Seton Hall takes down Miami to win Wooden Legacy Title

The Seton Hall Pirates went without a field goal for the final 4:48 of the game. They missed their last six attempts from the field and eight of their last nine. And yet, the Pirates still managed to secure the Wooden Legacy Tournament Championship. Seton Hall defeated the Miami (FL) Hurricanes 83-81 on Sunday night to earn the Feast Week Title, improving to 4-2 on the season in the process.

You won’t see this game as an instant classic anytime soon, but victories are victories, as they say. The Pirates will be happy to go home with a three-game win streak under their belts and a huge quality win against a strong opponent as well.

While Seton Hall bricked damn near everything they put up, Miami wasn’t exactly impressive, either. They went the final 3:23 without a field goal and only had one made shot in the final 5:05 of the game. A layup by Anthony Lawrence II at the 5:05 mark would be the penultimate bucket for the ‘Canes, and Chris Lykes’ 3-pointer at the 3:23 mark was the final shot The U would make all game.

Michael Nzei stepped up to score 21 points, a game-high mark for both sides. Nzei didn’t miss a single shot from the field, going 8-for-8, and went 5-for-7 from the free throw line for an outstanding performance. Myles Powell, meanwhile, had 17 points but was inefficient from the field. Powell’s 15 points came on 15 shots and 12 of them were 3-pointers, as he only was able to drain four of them. Quincy McKnight, meanwhile, scored 16 points, going 7-for-9 from the field, and had five assists and four boards for a good all-around performance.

The Hall had some solid contributions from Sandro Mamukelashvili, Jared Rhoden and Taurean Thompson in this game. The trio scored nine, eight and seven points respectively. Sandro had five boards and three assists and didn’t commit a single turnover in 30 minutes on the floor. Rhoden was 4-for-7 from the field, collected four boards and had just one turnover in 24 minutes. Taurean, meanwhile, had seven points in his 14 minutes of action.

Miami went seven deep in this game and had four players finish in double figures. Lykes and Zach Johnson scored 18 points apiece while Lawrence finished with 17. Ebuka Izundu, elsewhere, had 11 points. Dejan Vasiljevic had eight himself, but they couldn’t get much elsewhere. Sam Waardenburg and Deng Gak had just nine combined points in the game.

Up next for Seton Hall after this title-winning performance will be the Louisville Cardinals. The Cardinals and former Xavier Musketeers head coach Chris Mack will come to Newark on Saturday afternoon at Noon ET.