The Seton Hall Pirates (18-10, 11-6 BIG EAST) travel to the Constitution state for a bigtime matchup with the UConn Huskies (25-3, 15-2 BIG EAST).

The Pirates, trying to bolster their resume in any way possible for a potential March Madness bid, are coming into this game following a brutal 85-64 loss on the road at the hands of the #12 Creighton Bluejays.

The Hall came out flat in the first half, scoring just 22 points and allowing 38. While they were able to find the bottom of the net in the second half, putting up 42 points, it was too little, too late. Defensively, they had no answer for the trio of Ryan Kalkbrenner, Baylor Scheierman, and Trey Alexander, who combined for 58 points and 22 rebounds.

It's worth noting that the Pirates’ bench unit was fairly shorthanded, with Isaiah Coleman and Sadraque NgaNga both out with an illness. Unfortunately, it seems that the illness won’t go away for this matchup.

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Meanwhile, the Huskies rebounded from their own loss to Creighton with a 78-54 blowout win over Villanova. UConn’s defense has been stifling in conference play, allowing 70+ points in just four games. Luckily for the Hall, they’ve already pulled off the upset once against the Huskies. Now, it’s a matter of making lightning strike twice.

Looking back at the first matchup on Dec. 20, the Pirates held the then #5 team in the nation to roughly 38% from the field and a dismal 19% from behind the arc. The Seton Hall defense forced 17 turnovers, including six from senior Tristan Newton. Everyone for UConn was shut down except for Donovan Clingan, who had 14 points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes before leaving with an injury.

Did that help? Of course it did. But Jaden Bediako was holding his own against one the best sophomores in the nation. He finished a rebound shy of a double-double to go along with three blocks.

In the win, the Pirates held UConn to their lowest points scored all year. On top of that, only five of Seton Hall’s 75 points came from the bench. This win was pioneered by the starting five.

The three captains have to do what they’ve done all year – lead. Kadary Richmond and Dre Davis are both incredibly talented scorers and defenders. Al-Amir Dawes has found consistency from deep and is playing fantastic basketball right now.

The X-factor of this game will be the play of Dylan Addae-Wusu. He’s coming off a string of bad games and has had a combined eight turnovers in the last two games. He hasn’t made more than one three in a game since at Marquette over a month ago, but his shot and his defense has to be on point.

Our very own Joe Matthews and Michael Federico will be on the call. The game starts at noon, will pregame coverage starting at 11:30 a.m. on 89.5 FM WSOU.

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Pirates Look to Topple the Huskies as the NCAA Tournament Looms