Seton Hall
Game Preview: Pirates attempt to end skid with home bout against Providence (1/30/19)
Date: January 29, 2019By Andrea Keppler
The Seton Hall Pirates were 9-3 entering the conference schedule, but since their 70-66 loss at Marquette on Jan.12, they have fallen to Providence and DePaul. The Hall lost by the biggest margin on the season to No. 18 Villanova in a 80-52 slaughter on Sunday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center which contributed to their four game skid.
Turnover troubles hit the Hall the hardest on Sunday as they accumulated six in their first 10 possessions of the game and ended with 18 on the day. Myles Powell notched eight turnovers and tallied three points as he couldn’t find a rhythm in his 26 minutes.
The Pirates edged the Wildcats in free throw percentage at 64.3 percent compared to Nova’s 56 percent from the charity stripe. However, the lack of defense at the perimeter lead Villanova’s Phil Booth and Eric Paschall to score 25 and 17 points, respectively.
Seton Hall now looks to snap their losing streak in a rematch with Providence on Wednesday night at the Prudential Center. In their last meeting on Jan. 15 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, the Hall was only down by three points entering the second half, but the Friars capitalized on sloppy ball handling and ended with a 72-63 victory.
Turnovers plagued the Hall at Providence as well as they committed 22 in the game. The Friars are third in the conference in steals averaging 7.05 per game, while junior Alpha Diallo also ranks third in the Big East with 1.75 per game. Simply put, the Hall needs to limit their turnovers as this has been costly in their past few games.
Diallo leads Providence in scoring averaging 17 points, and he also sits atop the Big East leaderboard in rebounds per game with 8.5. Against the Pirates in Providence, Diallo scored 15 points and grabbed eight boards.
The Friars have struggled from the charity stipe throughout the season and are tenth in the conference in free throw percentage at 67.2 percent. Historically, Seton Hall is not a strong shooting team from the line, but went 12-for-12 on Jan. 15.
In Providence’s latest win over DePaul, they shot 84.6 percent from the charity stripe and had four players reach double figures in scoring. If the Friars are capable of going 22-for-26 at the line, then Seton Hall has to maintain the same consistency on Wednesday night.
The Pirates are still looking for their second scorer, but Myles Cale has stepped up in Powell’s offensive absence as his 14 points against Nova lead the Hall, but the team is still in need of better distribution if they’re facing a team that can get four guys in double figures.
Seton Hall seeks revenge on the Friars on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at the Rock. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and coverage of the game can be found on 89.5 FM WSOU, wsou.net and WSOU on iHeartRadio.
Andrea Keppler can be reached at andrea.keppler@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @keppler_andrea.
Posted in: Game Previews, Sports, WSOU
