The Big East Tournament takes center stage at Madison Square Garden and Seton Hall will look to be the first metropolitan area school to take home the Tournament crown since they did so back in 2016. The No. 7 Pirates will face the No. 10 DePaul Blue Demons to open the tournament on Wednesday.
DePaul Blue Demons (9-22) vs Seton Hall Pirates (17-14)
How to Watch:
- DATE: Wednesday, March 8th
- TIME: 5:30 p.m. ET
- CHANNEL: FS1
Tale of the Tape:
| DePaul | STAT | Seton Hall |
| 9-22 | Regular Season Record | 17-14 |
| 3-17 | Conference Record | 10-10 |
| 70.9 (7th in Big East) | Points Per Game | 68.6 (10th in Big East) |
| 77.3 (10th in Big East) | Points Allowed Per Game | 65.1 (2nd in Big East) |
| 100th | KenPom Adjusted Tempo | 216th |
| 145th | KenPom Off Ranking | 144th |
| 176th | KenPom DEF Ranking |
21st |
| 17th | KenPom Strength of Schedule |
19th |
DePaul leaders:
- Umoja Gibson, G: 15.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 4.6 APG, 1.9 SPG
- Javan Jones, F: 14.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.5 APG, 42.1% FG
Seton Hall leaders:
- Al-Amir Dawes, G: 12.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.1 SPG
- Tyrese Samuel, F: 10.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 0.8 APG, 55.5% FG
Preview:
After taking the Saint Peter’s Peacocks on a deep run in the NCAA Tournament last year, Seton Hall is hoping that Shaheen Holloway can do it again this year as their head coach. That starts on Wednesday in the Big East Tournament when they face the DePaul Blue Demons.
Seton Hall will try to build off the massive win they had in their regular season finale over No. 20 Providence in which they dominated their opponent in the lopsided victory. The win was made more impressive by the fact they did it with eight healthy guys in the rotation.
Halloway didn’t seem to be concerned that he had to get across to his team what was aheaad of for them first in the Big East and then possibly in the NCAA Tourney.
“Guys got to understand, this is March – this is what you live for,” Halloway told app.com. “You want to do well in March because this is how you make your name.”
He added: “You have to be super-focused, super together and understand this is a different type of event than probably any event you’ve ever played in.”
While the Pirates are hoping to ride the wave of their win over Providence, they’ve crawled to the finish line this year with one win in the previous five games before that. Seton Hall will likely have to play without injured point guard Kadary Richmond, but the offensive load had been picked up by junior guard and Brooklyn native, Femi Odukale.
Seton Hall has taken both games against DePaul this season, but both games have only seen the Pirates beat the Blue Demons by a slim margin.
