Newark, NJ—-After losing to Creighton last Tuesday night 83-61, Seton Hall needed a home cook meal and box of chill pills. When the Pirates are home they play with heart and look like a top contender in the Big East.
Of the 20 all-time meetings between the Pirates and Butler, 17 contests have been decided by single digits, including all nine meetings at the Prudential Center.
Butler is 10-0 this season when they are leading at the break and when they score more than 70 points in a game. Contrastly, when the Pirates hold their opponents under 70, they are 8-1.
The Hall defended the perimeter well which the Bulldogs had a difficult time shooting over their length in the first half and carried over into the second.
Tyrese Samuel led the way for the Pirates with 19 points and seven boards. Tray Jackson came off the benched chipped in 15 points with two rebounds. Al-Amir Dawes gave Butler fits with his dribble drive penetration finished the contest with 12.
Seton Hall (9-8, 2-4 Big East) beat Butler (10-7, 3-3 Big East) 76-51 on Saturday in front of 9,033 at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. The first five minutes of the game set the tone for the Pirates. The intensity level that they came out of tunnel with was off the hook.
With the win, SHU now lead the series 11-10 and have won the last three games.
The Pirates set the tone early with a 7-0 spurt, got up 11-4. SHU were able to use some slip screens to feed Samuel down low for easy buckets. Samuel had is way around the cup, with him doing work down low, Seton Hall was able to build a 25-11 lead at the 9:38 mark in the first half.
The Hall went on another run 11-0 just before the break which gave them a 41-23 advantage going into the locker room with Samuel leading the charge with 15 points and five boards.
In the first half, the Pirates shot 56.3% (18-32) from the floor and 44.4% (4-9) from beyond the arc. SHU controlled the paint in that half scoring 26 points on the blocks and played great defense that forced the Bulldogs to take a lot of ill-advised shots.
Butler shot 33.3% (9-27) from the hardwood and a dismal 25.0% (2-8) from downtown in the first half, the Butler’s poor shooting was partly due all match up zone pressure on their guards and their inability to run their offensive sets.
In the second half, the Pirates went into warp speed, Butler never got closer than 19 points in the second half.
Jayden Taylor scored 14 points and six boards for the Bulldogs. Manny Bates chipped in 11 points with four rebounds.
At the 2:44 mark, Seton Hall led 74-48 and cruised the rest of the way.
The Pirates are now 6-2 at the Prudential Center this season and their average margin of victory in Newark is 26 points.
Up Next:
Seton Hall will head on the road to face Georgetown on Tuesday, Jan 10th for an 8:30 P.M showdown on FS1.
Butler plays home to No. 22 Xavier on Tuesday.
