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Preview: Seton Hall to Honor Trey Jackson and Tyrese Samuel on Senior Night Versus Villanova

Date: February 28, 2023

By: Justin Nicosia

KC Ndefo with the floater over the Villanova defense.

Kayla Fonseca/WSOU

The Seton Hall Pirates (16-13, 9-9 CONF) will honor their seniors Tuesday night at Prudential Center in the home conclusion to their 2022-23 campaign.

The team announced that Trey Jackson and Tyrese Samuel will both be honored. Al-Amir Dawes is also an academic senior. Jamir Harris, KC Ndefo, Alexis Yetna, and Abdou Ndiaye were already honored at their respective senior nights last year.

With their hopes of snatching an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament having vanished, the Pirates’ only chance of getting into March Madness would be winning the BIG EAST’s automatic bid by winning the conference tournament.

They can earn some much-needed momentum when they take on the Villanova Wildcats (15-14, 9-9 CONF).

 

What’s At Stake

With Georgetown’s loss to Providence on Sunday, they have officially clinched the conference’s No. 11 seed, and will play whoever earns the No. 6 seed.

It just so happens that Seton Hall and Villanova are both tied for sixth in the BIG EAST standings, although the Wildcats currently have the head-to-head tiebreaker. If the Pirates beat Villanova and beat Providence on Saturday, they will be the No. 6 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament.

With the way BIG EAST tiebreakers work, they can also be the No. 6 seed if they lose to Providence as long as they beat Villanova and the Wildcats lose to UConn on Saturday. Anything else, and Villanova will clinch the No. 6 seed, leaving the Pirates with a first-round matchup against DePaul.

While Villanova is two games behind UConn for a first-round bye in the BIG EAST Tournament, they will not be able to surpass the Huskies even if they beat UConn on Saturday.

Their Feb. 7 victory over top-seeded Marquette would afford them the tiebreaker over Villanova, since the conference’s tiebreaker looks at how a team did against the top seeds during the regular season.

 

Players To Watch

The Pirates were without Kadary Richmond, who injured his back seven minutes into a Feb. 18 game against UConn in their 82-60 loss to Xavier. While the decision to sit him for that game was not made until hours before tipoff, it is still unclear whether or not Richmond is available Tuesday.

Not including the UConn game in which he left early, Richmond averages 12.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game during conference play.

Dawes is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 12.4 points per game with an impressive 39.2 percent three-point percentage.

Last time the two teams faced off, Samuel notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The Pirates will look for a repeat performance from their leading rebounder (5.7 RPG).

Villanova is led in points and rebounds by junior Eric Dixon (15.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG). While the 6-foot-8 forward can struggle defensively at times, he’s a force to be reckoned with inside the point.

Also in the frontcourt is freshman forward and potential-NBA lottery pick Cam Whitmore. In 22 games this year, Whitmore has averaged 12.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game with some good defense.

Justin Moore, who would have likely been the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year if he hadn’t torn his ACL in last year’s Final Four, also recently returned to Villanova’s lineup.

The 6-foot-4 shooting guard is averaging 12.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game, and while his efficiency hasn’t been there yet (he’s shooting 39.6 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from three), he has the ability to tear teams apart.

 

Keys to the Game

Seton Hall

1. Take Care of the Ball

Seton Hall is 5-1 when they turn the ball over less than a dozen times. They’re also 2-9 against Division I opponents when they have a negative turnover margin, with their only wins in those games coming against Wagner and St. Peter’s.

2. Force Villanova to Shoot

Villanova’s offense thrives off the inside game, and the Wildcats struggle from behind the arc – shooting just 33.2 percent on the season. Seton Hall’s three-point defense ranks 21st in the country, with opponents shooting just 30.3% from distance.

3. Avoid Foul Trouble

Ndefo and Samuel have both been getting into foul trouble in recent weeks. Not only will those two getting into foul trouble benefit a team with two great forwards like Villanova, but it will also get the nation’s best free throw shooting team (82.3 percent) easy points.

 

Villanova

1. Force Al-Amir Dawes inside

Dawes is by far Seton Hall’s best perimeter shooter. Villanova can’t afford to let him make three or four three-pointers, especially when Dawes can struggle with dribbling through traffic or finishing through contact.

2. Crash the Offensive Glass

Villanova has struggled rebounding the ball on the offensive end all year – their 22.8 percent offensive rebounding rate ranks 334th out of 363 Division I programs. If there were any game for them to get turnovers, though, this would be it – Seton Hall ranks ninth in the Big East, allowing opponents to rebound 30.6% of their misses.

3. Play Physical Interior Defense

Villanova may not get many blocks – their 1.6 blocks per game ranks 353rd in the country. But Seton Hall struggles at avoiding blocks – 12 percent of their shots get blocked, which ranks 350th in the country. One of these numbers has to give, and whichever side does give will have an advantage.

WSOU’s coverage of Tuesday night’s game between Seton Hall and Villanova will begin at 8:00 p.m. with Chris Kiely and Joe Walls in studio before John Makuch and Will Swankie call the game action at 8:30.

Justin Nicosia can be reached at justin.nicosia@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, Game Previews

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