Seton Hall 107, DePaul 87: Ray Floriani's Tempo-Free Analysis

The fabulous Seton Hall dance team, the Sapphires. (Photo courtesy of Ray Floriani)

South Orange, NJ - The 107-87 victory posted by Seton Hall over DePaul on Sunday was significant on a few fronts. It was a single game record for the Seton Hall women. It also gave the Pirates first place in the Big East. It was the type game with a number of statistical worthy of a closer look. The pace and efficiency:

Possessions: Seton Hall 89, DePaul 88

Offensive efficiency: Seton Hall 120, DePaul 99

The Four Factors:

EFG: DePaul 47, Seton Hall  63

FT Rate: DePaul 21, Seton Hall 44

OREB Pct.: DePaul 24, Seton Hall 44

TO Rate: DePaul 14, Seton Hall 23

What DePaul did well: Force turnovers and care for the ball. Normally, a team that takes good care of the ball and does not turn it over frequently, Seton Hall was guilty of 20 turnovers and a 23% rate. The Blue Demons capitalized with a 21-13 edge in points off turnovers. On offense, Doug Bruno’s club showed an admirable 14% TO rate.

What Seton Hall did well: Shoot the ball well, from in close and downtown. The eFG rate of 63% was largely due to a white hot 11 of 21 (52%) from beyond the arc. In the paint, the Pirates outscored DePaul 50-24. 

Leading scorers: 

DePaul, Megan Podkowa (18 points)

Seton Hall, Tabatha Richardson-Smith (35 points)

Efficiency leaders: 

DePaul, Megan Podkowa  (25)

Seton Hall, Tabatha Richardson-Smith (39)

Ka-Deidre Simmons of Seton Hall had a 34 efficiency, a line including 28 points, 11 assists and only 4 turnovers were largely contributing numbers. Chanise Jenkins of DePaul had an 18 efficiency. Her five steals and six assists were highlights. The six turnovers, not as much. 

All around, Richardson-Smith’s performance included 6-of-12 shooting from three and a game high 15 rebounds, which included another game high, five on the offensive board.

Defense. This is why tempo-free is so valuable. Seton Hall gave up 87 points and still did a decent job on the defensive end. Check the efficiency. DePaul had a 99 on offense. A 100 is the cutoff. You want your offense to break the century mark and defense to keep opponents under it. Mission accomplished for Tony Bozzella’s group.

Brittany Hrynko took almost 25 percent of DePaul’s 81 shots. Hrynko scored 11 on the game, but the fine senior guard for the Blue Demons had a subpar 4-of-20 shooting from the field.

DePaul is 13-6, and 5-2 in the Big East. Seton Hall is now 17-2 and 6-1 in the Big East.