big East vs Big 10 match-up
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PREVIEW: Seton Hall (7-1) at Penn State (3-4)
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The Seton Hall Pirates (7-1) travel to University Park, Pennsylvania this weekend to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions (3-4) at The Bryce Jordan Center. The Hall enters the game coming off an 85-75 victory over St. Peter’s on Tuesday night, while the Lions have not played since December 1st, a 79-67 setback at St. Joseph’s.
The game will be available on television via The Big Ten Network, located on channel 220 for DIRECTV users at 8PM on Saturday night.
Penn State is 3-0 at home, defeating St. Francis of PA (74-64), Canisius (93-40), and Virginia Tech (66-61). Seton Hall is 3-1 away from The Prudential Center, having defeated Navy, Virginia, and Princeton, while losing to St. Mary’s.
In the Pirates’ victory of St. Peter’s, the key frontcourt players took another colossal step forward in their development. Playing individually, 6’9” John Garcia (20 PTS, 15 REB) and 6’11” Mike Davis (6 PTS, 4 REB) provided SHU with 26 points and 19 rebounds in 37 minutes. It was the most dominating performance by one position in the paint in years for the Pirates. Six players ? Garcia and Davis, Jamar Nutter, Larry Davis, Jeremy Hazell, and Eugene Harvey ? pulled down at least 4 rebounds against SPC. Nutter and Laing each had 4 assists as well.
Penn State’s strength through 7 games has been their defense. Opponents are shooting just .409 (162/396) from the floor and .319 (44/138) from the arc, en route to 67.1 PPG. The Lions’ defense is also forcing an average of 16.7 TO per game, for a very good TO margin of +3.1 on the season. Of their 117 forced turnovers, 55 have been steals (7.9 per game).
Offensively the team shoots just .407 (188/462) and only .305 (54/177) from three. Their motion offense generates an average of 16 assists per game. For comparison, Penn State (66) and Seton Hall (67.
average nearly the exact amount of FGA per game, and SHU shoots at a better rate (.424), yet PSU still averages 3 assists per game more than The Hall. The motion style of PSU is also in stark contrast to The Hall’s in terms of FTA. Through 7 games, Penn State has taken 111 foul shots (.622) compared to 216 in 8 games for Seton Hall (.708).
* 6’5” Senior WF Geary Claxton dominates the ball in all scoring facets for Penn State. The offense’s ball movement usually ends up creating an opportunity for him to score. Claxton has taken a quarter of the team’s shots himself (51/114) and shoots .447 from the field for 19.1 PPG. His versatility also makes him PSU’s 2nd leading scorer from the arc, where he’s shot .394 (13/33) in addition to pulling down 8.1 rebounds per game. His vulnerability comes at the FT line where he shoots just .559 (19/34). He has also been called for 26 fouls in 7 games. Last year Claxton torched The Hall for 29 of PSU’s 59 points (11/15), and 11 rebounds in 32 minutes. In key spots, Brandon Walters' athetlicism and 5 fouls-to-give could come in hand late against Claxton.
* 6’5” Junior F Jamelle Cornley missed the first 2 games of the season, as well as the Lions’ last game at St. Joseph’s. But for the 3 in between, he provided 10 PPG and 6 RPG in just 21.8 MPG. Cornley has shot .531 from the field (17/32), and handed out 10 assists against just 6 turnovers.
* PSU's motion creates a lot of kick-back opportunities at for 3PT attempts (25/game). Accordingly, they anchor guards who take advantage of undisciplined defenders who simply chase the ball:
- 6’3” Junior G Danny Morrissey has been blistering from three point range this year. Morrissey has shot .417 (15/36) from the arc, and has not attempted a FT. In fact, he’s taken just 44 FGA all season, and 36 of them ? 82% - are three pointers.
- 6’2” Senior G Mike Walker shoots .353 from the arc and takes 69% of his shots from there(19/49 FG, 12/34 3PT).
Seton Hall has had trouble in spots this year staying with their man on the perimeter. Defending the off-ball movement is not only important against PSU in general, but against Morrissey and Walker in particular.
* PSU also gets key production from 5’11” Freshman G Talor Battle (26 MPG, 27 AST), 6’6” Sophomore DJ Jackson (18 MPG, 5.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG), and 6’9” Sophomore Andrew Jones (16 MPG, 5 PPG, 4.3 RPG). Jackson shot 5/6 for 12 points with 5 rebounds against SHU last season.
Overall, Head Coach Ed DeChellis has 10 players averaging over 16 MPG.
This is an important game for Seton Hall. In terms of resume building, it is not only their final road game before Big East play, but an opportunity to earn a pure road victory against a power conference team; something they have yet to do in the 37 game tenure of Head Coach Bobby Gonzalez.
Secondly, Penn State’s style is not conducive to making huge comebacks. But they can certainly punish undisciplined defenses. Therefore it will be interesting to see how The Hall adjusts. Seton Hall’s trademark pressure defense could knock Penn State off balance both offensively and defensively since they are more of a tempo-controlling type. However, if the Lions beat the press, can the Pirates excute well enough in the half-court?
Last season Gonzalez adjusted to PSU’s tough zone defense in the second half by anchoring Harvey at the elbow, drawing the defenders, then feeding either Grant Billmeier (9 PTS, 4/5 FG) on the blocks. Right now the half court offense is Seton Hall’s biggest weakness, so it will take some creativity to compensate against the zones.
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