Sunday, January 22, 2017

Seton Hall 86, St. John's 73: 3 Thoughts

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

After one of the roughest road trips in recent memory for the Seton Hall Pirates, they came back home to face the St. John's Red Storm, and the effort was everything Seton Hall fans could have hoped for, as Angel Delgado completely dominated inside to the tune of 21 points and 20 rebounds en route to a well-rounded 86-73 victory at Prudential Center.

1. Delgado's Day

One of the best performances of the last decade and maybe more was turned in by future first team All-Big East post player Angel Delgado today, as he became just the 13th player in Big East history with a 20-20 game, the first since 2010 (the immortal Jamine Peterson), and the first-ever from Seton Hall in a conference game after the Pirates had both Hasheem Thabeet (2009) and Troy Murphy (2001) do it TO them. He joins such names as DeJuan Blair (who actually did it twice), Derrick Coleman, Jerome Lane ("SEND IT IN, JEROME!") and Ed Pinckney as players who have accomplished the feat.

No Pirate has had 20 rebounds in a game since Herb Pope in 2011, and according to Pirate records, only six players in program history had done it (all-timers Walter Dukes and Nick Werkman, along with Glenn Mosley, Arnie Ring, Eddie Griffin and Pope). If there was any doubt anyway, we are looking at the Big East's best big man. The Red Storm never had a chance.

2. Complete Team Game

Delgado wasn't alone, however. Seton Hall just out-classed St. John's in nearly all facets of the game- offense (53% shooting vs 42%), defense (45-33 rebounding edge, led by Delgado), ball movement (19 assists on 32 field goals for the Hall vs just 10 on 26 baskets for the Red Storm).

Individually, Myles Powell posted 19 points off the bench and looked pretty comfortable doing so. Khadeen Carrington had an off night shooting the ball, but dished out eight assists to go with 10 points. Desi Rodriguez and Michael Nzei also posted double digits in points, and if Ish Sanogo had two more, Seton Hall would have had six in double figures.

3. Just What the Doctor Ordered

In short, this is exactly what the Pirates needed. After a rough road swing that included Kevin Willard calling out his team's effort (or lack thereof) at Providence, a close loss at Marquette and a shellacking at Villanova, Seton Hall came home, against an out-manned St. John's team, and dominated the course of the game. Another tough game awaits on Wednesday, with Butler coming to town.

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