Seton Hall Basketball: Angel Delgado drops 21 points, grabs 20 boards in win over SJU

Seton Hall basketball big man Angel Delgado dominated the St. John’s Red Storm in the Pirates’ 86-73 win.

Seton Hall came into Sunday’s showdown against Big East foe St. John’s on a three-game losing streak. All three of those defeats came on the road, but two of them were against potential non-NCAA Tournament teams in Marquette and Providence.

In that case, the Pirates desperately needed a win if they wanted to salvage their season and remain on the right side of the bubble.

And Kevin Willard’s group did just that as they pounded the St. John’s Red Storm from the tip, beating Chris Mullin’s unit 86-73 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates.

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The Pirates were the desperate home team and they rode the play of their big man Angel Delgado to victory.

The junior center scored 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting and grabbed 20 rebounds on his way to his 14th double-double of the season. Delgado is the first Big East player to have a 20-20 game since Providence’s ‘Greedy’ Peterson did it back in 2010.

While Delgado took advantage of St. John’s thin and struggling front line, this is exactly the type of effort that Seton Hall can expect from their big man moving forward. Desi Rodriguez and Khadeen Carrington are the Pirates’ top two scorers, but their most important player is Delgado.

When the big man is clicking on all cylinders like he was on Sunday, Seton Hall is awfully tough to defeat. Delgado controls the paint, using his strength, physical frame, and toughness. He won’t back down against any competition he faces and has become one of the top big men in the entire Big East.

In 2016-17, when the Dominican Republic native finishes with a double-double, Seton Hall is 13-2. When he doesn’t, the Pirates are 2-3 (the three losses are to Stanford, Florida, and Villanova).

Willard’s group is certainly an NCAA Tournament team on paper but this team will be dangerous in the field of 68 if Delgado maintains his consistency.

Think about it this way: not many teams can match what the Pirates have on the interior. Between Delgado’s rebounding and scoring ways, and Ismael Sanogo’s versatility and defensive prowess, the Pirates will have an advantage, or will at least be on par with their opponent, in the front court on a nightly basis.

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The next step to the Pirates’ success is to limit their turnovers (they had 14 on Sunday), something that has been a problem all season. That will only make Seton Hall more dangerous once March rolls around.

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