Seton Hall 66, USF 49: Ray Floriani's Tempo-Free Analysis

Kevin Willard addresses media after Seton Hall defeated South Florida. (Photo courtesy of Ray Floriani)

Newark, NJ -­ Home for the holidays, Seton Hall headed to Christmas break on a positive note. The Pirates defeated South Florida of the American Athletic Conference 66­-49 at the Prudential Center on Tuesday. The numbers and notes:

Possessions: 62

Offensive Efficiency: South Florida 79, Seton Hall 107

Four Factors:
eFG%: South Florida 36, Seton Hall 48
Free Throw Rate: South Florida 40, Seton Hall 23
OREB %: South Florida 40, Seton Hall 39

Turnover Rate: South Florida 24, Seton Hall 13

What South Florida did well: Rebound and get to the line. Actually, both areas are interrelated. Hitting the offensive boards gives you second shots in opportune areas that often allow you to draw fouls. Luis Santos of the Bulls had a game-high five offensive rebounds.

What Seton Hall did well: Defend and force turnovers. Again, two areas that go hand in hand. The low offensive efficiency imposed on South Florida was due to solid field goal percentage defense and the forcing of 15 turnovers.

Scoring Leaders and Effectiveness Factors:
USF: Angel Nunez (19 points, EF 27)
Seton Hall: Angel Delgado (14 points, EF 24)

Veer Singh of Seton Hall came off the bench to score 12 points. He was the only other Pirate in double figures and the point production was courtesy of 4-for-6 shooting from downtown.

Delgado added a game-high 11 rebounds along with his team-high 14 points scoring. Isaiah Whitehead had 10 assists against just two turnovers. South Florida shot 21 free throws, but did not take advantage, hitting 11 for a paltry 52 percent clip. Seton hall assisted on 21 of 26 field goals, an 81 percent rate. Balance was also evident in a 36­-28 Pirate edge in points in the paint. Seton Hall only had eight turnovers, outstanding given the great job they did in sharing the ball.

Seton Hall improved to 10-­2, while South Florida fell to 3-­10.

Final Thought
“We do not shoot a lot of threes like a Villanova or Creighton, so our number of assists can often be misleading, but I like how we share the ball. We look for each other. We improved on cutting down turnovers, but that is something we talked about after Wichita State. I am really happy with the team. On Sunday after Wichita State, (win) the day before, we put in four hours' work. Yesterday, we put in double sessions. This team just wants to work and get better.”­ - Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard