No. 13 Seton Hall braces for Howard, Marquette (Jan 09, 2018)
MILWAUKEE -- Seton Hall, off to the best start since the 1998-99 season, looks to stay unbeaten in the Big East Conference when it visits Marquette on Tuesday at the Bradley Center.
The No. 13 Pirates (14-2, 3-0 Big East) have their highest ranking since Jan 2, 2001.
Senior Angel Delgado has helped fuel the strong start and was named the NCAA's National Player of the Week after recording 28 points, 15 rebounds and six assists in a 90-87 victory at Butler on Saturday.
Delgado has 12 double-doubles this season and leads all active players with 62. He also leads the Big East with 11.8 rebounds per game -- the third-highest mark in the nation -- and 11th in the Big East with 3.2 assists.
"Earlier in the year he was pressing a little bit to score," coach Kevin Willard said. "Now he's realizing Khadeen (Carrington) is going to throw it to me, he's going to space away, and if I throw it back to him and he scores, it's an assist for me and that's just as good as scoring. He's just a phenomenal passer."
His big night against the Bulldogs helped the Pirates rally from an 11-point second-half deficit and claim a high-quality road victory, which will help when NCAA Tournament seeds are handed out.
Marquette guard Andrew Rowsey will need to regain his stroke after a rough night in a 100-90 loss to No. 1 Villanova on Saturday.
The Big East's second-leading scorer at 21 points per game was held to six points on 2-of-12 shooting, his lowest total of the season and lowest point total since finishing with eight against Creighton in the regular-season finale a year ago. He only played eight minutes in the second half.
"I didn't think Andrew had his best game. For a kid who has been so good, these of types of games can happen," Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "The guys who were in the game were giving us good minutes. So we decided to stick with that."
Offense has rarely been a problem this season for Marquette, which is fourth in the Big East with 83.9 points per game and second in 3-point shooting percentage while leading the league in shots made from beyond the arc (191).
Sophomore guard Markus Howard followed up his school-record 52-point game with 37 against Villanova and leads the Big East at 23.5 per game.
Defensively, though, the Golden Eagles have struggled. They are last in the league in rebounding, with 32.1 per game. Opponents are averaging 76.8 points on 47.3 percent shooting against Marquette, both of which are league highs.
"The amount of points they got by sending guys on strong cuts off the ball were entirely too high," Wojciechowski said after the Villanova loss.
Seton Hall has won five straight road games this season and have taken four of the last five matchups with the Golden Eagles, including two of three last season.
The contest marks the fifth time Marquette will face a ranked opponent this season. The Golden Eagles have lost each of their four previous meetings with a ranked foe.
