Pirates Handle Bulldogs At The Rock, 76-51

Newark, NJ – The Seton Hall men’s basketball team led wire-to-wire and returned to the win column in convincing fashion on Saturday night as the Pirates soundly defeated Butler, 76-51, at the Prudential Center.

The Pirates (9-8, 2-4 BIG EAST) shot 53 percent from the field and held Butler to 27 percent shooting (15-of-56).

Senior Tyrese Samuel (Montreal, Quebec) finished with a game-high 19 points and pulled down seven rebounds while a junior Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, NY) nearly posted a triple-double with 11 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. Senior Tray Jackson (Detroit, Mich.) chipped in 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 shooting from three-point land.

How It Happened

Samuel scored the Pirates’ first seven points and a dunk by a graduate student KC Ndefo (Elmont, NY) gave Seton Hall an early seven-point lead, 9-2. A Butler jumper with 13:42 to play in the first half made it a four-point game, 11-7, before The Hall expanded its lead thanks to an 11-2 spurt that pushed its advantage to 14, 25-11.

One-of-two free throws, a defensive stop and a jumper cut the Bulldogs’ deficit to 10 with under four minutes to play before halftime when Jackson caught fire. He went on an 8-0 run of his own to close the stanza and it gave Seton Hall a commanding 41-23 lead.

Butler started off the second half with a dunk but it would be the closest it would get the rest of the way. Ndefo responded on the Pirates’ next possession when he converted a traditional three-point play on a layup and made a free throw. Seton Hall’s largest lead of the game was 28, 73-45, following two made free throws by junior Dre Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.).

Inside The Numbers

• Seton Hall shot 53 percent from the field (29-of-55) and held Butler to 27 percent shooting (15-of-56).
• The Pirates defense held the Bulldogs to 19 percent shooting from beyond the arc (4-of-21) while The Hall shot an efficient 44 percent (7-of-16) from deep.
• Seton Hall tallied 17 assists and committed 12 turnovers while forcing 14 Butler miscues.
• The Pirates finished plus-one on the glass, 37-36.
• Butler finished with more opportunities at the free throw line, going 17-of-24 from the stripe compared to the Pirates’ 11-of-19 performance from the line.
• Dawes finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field.
• Odukale chipped in with three points, three assists and had a game-high plus-24 plus/minus.

News & Notes

• Seton Hall is now 11-10 all-time against Butler.
• The Pirates’ 25-point win over the Bulldogs marked their largest margin of victory in the series.
• Seton Hall’s 18-point halftime lead was one point shy of its largest halftime lead of the season.
• The Pirates moved to 9-1 this season when they held their opponents to under 70 points.
• This is the eighth time this season that Seton Hall has held its opponent to 60 points or less.
• The Pirates improve to 6-2 this season at Prudential Center and 78-59 all-time (.569) against BIG EAST competition.
• This marks the first time in program history that Seton Hall has registered its first two BIG EAST victories by 20-plus points.
• Seton Hall has shot above 50 percent in both of its BIG EAST wins this season.
• Graduate student KC Ndefo (Elmont, NY) now has an NCAA-best 348 career blocks.
• Tonight marked Jackson’s fourth career perfect performance from three-point range with a minimum of three attempts.
• Richmond’s nine assists was a season best and was one shy of tying his career high.

Up Next

Seton Hall will next travel to Georgetown for a Tuesday night showdown against the Hoyas at 8:30 pm on FS1. Fans can listen to the action on the Seton Hall Basketball Radio Network that can be heard on the SHU Pirates mobile app, the Varsity network and SiriusXM.