LINKS: Georgetown Goes to Seton Hall

The Georgetown Hoyas head to Newark, NJ for a late (9PM) Friday night game against Seton Hall Pirates. Tickets are apparently sold out (if you’re watching from home, be sure to have your Fox Sports app ready in case the 7PM Wisconsin vs Ohio State game runs long on FS1).

Seton Hall, with Myles Powell, was picked by the coaches as the preseason favorite to win the BIG EAST conference. The Pirates have had some issues of late, particularly because of some missing personnel, such as Powell. While Georgetown struggled to get going without Mac McClung in Providence, Seton Hall handled DePaul earlier in the week, with Powell carrying a heavy load.

Here are the links:

3 Things About Friday Night’s BIG EAST Home Opener vs. the Hoyas | SHUPirates

1. The Hall Must Slow Down the Hoyas Offense ... Despite only scoring 60 points at Providence on Tuesday, Georgetown comes into this game as the BIG EAST’s best scoring offense with 80.3 points per game. And even after some of the roster attrition, the Hoyas offense got better, averaging 86.8 points during its six-game December winning streak. Georgetown’s offense may depend on Mac McClung’s availability (he missed the Providence game with an injury), but the matchup to watch might be in the middle between Omer Yurtseven and Romaro Gill. Yurtseven is averaging 17.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks a game.

Seton Hall looks for home win vs Georgetown | FOX (AP)

UNBEATEN WHEN: The Pirates are 8-0 when they score at least 74 points and 1-4 when they fall shy of that total. The Hoyas are 7-0 when turning the ball over 14 times or fewer and 3-4 when the team exceeds that total...

DID YOU KNOW: Georgetown is rated first among Big East teams with an average of 80.3 points per game.

Myles Powell (surprise, surprise) returns to lead Seton Hall over DePaul in Big East opener | NJ

Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard initially called Myles Powell “doubtful” for the Big East opener at DePaul, but then went ahead and started the senior guard on Monday. It’s a good thing he did. Powell looked impressive while playing his first game since suffering a concussion Dec. 14 at Rutgers. He finished with a game-high 27 points and five rebounds in 34 minutes in a 74-66 win at Wintrust Arena. The All-America guard scored 18 points in the second half.

Seton Hall basketball: Myles Powell returns, leads win at DePaul in Big East opener | APP.com

Senior center Romaro Gill (6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 blocks) anchored an interior defense that controlled the second half. Gill’s presence slowed down DePaul frontcourt ace Paul Reed (17 points, 9 rebounds) just enough after Reed torched the Hall twice last season.

And senior guard Quincy McKnight put another head on a pike, spearheading the team defense that harassed standout point guard Charlie Moore into 4-of-15 shooting and 8 turnovers.

Big East Basketball: 5 biggest questions for rest of 2019-20 season | BUSTINGBRACKETS

That dude named Myles Powell that I mentioned earlier. He is essentially Seton Hall’s entire offense and will likely carry his team to the NCAA Tournament. I think this answer was pretty much a no-doubter...

Markus Howard is the man to beat this year for Big East Player of the Year, posting an average of 26.3 ppg, but if I had to choose someone that can prevent him from winning this award again I’d have to choose the senior center from Georgetown, Omer Yurtseven. The main reason why I chose him was because of him averaging a double-double with 18.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, both are in the top-5 in the Big East. He also leads the conference in field goal percentage (.582) and in offensive rebounds(58).

Pirate Defense Smothers No. 7 Maryland, 52-48 | SHUPirates

Romaro Gill (Saint Thomas, Jamaica) and Ike Obiagu (Abuja, Nigeria) combined to block 12 shots to lead a suffocating defense that lifted the Seton Hall men’s basketball team to a thrilling 52-48 signature victory over No. 7 Maryland at Prudential Center on Thursday in front of 13,313 fans.

The Pirates’ defense held the Terrapins to 26.9% shooting from the floor, which stands as the seventh-lowest shooting percentage against The Hall since 1996. The Pirates also forced 17 Maryland turnovers and recorded a season-high 15 blocked shots. Both Gill and Obiagu blocked six shots apiece.

3 Things About Monday’s BIG EAST Opener... | SHUPirates

In the new BIG EAST (since 2013-14), each regular season champion started the season 1-0 and only Providence in 2014 started the season 0-1 before going on to win the tournament crown. In the old BIG EAST, Georgetown was the last regular season champion to start the year 0-1, occurring in 2012-13.