Seton Hall lost to the Butler Bulldogs, 84-54, at the Prudential Center on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Following a tough loss in the Windy City to the DePaul Blue Demons on Sunday, Feb. 2, the Pirates’ losing streak now extends to eight in a row with this loss to the Bulldogs.
Butler started the game on fire from behind the arc, nailing five of their eight 3-point attempts in the first five-and-a-half minutes—three of which came from senior forward Patrick McCaffrey, who is shooting an impressive 41.5% from three this season. Seton Hall started cold in comparison, with sophomore guard Isaiah Coleman shooting 0-5 from the field in that same amount of time.
Butler had a strong start in the first half, shooting 59% from the field while nailing seven of their 15 jumpers from behind the arc. Meanwhile, The Hall would shoot 31% from the field while missing all five of their long-range attempts in the half.
At halftime, McCaffrey led both teams with 13 points, with sophomore center Boden Kapke close behind with 11. The Pirates were led by junior forward Prince Aligbe, who had seven points of his own.
After another rough start to the half, The Hall slowly started to creep back into the game. With a tight full-court press, the Pirates went on a 15-7 run to cut the deficit to 18 with 8:38 minutes left, even making their first three-pointer of the game.
Despite the brief rally, The Hall would then go scoreless for nearly six minutes, as they went 0-for-4 from 3-point range during that time. Ultimately, the Pirates would fall 84-54 to the Bulldogs, with Butler sweeping the season series and Seton Hall suffering their second-biggest loss of the season.
Aligbe led the Pirates with a game-high 17 points along with six rebounds—he was the only Pirate to score double figures in the game. McCaffrey and Kapke were two of six players for the Bulldogs to score in double figures, with preseason All-Big East Second Team selection Pierre Brooks II leading the way with 14 points.
After scoring 18 against DePaul's last game, Pirates leading scorer Isaiah Coleman finished this game with only two points on 1-10 from the field.
Notably, the Pirates played this game without Dylan Addae-Wusu, Chaunce Jenkins, and Scotty Middleton, as they are all dealing with different injuries. It is likely that they will all be absent from the team’s next matchup, as they travel to Washington, D.C. to face Georgetown on Saturday, Feb. 8. at 12 p.m., hoping to get back in the win column.
John Misiewicz writes for The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at john.misiewicz@student.shu.edu.
