Know Your Opponent- Seton Hall

For their regular season finale, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats will welcome to town the Seton Hall Pirates. It’s Senior Day in The Shoe, but once the ball’s tossed for the tip off, here’s everything you need to know about the Seton Hall Pirates.

While the Bearcats (18-12, 8-9 in the Big East) have the ninth spot in the Big East wrapped up, a loss at home on Senor Day is the last thing these Bearcats want to deal with. Seton Hall (15-14, 6-11 in the Big East) will be playing for a .500 season and are looking for some momentum heading into Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament. The Pirates have lost their last two games and their last five of six overall after stringing together a streak of five Big East wins that dated from Jan. 25 to Feb. 10.

Seton Hall’s defense has been their problem as of late. In their last two games, home losses to Pittsburgh and Louisville, the Pirates allowed the Panthers and Cardinals to both shoot over 50 percent from the field. Seton Hall is allowing their opponents to put up 73.3 points per game this season, and that’s left them ranked 279th in the nationally in the category. The strong points of the Pirate’s defense are their ability to guard the three-point shot and take the ball away. Seton Hall is keeping their opponents to just 31.3 percent from beyond the arc, 17th best in the country. The Pirate’s 8.8 steals per game ranks them 20th in the country.

Offensively, Seton Hall hasn’t had too much trouble scoring the basketball this season. Though the do allow plenty of points, the Pirates can win in a shootout as they average nearly 75 points per game. Leading the Seton Hall charge is sophomore guard Jeremy Hazell. Hazell averages 22.6 points per game for the Pirates while shooting 35.9 percent from long range. Junior forward Robert Mitchell is next for Seton Hall, averaging 14.9 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game. Hazell’s partner in the backcourt, junior guard Eugene Harvey adds 12.5 points and a team-high 4.9 assists per game.

For the last time this regular season, the Bearcats will tip off in The Shoe at noon Saturday.