The Pirates look for a bounce-back win after last second loss in Round 1
TV, Times, and Lines:
TV: FS1
Date: Wednesday, November 24
Time: 6:00 p.m. EST
Spread: Seton Hall -11.5
Total: O/U 130.5
After being ranked 21st in the country in the latest AP poll, Seton Hall faced off against Ohio State Monday night. According to Vegas, Seton Hall was the favorite to win this game, but beating two Big Ten teams originally ranked in the top 20 of the preseason AP poll is still a daunting task. Despite losing, there is a lot to look forward to for Seton Hall fans.
On Monday, senior Jared Rhoden had a career high scoring night, chalking up 29 of the team’s 76 total points. Rhoden made his first All-Big East Tournament team last year and was sixth in the Big East in scoring. The 6’0” guard out of Baldwin, New York has steadily improved his workload in each of his four seasons for the Pirates, and has now become their number one guy. On top of leading the team in scoring, the senior also leads the team in rebounds with 6.7 per game. Another name to look for when watching this Seton Hall team is guard Bryce Aiken. He is a fifth year redshirt senior, playing in his second year for the Pirates after he played three seasons with Harvard and then redshirted a fourth. The once All-Ivy League player has now stepped up into a major role for Seton Hall. Aiken and Rhoden have combined for 39.2% of the Pirates’ points per game to start the season. This backcourt duo will be one to look out for not only in this game, but throughout the entire year.
As for Seton Hall’s defensive end, the Pirates have a defensive rating of 82.0 which ranks 31st in the country. At 7’2”, 260 lbs, senior Ike Obiagu has established himself as a huge presence in the paint. After being ranked in the 2017 RSCI top 100 coming out of high school, Obiagu played at Florida State for his freshman year before then transferring to Seton Hall, where he has played his last three years. He has been dominant down low this year averaging 3.8 blocks per game, ranking 8th in the nation.
On the other side, Cal looks to get back into the win column as well. Unlike Seton Hall’s loss, the Golden Bears were blown out Monday night against No. 23 Florida. This has been a disappointing 2-3 start to the season for 3rd year Cal head coach Mark Fox, but a big win against a ranked Seton Hall team could be the spark needed to turn the team around. That would require a big game from senior Andre Kelley who is averaging 15.2 ppg. In two of the three games Cal has lost, Kelley has been held to single digit points. To beat one of the top teams in the Big East, the 6’8” forward needs to have a performance similar to his 29 point game against Southern Utah earlier this season.
This could very well be a double digit bounce-back win for Seton Hall after being beat by a last second three against Ohio State. The Pirates are on track to a split their two game trip to Fort Myers, and improve their record to 4-1 before coming home to South Orange.