Facing the No. 16 team in the nation will not be an easy task for Seton Hall, but it is certainly not impossible. Marquette is coming off of a loss in their last game on Sunday to Creighton, 66-60. In that game, Markus Howard scored 33 points, but was the only player to register double-digits in the contest for Marquette. It is nearly impossible to limit a talented player like Howard, so if Seton Hall strategizes in limiting the prominence of secondary scorers like Sam Hauser, Joey Hauser, and Sacar Anim, the Pirates might escape the Prudential Center with an upset victory.

Coverage of the game will begin on 89.5 FM WSOU at 6:15 with Jose Feliciano and Chris Famularo. Dagen Hughes and Matt Ambrose will be on the call for the 6:30 tipoff.

Dalton Allison can be reached at dalton.allison@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Game Previews, Men's Basketball, Sports, WSOU