The Seton Hall Pirates stormed back from a 17 point first half deficit to knock off the 15th ranked University of Connecticut Huskies Wednesday night at home at Prudential Center 67-66. This was the Pirates (12-8/5-4 Big East) first win over a ranked opponent this season, and it was the 5th loss in 6 games for the Huskies (15-5/4-5 BE) after starting the season 14-0. Kadary Richmond led the Pirates with a double-double of 18 points and a career high 10 rebounds while Adama Sanogo led the Huskies with 16 points.
This game was a tale of two halves as UConn jumped out to a big lead early while the Pirates struggled to score. Early in the first half there was a stretch where UConn failed to score for four minutes but still held a 17-9 lead after the first eight minutes of the game. The Huskies reeled off an 11-0 run later in the half to go up 34-19 with just under four minutes left in the first half. The Pirates shot a woeful 2/11 from three point range and 4/10 from the Free Throw line in the first half allowing the Huskies to go into halftime with a 14 point lead over the Pirates 40-26.
The second half flipped the script completely on its head, starting early at less than three minutes into the half when Al-Amir Dawes stole an errant pass and sped down the court for a layup at the other end to close the gap under 10 to 46-37. Dawes followed with a three pointer on the next trip down the floor to bring it to 48-40. A KC Ndefo dunk at the 14:17 mark closed out a 12-2 Pirates run to bring the score within 48-45. A few questionable calls led to Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway being called for a technical foul at the 11:47 mark which appeared to swing momentum back to the Huskies, but UConn missed two layups on the ensuing possession after the free throws. Richmond hit two free throws to bring the score within 1 at 50-49.
A Joey Calcaterra three pointer for the Huskies brought their lead back up to 7 at 58-51 with nine minutes left but that was the biggest lead the Huskies had for the remainder of the game. Jamir Harris nailed a three pointer for the Pirates to close the game to 60-57 with 7:28 remaining. Richmond hit a 15 foot jumper with 1:12 remaining to give the Pirates their first lead of the game at 65-64. Dawes committed a foul a few seconds later while UConn acting head coach Luke Murray was trying to call timeout, giving the Huskies a lucky break and Tristen Newton made both free throws to put the Huskies back up by 1. Both teams traded missed three pointers giving the Pirates the ball back down 1 coming out of a timeout with 15 seconds to go. Femi Odukale took a long three pointer which missed way short but fell into the hands of KC Ndefo under the basket who put the ball back in for the go ahead layup with 1.7 seconds left, drawing a foul from Sanogo on the play. Ndefo missed the ensuing free throw and Tyrese Samuel bobbled the rebound letting time expire to cement the 67-66 win for The Hall.
News and Notes:
Seton Hall has won 5 of their past 6 games after starting Big East play 0-3 to move up to 5th place in the Big East at 5-4 while UConn falls to 6th place at 4-5.
The Pirates are now 12-1 this season when they hold their opponent under 70 points.
The Huskie Whisperer: Kadary Richmond set a new career high in rebounds with 10, a year after he set his career high of 27 points against UConn on January 8, 2022.
UConn head coach Dan Hurley and Associate Head Coach Kimani Young missed the game after testing positive for Covid-19 yesterday and did not travel with the team. Assistants Luke Murray and Tom Moore filled in. Luke Murray is the son of actor Bill Murray, who before the pandemic was frequently seen at games Luke coached all over the country and had numerous friendly encounters with fans.
Next up for the Pirates is #20 Marquette at Prudential Center at 4pm on Saturday January 21. That game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. UConn plays Butler at home on Sunday.