Seton Hall University
Rutgers
MVP Whitehead Leads Hall to Rutgers Rout
12/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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NEWARK, N.J. - Freshman Isaiah Whitehead (Brooklyn, N.Y.) exploded for a career-high 25 points on Saturday, helping the Pirates claim the first-ever Garden State Hardwood Classic with what was a dominant 81-54 victory over in-state rival Rutgers at the Prudential Center.
The Hall improved to 7-0 with the win and the margin of victory was just one shy of the largest in the 66 meetings between the two programs. SHU scored a 109-81 victory over the Scarlet Knights on December 13, 1986.
Whitehead was named the Joe Calabrese Most Valuable Player after leading four Pirates in double-figures with his most prolific scoring effort to date which came on the strength of 9-for-15 shooting. The Preseason BIG EAST Rookie of the Year has now scored at least 10 points in four consecutive outings - a span in which he has averaged 17.5 per game - and added four rebounds, three steals and five assists with no turnovers in just 21 minutes of action.
Fellow newcomer Angel Delgado (Bajos De Haina, Dominican Republic) continued to anchor the Pirates' efforts down low, connecting on all four of his field goals and collecting his third double-double in seven career appearances; totaling 10 points and 13 boards. The BIG EAST co-leader in rebounds, Delgado has led Seton Hall on the glass in every game this season.
In search of their fourth-straight road win in the series, Rutgers (4-4) jumped out to a 6-2 lead but The Hall quickly responded with an extended run that would put them ahead for good. Behind Whitehead who scored or assisted on 13 of the team's first 17 points, Seton Hall rallied to build a 15-8 edge as Desi Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y.) finished with a put-back at the 13:50 mark.
A tip-in by Kadeem Jack capped a brief spurt of four unanswered points for the visitors but Whitehead connected on a jumper on the ensuing possession, igniting a stretch in which SHU out-scored Rutgers 18-to-2 in a four-minute span. The surge was powered by a high-pressure defensive effort that forced the Scarlet Knights into miscues, and on the afternoon the Pirates recorded 27 points off 16 RU giveaways.
A triple by Whitehead gave the blue & white their first 20-point lead at 38-17 with 7:42 remaining in the half, a threshold the margin would only dip below for 2:35 the rest of the way. The final bucket of the period came as junior Sterling Gibbs (Scotch Plains, N.J.) finished through contact on the break, pushing Seton Hall's fastbreak point total to 15 against just two for Rutgers in the half.
Seton Hall shot a blistering 60.6 percent in the opening frame (20-for-33), taking a 47-25 lead into the break. Combined with their second half performance in Tuesday's win over Mount Saint Mary's, SHU converted on 64.8 percent of its field goals (35-of-54) over 40 minutes of basketball.
Rutgers pushed back out of the locker room with the first eight points of the second half but The Hall got baskets from Whitehead, Delgado, Gibbs and Jaren Sina (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) in the 11-0 run that followed to quell the threat. Head coach Kevin Willard's squad extended the lead to as many as 31 three times down the stretch, en route to their most lopsided win of the year.
The decisive result was a departure from the norm in a series that has typically produced wire-to-wire contests as entering the day; 18 of the last 20 meetings between the squads had been decided by six points or less or reached overtime.
Gibbs finished with 11 points to reach double-figures for the seventh-straight game and dished out four assists while senior Brandon Mobley (Savannah, Ga.) added 12. Rodriguez snatched 11 rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench and Sina tallied nine points to go with four assists of his own.
Guards Myles Mack and Mike Williams each scored 15 points to pace Rutgers.
The Pirates' next test will come on the road against a nationally-ranked Wichita State squad that has won 35 of its last 36 regular season games entering Saturday and has not lost at home to a non-conference opponent since 2011. A live national telecast can be seen on ESPN2 with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The Seton Hall radio team of Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will cover the action for AM970 and the Pirate Sports Network on SHUPirates.com.
