Seton Hall vs. #11 Wichita State recap: Pirates first half struggles lead to 77-68 loss to Shockers

Freshman Isaiah Whitehead kept the Pirates in the game early with 18 first half points, but turnovers really hindered The Hall as they could not get their offense going. Seton Hall committed 17 turnovers and most of them came in the first half. After the Blue and White took an early 13-8 lead, the Pirates were outscored 32-12 to end the half.

The offense went solely through Whitehead who knocked down tough three pointers to keep the Pirates in the game. However, the rest of the Pirates were not able to adjust to the hostile environment and looked shaky, especially in that opening half.

Senior Brandon Mobley looked like a freshman in this game as he constantly made silly mistakes and did not really get involved in the offense as he finished with just six points, four rebounds on 1-3 shooting.

After going scoreless in the first half, Sterling Gibbs had 19 points after halftime and came back to life late in the second, but it was too little too late. Gibbs really struggled in the first half with ball handling as well. "Stepback" committed five turnovers and many of them led to easy baskets for the Shockers. Those double digit turnovers in the first half ended up being the difference in the game.

Sophomore Jaren Sina looked the most apprehensive and nervous of all the Pirates as he finished with 0 points and missed all six of his field goal attempts. Chants of "air ball" followed Sina around all night after he completely missed the basket after his first three pointer. Sina also missed both of his free throws and could not get acclimated.

Angel Delgado had eight points and seven rebounds as he kept his solid rebounding going for The Hall. The Pirates were able to weather the storm, but by the time they got back into the game it was too far out of reach and the Shockers had a strangle hold on the contest.

For Wichita State (6-1), Ron Baker led the way with 22 points and was one of four Shockers in double figures.

Darius Carter had a breakout game as he finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds for Wichita State. The Shockers really fed off of the 10,000 plus fans in Wichita and they played a big role in this game.

For the Shockers, it was a just another win as they improve to 41-2 in their last 43 games. On the Seton Hall side of things, the Pirates were able to make this a single digit loss on the road in their toughest game of the season. In the end, it could help their resume when the committee sees that they fought hard their most difficult game of the schedule.

Regardless, it is the first loss for the Pirates this season and they will have to take the many lessons from this game back home to play St. Peter’s. Seton Hall will look to take their solid second half performance and use it to improve going forward.