Pirates Drop Evening Matchup to DePaul, 74-57

Published: Sunday, February 2, 2025

by Lauren Reese

CHICAGO, ILL. - The Seton Hall Pirates (6-16, 1-10) dropped their sixth game in a row against the DePaul Blue Demons (12-12, 3-10), 74-57. From the get-go, the Pirates knew they would need contributions from a variety of players, as both Dylan Addae-Wusu and Chaunce Jenkins were listed as out. 

However, their offensive production was abysmal. The Pirates shot a weak 38% from the field, paired with just 33% from beyond the arc. Despite Isaiah Coleman finding his offensive footing, gathering 18 points, he was the only Pirate to reach double digits. The Hall forced DePaul into more turnovers (20-11), but were outrebounded (40-27).

Meanwhile, the Blue Demons were finding nothing but success in the bucket-scoring department. They were a whopping 55% from the field and 41% from three, both percentages higher than their typical season averages. The leader of their night was NJ Benson, as the Missouri State transfer tore up the court and did whatever he wanted with the ball; he had a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds, alongside two dunks to seriously solidify his dominance.

Following suit behind Benson was CJ Gunn, who continued his streak of double-digit scoring performances. In his eighth game of success, he scored 16 points and grabbed seven boards. Layden Blocker was the facilitator behind plenty of DePaul’s success. The sophomore had a dunk of his own alongside seven points, seven assists, and seven rebounds. 

The Pirates went down quickly, as DePaul soared with a 12-0 run to start the game. After a couple of Blue Demons free throws, Scotty Middleton, Coleman, and Jahseem Felton locked in to kickstart the Pirates’ offense. DePaul pursued another run, with Jacob Meyer, Benson, Blocker, and Gunn sharing offensive control. 

Garvey Dual and Coleman continued to press for points, keeping the Pirates close for the remainder of the half. Scotty Middleton came out of the game with an injury and didn’t return for the remainder of the matchup. DePaul still went into the break up 38-29, ending the first-half action on a 9-3 run. 

But the second half wasn’t much of a pretty start; just five minutes in, Benson and Blocker had back-to-back dunks, created by four Seton Hall turnovers in three minutes. Their offense continued on relentlessly, while the Pirates didn’t score another bucket for three and a half minutes; Prince Aligbe ended the drought with a dunk of his own. 

A small amount of hope remained at large though, as Seton Hall then held DePaul scoreless for almost three minutes, with a 9-0 scoring run spearheaded by Aligbe, Coleman, and Yacine Toumi. DePaul were able to work themselves out of their drought, going on another 9-3 run to push their lead to 20. The remainder of the game saw a solid effort from the Pirates, but nothing as substantial of a performance as the home team executed. 

DePaul took the win over Seton Hall 74-37, and now both teams sit 10th and 11th, respectively, in the conference standings. The Blue Demons will look ahead to their matchup on Wednesday, Feb. 5 vs Villanova, while the Pirates turn to face the Butler Bulldogs that same day. 

Lauren Reese is an Assistant Sports Director and can be reached at lauren.reese@student.shu.edu. 

 

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