The 2nd round of the Big East Tournament takes place today and we will see the Seton Hall Pirates take on the Syracuse Orangemen. The game is scheduled for a 2:30 pm (Eastern) start time and will be televised on ESPN. Currently the Odds for the game have Syracuse favored by 13.5 points while the total sits at 124.
Analysis: Seton Hall fought tooth and nail to get to this point in the tournament as it earned a grueling 46-42 win in overtime against South Florida in the first round Tuesday night. The win was just the second for the Pirates since the end of January and its fourth against a league opponent all season. The game was the second-lowest scoring result in tournament history while the win was only Seton Hall’s second since defeating the Bulls on Jan. 23 – a stretch during which it has scored 55 or fewer points seven times. After starting the game 3-for-11 from the field, leading scorer Fuquan Edwin (16.6 points) scored the last six points of regulation – all on layups – over a 1:02 span and the final four points of overtime. The Pirates held South Florida to a season-low 24.2 percent – including 17.9 percent in the second half – but kept the Bulls in the game by allowing 27 offensive rebounds. Reserve guard Haralds Karlis left the game midway through the first half after injuring his face during a scrum for a loose ball under the basket and did not return.
Of the top six seeds, Syracuse is the one with the least amount of momentum as the postseason kicks off. The Orange, who were ranked as high as No. 3 in the country this season, lost four of their last five games to fall to 23-8 overall and 11-7 in league action. Syracuse is still a strong team with a legitimate shot at getting its sixth conference title. One of the major reasons for Syracuse's downfall in the stretch run was the struggles of Brandon Triche. The senior guard (13.9 ppg, 3.6 apg) was one the leading scorers for the Orange this season but failed to score in double figures in three of the last four contests including a season-low two points on 1-of-9 shooting against Georgetown. C.J. Fair (14.4 ppg, 7.1 rpg) finished the season as the leading scorer for the Orange and earned second-team honors in the Big East. Big East leader in assists Michael Carter-Williams (12.5 ppg, 7.6 apg) was also on the second-team, while being named Big East Comeback Player of the Year. James Southerland (13.6 ppg) can shoot the lights out as well for the Orange but he had just a single point while missing all eight shots from the floor against Georgetown.
Pick: I will go with the Cuse in this one. They really struggled down the stretch and would like very much to build momentum for the rest of the tourney with a nice easy win here. The Pirates are having all sorts of problems on offense right now, while the Cuse are the 2nd highest scoring team in the Big East and coming off an embarrassing loss to Georgetown, in which the scored just 39 points, you can bet they will be looking to pound someone. Poor Seton Hall.
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