Take On Total With Seton Hall And Creighton

Seton Hall vs. Creighton, 9:00 ET

There has to be a bit of excitement humming through the air with these teams as they gear up for the conference tournaments and the big dance. I'm not looking forward to the end of the season because this year has been a bit of a cash cow with college basketball. I only went 1-1 yesterday, but we got a win on a total - barely sneaking over the total in the Indiana and Wisconsin game. Now we switch our attention to another game, one that happens between two Big East squads as Seton Hall takes on Creighton. 

Seton Hall hasn't been ranked this season (at least not that I can remember), but they've put together a very nice campaign going 18-9 on the year and 11-5 in the Big East. They've won five of their past six games, with their one loss coming at the hands of Villanova on the road. In that game they were dominated, losing that game by 26 points. Prior to this stretch, they had one of the tougher three-game stretches of their season, losing all three. They dropped a triple overtime game to tonight's opponent on Seton Hall's home floor. Then they dropped another home game to Providence, a four-point loss. Finally, they lost the next game to Marquette on the road, and it was ugly as they lost by 18 points. Focusing further on the game against Creighton from last time, the two teams combined to score 191 points. The combined total of the three overtimes saw them put up 57 points. What went well for Seton Hall in their game? They had three starters score 21 points, all of them were guards. In addition, they had four guys with nine or more rebounds. Their center, Jaden Bediako had five blocks but it wasn't enough to stop Creighton's stud center. The biggest problem with Seton Hall is they have very little depth. Each of their starters played 45 minutes or more in that first game and only four bench players saw any time with them combining to play only 32 minutes. 

SOUTH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 11: Isaiah Coleman #21 of the Seton Hall Pirates in action against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights during a game at Walsh Gym on November 11, 2023 in South Orange, New Jersey. Seton Hall defeated FDU 85-55. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

Creighton has maintained a rank most of the season and should be able to make a bit of noise in the tournament if things bounce their way with opponents. All of that remains to be seen and there still is a lot of basketball before that all takes place. Creighton comes into this game with a 20-8 record and an 11-6 conference record. They are also coming off of a loss in their most recent game as they fell to St. Johns University. They dropped that road game by 14 points. They've lost back-to-back games twice this season, so you can't just automatically assume that they will rebound. They lost on their home court to Butler then fell to Providence on the road in overtime in the next won before running off four straight. The other back-to-back losses came in December. They dropped an overtime game to Villanova at home, they went on the road and lost the game to Marquette. Most of their losses have been understandable this year. However, I wouldn't call St. John's a good loss. Closing out the season, they have this match against Seton Hall, then another home game against Marquette, and finally a road game against Villanova. I'd be surprised if they win all three. It wasn't much of a surprise in the first matchup with Ryan Kalkbrenner, their center, dominating Seton Hall. He put up 28 points and nine rebounds. Lately, their guards have been playing fairly well. Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander combined to score 43 points in the first game between the two squads. Maybe more importantly, they combined to grab 18 rebounds and 13 assists. 

I think this is going to be a bit of a defensive battle in this game. Seton Hall played a really good, and complete, game against Creighton in the first matchup, but I don't think that will necessarily transfer on the road. I am a bit surprised by the total for this game though. Without the overtimes, the teams combined to only score 134 points. The total in this one is 143.5 and with this conference game, I think we see an under here. Back under 143.5. 

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