The Seton Hall Pirates hosted the South Florida Bulls in the final game of their non-conference schedule. The Pirates easily dispatched the Bulls en route to a 66-49 win. With the win the Pirates improved to 10-2 and the Bulls fell to 3-10 on the season. We caught up with Chris Lemus before the game. Chris covers USF sports and he was kind enough to take some time to talk about the Bulls and how they would fare against the Pirates. He believed Jaleel Cousins and Jahmal McMurray with both have a big impact on the game. He also said that the Bulls needed to be disciplined to have a chance at winning this game. He was definitely right on that point.
The first half was dominated by the Pirates. The Hall scored the first 14 points of the game. Khadeen Carrington highlighted this outburst with a great individual sequence. After hitting a three pointer, he stole the ball in the back court and finished with a layup to give him five points in 15 seconds. The Bulls didn’t get on the board until there was 9:59 to go in the first half. The Bulls cut the lead down to seven, but the Pirates increased the lead to 14 to end the first half. The Pirates led 33-19 after the first half. The Pirates were led by Angel Delgado who had 8 points and 6 rebounds. USF was led by Angel Nunez with 9 points.
The second half saw more of the same from the Pirates. The Pirates never allowed the lead to be cut to single digits in the second half. Our friend Chris Lemus said that the Bulls needed to be disciplined to win this game and he was definitely right. The Bulls were not disciplined in this game. They committed 15 turnovers on the night. Chris also mentioned that the Bulls were not a very good three point shooting team. He said that at one point the Bulls were ranked 346th in the nation in three point shooting. On the game the Bulls shot just 20% from beyond the arc.
It was a very balanced attack from the Pirates. There were many contributors for Seton Hall. The Pirates led wire to wire en route to a 66-49 win. The Pirates were led by Angel Delgado who put up 14 points and 11 rebounds. Veer Singh had his best game as a Pirate with 12 points, and Isaiah Whitehead dropped 10 assists for the Hall. South Florida was led by Angel Nunez who posted 19 points and 8 rebounds. Jahmal McMurray added 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.
With the win the Pirates improve to 10-2 on the season as well as 7-0 at home. The Bulls fall to 3-10 and 0-3 on the road this year. Chris Lemus told us that he expects the Bulls to fare better in conference play. He feels that the team will get more accustomed to Orlando Antigua’s Kentucky style offense. Orlando Antigua is a disciple of John Calipari and runs a similar offense. It will be interesting to see how USF does this year in the AAC. The Bulls are currently without Roddy Peters, their big time transfer from Maryland. Chris seems to think the future is bright for USF. With the talent and continued coaching of Orlando Antigua the future appears to be bright in South Florida.
South Florida will now enter conference play in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls will host Houston on December 30 in their AAC opener. The Pirates will begin Big East Conference play on December 30 when they travel to Marquette. The Pirates took home their 5th straight win and will look to carry that momentum into conference play.
We would like to thank Chris Lemus again for his great knowledge and information on USF basketball. Chris is a great journalist and you can find him on twitter @ChrisJLemus. We will have full coverage of the Big East opener against Marquette on December 30. Until then, Hazard Zet Forward.
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