On a “neutral” court in Kansas City, Missouri, the Seton Hall Pirates used a strong shooting night to defeat the Missouri Tigers 93-87.
Missouri had the fans on their side, as nearly everyone in that arena was wearing Missouri yellow, but Seton Hall blocked that out and used a strong second-half performance to win this one. Al-Amir Dawes led the way for Seton Hall with 25 points, and Dylan Addae-Wusu and Dre Davis both added 20 and 19 points for the Pirates. Read below for the three takeaways from this matchup.
Takeaway #1: The threes finally fall for the Pirates
Coming into the game, Seton Hall was averaging just 5 made threes per game on 28.9% shooting, good for 329th and 308th in the country. Today, it was a different story, as they were able to knock down 10 threes, and did so on 23 shots. Addae-Wusu, who shoots 25% from deep, went 4-for-6 on the night.
If they can start hitting their threes with this consistency, they can shoot up the Big East standings when conference play starts. Having a game like this can give the team confidence, which might be enough to win them a few of those 50/50 games like this one.
Takeaway #2: Missouri struggles from inside
Usually, we see teams play well inside the three-point line, but struggle from deep. The opposite was the case Sunday night, as Missouri shot just 16-of-38 (42%) from inside the arc. They were outscored 44-30 in the paint, and Sean East, Nick Honor, and Noah Carter, the team’s top three scorers this season shot just 4-for-18 from inside.
Games like this happen, but when you can’t establish an inside game, it makes the life of the opponent much easier, which happened today. Missouri will need to be more aggressive and make these shots in conference play if they want any shot of turning the season around.
Takeaway #3: Pirates remain composed in crunch time
With time winding down, Missouri used a huge run to cut the lead from 19 to 6 points with 4 minutes to go. How did Seton Hall respond? By making six of their last eight field goals and never allowing this game to be one possession. Kadary Richmond was a key player down the stretch, making several shots and looking unfazed.
While the T-Mobile Center isn’t exactly a home court for Missouri, the fan ratio was nearly 100-0. So, being able to stay composed when the momentum and crowd are against you says a lot about the team. They will most likely be in this situation again, so having this experience will help later in the season. Seton Hall didn’t have a win against a Power 6 opponent heading into this, so adding that to the resume before Big East play is a huge bonus.
Next game for the Seton Hall Pirates: vs. #5 UConn (Dec. 20 – 7 p.m.)
Next game for the Missouri Tigers: vs. #16 Illinois (Dec. 22 – 9 p.m.)