By DENNIS CHAMBERS
NEWARK — In the third installment of the Gavitt Tipoff Games between the Big East and Big Ten Conferences, Seton Hall routed their Big Ten counterparts, Indiana, 84-68, at Prudential Center Wednesday night.
The marriage between the two major conferences allows their teams to get a high level of competition out of conference just as the season kicks off.
So far, the Big Ten holds a 2-1 advantage on the slate after No. 14 Minnesota defeated Providence 86-74 and No. 19 Purdue beat Marquette 86-71. Maryland and Butler, along with No. 20 Northwestern and Creighton were set to square off Wednesday night as well.
For Seton Hall, a team with a legitimate chance to make a deep NCAA Tournament run, their matchup with the Hoosiers gave them a chance to see high-major talent early in the season. In his eighth year running the show for the Pirates, Kevin Willard pulled no punches with his team’s out of conference schedule. After Indiana, Seton Hall still has to face the likes of Rhode Island, Vanderbilt/Virginia, Texas Tech, Louisville, and VCU before hitting their Big East slate.
Experiencing such a tough out of conference schedule should allow the senior-laden Pirates to see the type of consistent high-level talent they would face off against during a deep run in March.
Despite starting off slowly against Indiana, Seton Hall hammered home their victory in the second half behind the firepower of their three thousand-point scorers, Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez, and Angel Delgado.
Rodriguez led all scorers with 23, while Carrington added 17 and went 3-4 from beyond the arc. Delgado notched his 52nd career double-double with 19 and 11.
The Pirates, ranked No. 22 in the nation, improve to 3-0 on the season with an upcoming game on Nov. 18 against NJIT.
For Archie Miller and the Hoosiers, they drop to 1-2 in a more than disappointing first week for the Miller era that featured a 93-62 opening night loss against Indiana State.
Indiana still has matchups against Arkansas, a tournament team last season, and No. 1 Duke before they get into conference play.
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