Seton Hall
Pirates Share The Ball On Way To Victory Against VCU
Date: December 10, 2017
Photo: SHU Athletics
By: Dagen Hughes
The Pirates followed up victories against ranked opponents Texas Tech and Louisville with an impressive 23-point victory over the VCU Rams at the Never Forget Tribute Classic.
The difference maker came in the middle of the first half. The Pirates were able to hold VCU to 0 field goals and 1 point from 12:20 to 6:00 in the half. During that stretch Myles Powell led the way with 5 points and the first three-pointer of the game for either side. Following the run the Pirates led the Rams by 14 and did not look back the rest of the game.
The second half was all Pirates as they jumped out to a 21-point lead with 11:10 to go in the half. The lead was never closer than 17 in the final 11 minutes of play. The Pirates dominated the paint in the second half scoring 32 points in the paint compared to VCU’s 20. The Pirates lived up to the name as a “second half team” by outscoring the Rams 47-37 in the second half. This season, coming into the game, the Pirates are outscoring their opponents by 8.5 points in the second half.
Seton Hall’s offense was very balanced as all 5 starters reached double-digits and the Pirates reached the 90-point mark for the second time this season. Desi Rodriguez led the way with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Angel Delgado collected his 56th career double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds in the win. Myles Powell and Michael Nzei scored 16 points and 14 points respectively. Khadeen Carrington was the lowest scorer of the starting five with 13 points, and also added 4 assists and 4 rebounds. The bench was able to add 16 points with Sandro Mamukelashvili leading the way with 6. The Pirates also shared the ball well, assisting on 20 of their 35 made field goals.
The Rams had two players reach double-figures on the afternoon with Justin Tillman pouring in 20 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. Marcus Santos-Silva scored 10 points in his 20 minutes of play. The Rams struggled to shoot the ball from the field only shooting 38.5% from the field, their lowest of the season. VCU coming into to today shot 39.5% from behind the arc, but only managed to shoot 27.3% against the Pirates.
The Pirates have now won 8 of their first 9 games the best 9 game start since the 2014-15 season. The Pirates have now had three significant wins in a row and this was something that Coach Kevin Willard wanted when scheduling games. Willard had this to say about the non-conference slate: “I think the schedule's been tough. It really has…the teams we are playing are all a lot like us… Even our next two this week. I'm dreading these two next week, Saint Peter's and Rutgers, because I feel like every team we've played has been a hard, tough-nosed defensive team.” The Pirates have four more non-conference games before heading into Big East play against Creighton.
Next up for the Pirates will be Saint Peter’s on Tuesday, Dec. 12. The game will be played inside Walsh Gymnasium, where Seton Hall plays once a year.
Dagen Hughes can be reached at dagen.hughes@student.shu.edu
