Seton Hall
Game Preview: Seton Hall hits the Garden to take on Johnnies (2/23/19)
Date: February 23, 2019By Dalton Allison
The Seton Hall men’s basketball team (7-7 Conf., 16-10 Overall) will be taking the trip on the Morris-Essex line to take on the St. John’s Red Storm (7-7 Conf., 19-8 Overall) in Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Seton Hall will be looking to turn the momentum in a positive direction after suffering a 70-69 loss to Xavier on Wednesday. The Pirates had the opportunity to win the game with the final possession late in the game, but Shavaar Reynolds was unable to nail the shot.
This of course was not the case the last time that Seton Hall played St. John’s. On December 29th, Reynolds hit a three with 0.4 seconds left on the clock to propel Seton Hall to the 76-74 victory. A lot of things went right for Seton Hall in that game that they need to carry over to success on Saturday.
For starters, they need to limit Shamorie Ponds like they did on December 29th. Ponds shot 2-13 on his way to an eight point effort, although he did dish out seven assists. Ponds has since proved that performance to be an anomaly, as he’s currently tied with Villanova’s Phil Booth for third in conference scoring at 20 points per game.
Balanced scoring also helped to pilot Seton Hall in that last victory against the Red Storm. The Hall had four starters (Michael Nzei, Quincy McKnight, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Myles Powell) reach into double digits over the course of the game. The Pirates also received 16 points from the bench. Bench scoring has been a hallmark of some of the signature victorious for Seton Hall, and an ache for some of their worst losses. The bench contributions will need to be large on Saturday.
St. John’s is also coming off a Wednesday loss, as they fell to Providence 78-59. Up until that loss, the Johnnies had been one of the more hot teams in the Big East, winning an impressive three out of four tough games. Key victories in that stretch came in the form of a 70-69 win over No. 10 Marquette in Milwaukee on February 5th, and most recently a 71-65 victory over Villanova in Madison Square Garden.
Taking care of the ball will be vital for Seton Hall victory on Saturday. The team averages 8.26 steals per game, which is second in the conference. The charge for steals is being led by Ponds (2.54/game) and LJ Figueroa (2.21/game).
With a win, Seton Hall would sweep the series for the second consecutive season. Excluding their loss to Butler in the Big East Tournament last season, Seton Hall is 3-0 in their past three games in Madison Square Garden. Two of those wins were against a then No. 22 Texas Tech team in 2017, and against No. 9 Kentucky this season.
All of the action can be heard live on 89.5 FM WSOU beginning at 7:45 with pregame coverage hosted by Bob Towey and Michael Daly. At 8 pm, Jose Feliciano and Wilnir Louis will have the call live from Madison Square Garden!
Posted in: Game Previews, Sports, WSOU
