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Game Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Live Stream: Fox Sports GO
Odds: Seton Hall is a 30-point favorite via OddsShark.
The Seton Hall Pirates tipped off the 2016-17 season with a 91-70 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson. The Hall had to fight off the pesky Knights who, at the start of the game, gave them some fits. Eventually though the Pirates would pull away after a 58-point second half effort helped vault them to the top.
Now the Pirates will head to the Prudential Center for the first time this season. ‘The Rock’ will play host to a Sunday afternoon affair between Seton Hall and the Central Connecticut Blue Devils. On a day where the Pirates will be raising their 2016 Big East Tournament title banner, coach Kevin Willard and his team will hope to etch their second tally in the win column and avoid what would be, in layman’s terms, a terrible loss to the team currently ranked 347th on KenPom.com.
We won’t go super in-depth here - it’s only the second game of the season and that doesn’t warrant the most expansive “here’s what they did last time but will need to improve this time” analysis. But the Pirates should certainly look to get off to a better start. Central Connecticut isn’t on the pedestal that the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights are on, so a comfortable victory is to be expected. If there is something that the Pirates did poorly in that they should clean up it was free throw shooting: They merely shot 48.1 percent in the victory Friday night on 27 attempts.
An area that Seton Hall should give Central Connecticut problems is down low. The Blue Devils’ tallest player is 6-foot-11 tall freshman Harrison Kay who didn’t get many minutes in their win over Hartford on Friday night. They’re trotting out players who are only listed at 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8, and against a Pirates team loaded with height down low this could cause problems from the jump. Angel Delgado could be primed for another big day after starting off the season with a double-double.
All told, a win should come Seton Hall’s way, especially so if Madison Jones and Khadeen Carrington lead the offense in an effective manner again. Time will of course tell, but the Pirates should be 2-0 by the time the afternoon’s over.