On Saturday, Mike Brey and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s basketball team played the role of giant slayer, taking down undefeated and then No. 1-ranked Syracuse 67-58. Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament hopes are hanging by a thread and the victory over the Orange was a much needed resume booster.
Now the Irish head out on the road and face another must-win situation as they take on Kevin Willard’s Seton Hall Pirates. Notre Dame is just 1-3 on the road this season, with its only win coming against No. 10 Louisville in early January. The Irish are 17-8 all-time against Seton Hall and have won eight of the last nine against the Pirates. Notre Dame is 6-6 when playing the Pirates on the road. Brey is 11-4 in his career against the Pirates.
After going 13-17 in Willard’s first season in South Orange, the Pirates have become one of the surprise teams in the Big East. Seton Hall comes into tonight’s matchup with a 15-4 record, 4-3 in the Big East. Willard’s club is ranked No. 7 in the RPI thanks to three wins over teams ranked in the Top 25 of the RPI. Seton Hall’s only non-conference loss was an 80-73 loss to Northwestern in the championship of the Charleston Classic. The Pirates beat 2010-2011 Final Four team Virginia Commonwealth in the first round of that tournament by a 69-54 score. Seton Hall also notched an impressive 81-59 victory over Auburn and a 68-54 home win over Wake Forest. The Pirates also traveled to Dayton and beat the Flyers 69-64.
Seton Hall got off to a rough start in Big East play, getting crushed on the road by Syracuse in the conference opener. Willard’s club responded by coming home and crushing West Virginia (67-48) and whipping Connecticut (75-63), two teams ranked in the Top 15 of the RIP. In its four conference wins the Pirates have outscored the opposition by 17.3 points. After beating DePaul by 21 the Pirates went on the road and lost a heartbreaker to South Florida (56-55) and dropped a road contest to Villanova.
On the season Seton Hall is 10-0 at home, including three wins in conference. Seton Hall ranks sixth in the Big East in scoring at 72.4 points per game thanks to its strong perimeter play. Seton Hall ranks first in the Big East in three-point percentage and second in the Big East with 7.5 made three-pointers per game. Seton Hall is equally as good at defending the three as it is at making the three, ranking second in the Big East in three-point defense, holding opponents to just 29.4-percent from behind the arc. The Pirates do a good job moving the basketball, ranking fifth in the Big East with 15.1 assists per game and rank No. 30 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio.
A road win over the Pirates would give Notre Dame back-to-back impressive resume building wins. One interesting matchup to watch in this game is the bench. Both Notre Dame and Seton Hall work with short benches and the Pirate bench has struggled of late.
2011-2012 SETON HALL PIRATES
HEAD COACH: Kevin Willard
ASSISTANTS: Shaheen Holloway, Chris Pompey, Dan McHale
2011-2012 RESULTS (15-4 / 4-3)
St. Francis W 75-71 OT
vs. VCU * W 69-54
vs. St. Joseph’s * W 78-70
vs. Northwestern * L 73-80
Yale W 73-62
St. Peter’s W 63-54
Auburn W 81-59
N.J.I.T. W 78-48
Wake Forest W 68-54
Mercer W 80-77 OT
at Dayton W 69-64
at Longwood W 87-61
at Syracuse L 49-75
West Virginia W 67-48
Connecticut W 75-63
at Providence W 66-57
DePaul W 94-73
at South Florida L 55-56
at Villanova L 76-84
* Charleston Classic
STARTING LINEUP:
G Jordan Theodore 6-0 Sr. 16.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 7.5 apg
G Aaron Cosby 6-3 Fr. 8.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.6 apg
G Fuquan Edwin 6-6 Soph. 14.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.1 spg
F Herb Pope 6-8 Sr. 16.7 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 1.8 bpg
F Patrick Auda 6-9 Soph. 7.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.3 apg
KEY RESERVES:
G Harolds Karlis 6-5 Fr. 3.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.8 apg
F Brandon Mobley 6-9 Fr. 4.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.3 apg
C Aaron Geramipoor 6-11 Soph. 1.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.4 bpg
BACKCOURT
Seton Hall is led by senior point guard Jordan Theodore, a player that has emerged as one of the best point guards in the country. Theodore ranks ninth in the Big East in scoring at 16.3 points per game. He leads the conference with 7.5 assists per game, good for a No. 4 national ranking. Theodore also lead the Big East with almost a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, good for a No. 12 national ranking. He excels on the defensive end of the court as well with 2.2 steals per game, fifth in the Big East. Swingman Fuquan Edwin leads the nation in steals at 3.1 per game, making the Pirates a strong perimeter defensive team. Edwin is having a strong season for the Pirates, averaging 14.3 points per game, 6.5 rebounds per game, and the sophomore is shooting 52.0-percent from the floor this season. The 6-foot-6 wing has also caught fire from behind the arc during Big East play, shooting 48.1-percent from three point territory in seven conference games. After scoring 52 combined points in wins over Providence and DePaul, Edwin has cooled off a bit and was held to just four points against South Florida and 14 against Villanova on just 5-of-16 shooting. Freshman Aaron Crosby (8.1 ppg) is a threat from behind the arc, ranking eighth in the Big east in three-pointers made per game.
FRONTCOURT
One of the biggest surprises in the conference has been the strong interior play of senior forward Herb Pope. The 6-foot-9 Pope is one of only two players in the Big East to average a double-double on the season. Pope is also one of two players to rank in the Top 10 in the Big East in both scoring and rebounding. He ranks seventh in the conference in scoring at 16.7 points per game and second in the conference with 10.5 boards per game. Pope also provides solid interior defense and has limited his fouls this season. He has struggled a bit in conference play, averaging just 10.6 points and 8.9 boards per game. Sophomore Patrick Auda has also struggled during Big East play, averaging just 4.9 points per game in conference play. He scored in double figures six times prior to conference play but has yet to reach double figures in conference games. Freshman forward Brandon Mobley missed the first nine games of the season but has provided solid interior play in conference games. Mobley scored 12 points in Seton Hall’s loss to Villanova, hitting all three of his three-point attempts in the game. 6-foot-11 sophomore Aaron Geramipoor provides length off the bench but little production.
