Seton Hall University
25-9
[11] Gonzaga
27-7
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Pirates Fall to Gonzaga in NCAA First Round
3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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SETON HALL MEN'S BASKETBALL POSTSEASON RUN PRESENTED BY BARNABAS HEALTH
DENVER -- Making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 10 years after hoisting the BIG EAST Tournament trophy last week, the sixth-seeded Seton Hall Pirates came up short against West Coast Conference Tournament champion and 11-seed Gonzaga, 68-52, in first round action Thursday at Pepsi Center.
Sophomore Isaiah Whitehead (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and senior Derrick Gordon (Plainfield, N.J.) tied with a team-high 10 points for The Hall (25-9) while Whitehead also led all players with eight assists against only two turnovers in 36 minutes.
Sophomores Khadeen Carrington (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Desi Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y.) each added eight points; with Carrington matching a personal best with a game-high four steals as well. Classmate Ismael Sanogo (Newark, N.J.) hauled in a team-best nine boards while fellow sophomore Angel Delgado (Bajos De Haina, Dominican Republic) posted seven points and six rebounds.
Gonzaga (27-7) was powered by 21 points and 16 rebounds from forward Domantas Sabonis who scored or assisted on 13 of the team's 24 field goals. Kyle Wiltjer was the only other Bulldog in double-figures, scoring 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
Turning Point
The opening stanza developed into a back-and-forth affair but after Gordon knocked down a jumper at the 8:44 mark of the first half to give SHU a 21-20 edge, the Bulldogs rattled off a 22-6 run that extended past intermission.
After trailing by as many as 13 in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, the Pirates battled back and a Carrington layup with 6:51 to play cut the Gonzaga advantage to six at 54-48 but eight unanswered from the Bulldogs helped secure the win.
Derrick Gordon on his lone season as a Pirate:
"It's been great. Just like I said before, coming in, I didn't know what to expect...it's been an amazing year and I felt I finished off my career well."
Isaiah Whitehead reflecting on the championship season:
"...We had an amazing year, we won the BIG EAST championship. There aren't a lot of sophomores that have actually done that; to win a BIG EAST championship together...We had a great year. I can't really express how happy I am with the year we had."
Inside the Numbers
- Whitehead's eight assists matched the Seton Hall record in an NCAA tournament game set when Gerald Greene handed out eight helpers to help SHU past Duke and into the 1989 title game
- The Pirates forced Gonzaga into a season-high 20 turnovers as six members of the team recorded at least one steal led by four from Carrington
- Carrington's four steals were one shy of the program record in a single NCAA Tournament game. Arturas Karnisovas, who now serves as an Assistant General Manager for the Denver Nuggets, twice recorded five steals in a game at the Big Dance (vs. Pepperdine, 1991 / vs. Western Kentucky, 1993)
- The loss was the first for Seton Hall in 20 games this season that the team has held its opponent under 70 points
News & Notes
- Head coach Kevin Willard employed the all-sophomore starting lineup of Whitehead, Carrington, Rodriguez, Sanogo and Delgado for the 28th time this season
- Delgado started his 34th contest of the season, becoming just the second Pirate since 1992-93 to do so and cracking the all-time Seton Hall list by equaling the 10th-most individual starts in a single season
- Gonzaga advanced to the second round for the eighth-straight year. Both teams entered the game with 12 wins in their last 14 contests
- Seton Hall finishes with 25 victories; matching the program's third-highest total in 104 seasons. SHU's final records of 25-9 and 12-6 in BIG EAST play were the best the squad has posted since going 28-7 and 14-4 in conference games during the 1992-93 season that featured The Hall's most recent BIG EAST Tournament title prior to this year.
- SHU is now 15-10 all-time at the NCAA Tournament
