Pirates Take On Blue Demons in Windy City

Published: Sunday, February 2, 2025

by Lauren Reese

CHICAGO, ILL. - The Seton Hall Pirates (6-15, 1-9) take a trip to Chicago on Sunday to take on the DePaul Blue Demons (10-12, 1-10). Both teams sit at the bottom of the BIG EAST standings, 10th and 11th respectively, and are desperate to get back on the right footing.

In their most recent game, the Pirates almost played spoiler over Providence at The Rock, but fell 69-67. Seton Hall has now dropped six straight games, as well as lost four conference games by seven or fewer points. Despite shooting 37% from the field for the whole night, they shot 45% in the second half, as well as forced more Providence turnovers in total, which was evident in a second-half comeback attempt.

The leader of the pack was Prince Aligbe, who ended his night with another career-high performance. He gathered 19 points and four rebounds, and had a five-point run that put the Hall temporarily ahead by one. Standing at 6 foot 8, the utilization of Aligbe as a big man within a small-ball system utilized by Coach Holloway has had its promising looks throughout the season, and could arguably be the way the Pirates go forward.

Alongside him in the production department was Garwey Dual, who has also been finding his groove both fascilitating and scoring as of late. The Providence transfer himself finished with a Seton Hall-best 13 points, four assists, and three steals. After only scoring in double digits once in 17 previous games, within his performance against his former school, as well as the Hall’s previous game vs Creighton, he has back-to-back double-digit scoring performances. 

Meanwhile, over in Illinois, the Blue Demons are coming off a tough loss to the #25 UConn Huskies. The matchup ended up being much closer than initially thought to be; at halftime, DePaul were up 37-29, marking their largest-ever lead over the Huskies. While they eventually fell 72-61, there was still plenty to be proud of; they held the defending national champs to just 2-13 from three in the first half, as well as outrebounded them 33-31.  

Layden Blocker registered a game-high 18 points, five rebounds, and two assists. The Arkansas transfer has scored over 14 points in four of their last five games, and has looked threatening in all aspects of his game. CJ Gunn, who is currently second on the team in scoring with 11.9 PPG, scored 14 points. He currently is on a seven-game streak of 10 or more points in his performance. 

The last time these two teams played was not too long ago, on Jan. 8, but the significance of the match remains quite important. Seton Hall took the win in overtime 85-80, thanks to a monstrous comeback headed by Isaiah Coleman and Dylan Addae-Wusu. However, that win has been the Pirates’ only conference victory so far. Additionally in that game, the Pirates were down 41-26 at halftime to a Blue Demons team that was without a BIG EAST win for about 700 days. They cannot let a deficit of that margin happen at any time in this game. 

In Chicago, the Pirates only lead the all-time series 9-7, with six of their last eight matchups being decided by five or fewer points. For the Hall to win this one, they’re going to need their returners to step up in production just as their new additions have. If Coleman and Addae-Wusu can chip in double-digit scoring, paired alongside the numbers repeatedly shown by Aligbe and Dual as of late, the Pirates could produce a well-rounded effort on all sides of the ball. 

As it was described this way just a month ago, this matchup could once again set both teams on something of the right track amidst tough times. You can hear the action on WSOU 89.5 FM, where Bobby Steiner and Brian Henderson will have the call. Tipoff is at 6:00 P.M., with WSOU’s pregame coverage with Joe Morales and Jack Pine beginning at 6:30 P.M. 

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

 

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