It was a rough start and a sloppy finish for the Seton Hall Pirates, but they triumphed over DePaul this past Sunday. Seton Hall maintains their momentum with a 69-64 score. They have now won seven of their last eight games. Meanwhile, the DePaul Blue Demons are on a five-game losing streak and are 10th in the Big East.
Photo Credit: AP Photos/Noah K. Murray
It was a slow start for the Pirates as they started the game down 15-2 without scoring a single field goal in the first nine minutes. Tray Jackson scored the first Seton Hall basket with an emphatic dunk that drew some noise from the home crowd. The Pirates shook off the rough start and followed it up with an 18-4 run that brought them back into the game. By halftime, they led the Blue Demons 26-22.
The second half told a different story as Seton Hall maintained a lead from start to finish. The Pirates had a comfortable lead as they were up 48-31 in the middle of the second half, but DePaul refused to go away. Umoja Gibson kept the Blue Demons in the game with his 21 points as he scored several baskets in the last five minutes. Both teams also fell into foul trouble. Key players such as Tyrese Samuel fouled out late in the game.
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The keys to Seton Hall’s victory were their defense and ability to get to the free-throw line. Seton Hall has the top-scoring defense in the Big East, holding opponents to 64 points per game. The Pirates held the Blue Demons to 24 percent shooting from deep (5-of-21).
They held the Blue Demons to 64 points and a 40% overall field goal percentage. The Pirates also had 45 free throw attempts, and the Blue Demons had 15. Nevertheless, Seton Hall still struggled by shooting 67% on free throws and missing several attempts that almost allowed DePaul to make a comeback.
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Kadary Richmond and Tyrese Samuel led the team in scoring with 14 points each. After his double-double on Wednesday, Kadary filled the stat sheet again. He added four assists and six rebounds along with his scoring on Sunday.
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Al-Amir Dawes finished with 12 points, while KC Ndefo had 13 points. Overall, the biggest takeaway for Seton Hall is that they need to find more ways to score besides free throws. They shot a below-average 35% from the field and 21% on three-pointers, which they cannot afford to do in their pursuit of the NCAA tournament.
