The Hall's Challenging Road Stretch Ends In Defeat

Tuesday, January 15

Providence, R.I.

6:30 p.m.

Seton Hall University

12-6, 3-3BE

Providence

11-6, 1-3BE

Seton Hall

Providence

1/15/2019 9:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX (PDF)

PROVIDENCE - Junior Quincy McKnight (Bridgeport, Conn.) scored a team-high 16 points, and two Seton Hall men's basketball players nearly produced double-doubles, but the Pirates committed 22 turnovers against Providence, and the Friars capitalized to pull away with a 72-63 win Tuesday night at Dunkin' Donuts Center.

Seton Hall, which opened league play with road contests in four of the first six, is now 3-3 in the BIG EAST and 12-6 overall. Providence won its first conference game of the year to improve to 1-3 and 11-6 overall.

McKnight was 6-for-14 from the field and also issued four assists. Sophomore Myles Cale (Middletown, Del.) had nine points and eight rebounds, and senior Michael Nzei (Makurdi, Nigeria) had 10 points and eight rebounds.

David Duke led the Friars with 18 points.

Turning Point
Seton Hall took an early 12-4 lead and took a three-point lead into halftime before Providence soared into the lead with a 17-5 run to go up eight, 47-39.

The Pirates immediately responded with a 10-2 run with threes from Cale and McKnight, a huge and-one from McKnight that tied the score up at 49-49 with 9:05 to go in the game.

Providence though was up to the task, coming down on the next possession to hit a bucket, force a Pirates turnover and then hit a three to immediately reclaim a five-point advantage.

The Hall would only get as close as three the rest of the game while committing five of its 22 turnovers in the final 8:28.

Inside the Numbers

Seton Hall shot 41.8 percent (23-for-55) overall, 31.3 percent (5-for-16) from three and made all 12 of its free throw attempts. The Friars shot 41.4 percent overall (24-for-58), 35 percent from three (7-for-20) and 65.4 percent from the charity stripe (17-for-26).
Seton Hall's 22 turnovers were a season high and abnormal for a team that was averaging only 11.6 turnovers per game coming into Tuesday. The Friars turned those 22 turnovers into 23 points.
Seton Hall out-rebounded Providence, 39-34, but the Friars had a distinct second chance point advantage, 12-4, and points in the paint were even 28-28.
McKnight finished with a team-high 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting and had four assists.
Nzei and Cale narrowly missed double-doubles, each finishing with eight rebounds. Nzei had 10 points, and Cale had nine.
Junior Myles Powell (Trenton, N.J.) scored 12 points for 20th consecutive game in double figures and 63rd of his career.
Sophomore Taurean Thompson (New York, N.Y.) made three of his four shot attempts and finished with eight points.

News & Notes

The defeat snapped Seton Hall's three-game winning streak over the Friars and dropped to 51-53 in this close all-time series.
The Pirates missed an opportunity to win their earliest second BIG EAST road game in history. The earliest they've ever gotten to two league wins (by date) is Jan. 16.
The Hall finished a stretch of four road games in five that spanned 13 days.

Up Next
Seton Hall and DePaul will reacquaint themselves with each other with a second encounter 12 days after the first, Saturday night at Prudential Center at 8 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on FS1, and Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin will have the radio call on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on Sirius 111, XM 201 and the Pirate Sports Network.

Tickets to Saturday night's game are available at SHUPirates.com/SHUvsDPU.