WSOU

Preview: No. 16 Xavier Visits The Rock in Must-Win Game for The Hall

Date: February 24, 2023

By: Jonathan Heite

Kadary Richmond cutting to the basket.

Kayla Fonseca/WSOU

If there was ever a must-win game for the Seton Hall men’s basketball team, Friday night fits the bill.

The Pirates (16-12, 9-8 CONF) will host the No. 16 Xavier Musketeers (20-8, 12-5 CONF) at The Rock, with both teams coming off of tough losses during the past week.

Last Saturday, Seton Hall fell to the UConn Huskies at the Gampel Pavilion, 64-55, in a game where star point guard Kadary Richmond left the court seven minutes in due to injury. Al-Amir Dawes and Tyrese Samuel led the way with 16 points each, and the Pirates cut the Huskies’ lead to six with 1:19 remaining, but UConn was able to hold on and secure the victory.

Xavier is coming off a tightly contested 64-63 loss to Villanova at home this past Tuesday, in a matchup where the Musketeers scored four unanswered towards the end of the game and couldn’t capitalize in the final seconds.

Souley Boum finished with a team-high 17 points, including 12 in the first half, Jerome Hunter scored 14, and Jack Nunge ended with a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double (ninth of the season).

In the Villanova loss, Xavier only had seven players, with some of the team’s top stars out because of injury. Zach Freemantle (foot) is expected to miss Friday’s showdown for the seventh straight game, and the long-time center currently leads the Musketeers in rebounding and is second on the squad in scoring.

Seton Hall can utilize their depth against a team they lost to back in December (73-70), which also was a solid defensive performance against one of the best teams in the BIG EAST.

The Pirates outshot Xavier 46 to 45 percent from the field, and Richmond dropped 17 points and five assists. Samuel also tallied 14 points and six boards, and Seton Hall held Xavier to 25 percent from three. At the time, the Musketeers were the third-best three-point shooting team in the nation.

Because of the UConn loss, the Pirates are essentially in win-out territory to have a chance at the NCAA Tournament. The road only gets tougher for Seton Hall, as they’ll face Villanova on Senior Night next Tuesday, and the season ends on the road at Providence on March 4.

But for now, Seton Hall needs to take care of business at home against the current No. 2 seed in the conference, and you can hear how it all plays out on WSOU 89.5 FM. Joe Matthews and Wilnir Louis will have the call from the Prudential Center, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.

Jonathan Heite is an Assistant Sports Director for WSOU Sports and can be reached at jonathan.heite@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, Men's Basketball, Game Previews

Seton Hall

Seton Hall

Merchandise

wsou store