Wagner College faces Seton Hall on Sunday: Could get scouting report from Island high school coaches (Cormac Gordon, Staten Island Advance)

South Orange, NJ - The Wagner Seahawks will make the short trip to South Orange, NJ as they gear up to take on the Seton Hall University Pirates this afternoon at 1:30 pm. For the second straight contest, on the heels of Friday night's 66-57 loss at St. John's, the Wagner-Seton Hall matchup will be televised live on Fox Sports 1 and on the Fox Sports Go app.
 
Veteran play-by-play man Dave Sims and former UConn standout Donny Marshall will have the call live, courtside from Walsh Gymnasium.
 
LAST TIME OUT FOR WAGNER:

• In a competitive, back-and-forth contest on Friday night, that featured seven ties and 19 lead changes, St. John's managed to hold off Wagner behind 18 points from freshman guard Frederico Mussini in front of a crowd of 4,677 at Carnesecca Arena in the 2015-16 season opener for both teams.
• Sophomore guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) paced the Seahawks with 16 points, sophomore forward Japhet Kadji (Douala, Cameroon/Gulliver Prep [IMG Academy]) added a career-high 14 while redshirt-senior guard Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay, MI/Suttons Bay [Michigan State]) recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and a career-best 13 rebounds.
• Trailing 19-18, the Seahawks went on a 6-0 run in taking their biggest lead of the game, a five-point margin at 24-19. Sophomore guard JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) made one-of-two from the line to tie the game at 19-19, before Anderson soared free on a fast-break dunk off a steal and pass-ahead from Cooper. Kadji then completed the 6-0 surge with a three-pointer from the head of the circle, off of another feed from Cooper, that made it 24-19 with 5:04 left in the opening half.
• The Johnnies, however, would close the half on a 13-7 run in eking out a 32-31 halftime lead. Wagner's last lead of the game came on a three-ball from Kadji with 11:37 remaining in the game which gave the Seahawks a 46-45 edge.
• After a Kadji layup at the 6:20 mark drew the Green & White to within 53-50, neither team could manage a point during a 3:18 scoreless spell until SJU forward Mark Ellison split a pair from the line to make it a 54-50 game with 3:02 left. Wagner would get back to within three on two occasions, the last coming on yet another Kadji three-pointer, which pulled the Seahawks to within 57-54 at the 1:47 mark. 
• It was on the very next possession when St. John's worked the ball around the perimeter until Durand Johnson found Mussini in the deep right corner, and the native of Italy pulled the trigger with one tick left on the shot clock, delivering the dagger three that made it a 60-54 game with 1:15 to go. St. John's was then able to hang from there in posting the 66-57 win. 
• Henson's 16-point outing came on 6-of-15 shooting, which included 50% marksmanship (4-of-8) from three-point range. Kadji's 14-point effort came on 5-of-10 shooting and was also fueled by a hot hand from deep as the sinewy 6-7 Floridian was a smooth 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Henry Brooks (New Orleans, LA/Miller Grove), a 6-8 transfer from the University of Pennsylvania, a first-year Seahawk competing as a fifth-year senior, had a quietly effective opening night, totaling four points and five rebounds during a 21-minute stint.
• For St. John's, in addition to Mussino's 18, Johnson delivered a 12-point, eight-rebound effort while Ron Mvoika and Malik Ellison chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively.
• The scrappy Seahawks won the battle of the boards against the bigger, homestanding Big East team, out-rebounding the Johnnies 42-38. St. John's out-shot Wagner 45%-32% from the field. Neither team distinguished itself from the charity stripe as St. John's hit 60% (15-of-25) of its free throws while the Seahawks managed just 55% (11-of-20).

 
SCOUTING SETON HALL:

• A year ago, Seton Hall won the 2014-15 Paradise Jam and Garden State Hardwood Classic championships and entered the AP Top 25 for the second time in head coach Kevin Willard's tenure. The No. 19 ranking on Jan. 5, 2015 was the program's highest national ranking since reaching No. 16 on Jan. 23, 2001.
• The Hall has added a pair of graduate transfers who add experience to a young Pirates' squad in Derrick Gordon, a transfer from Massachusetts, is a 1,000-point scorer and lockdown defender, who has appeared in two NCAA Tournaments with the Minutemen, and Braeden Anderson, a 6-9 forward who played in 27 games over three seasons at Fresno State. 

 

LAST TIME OUT FOR SETON HALL: 

• The Pirates will look for back-to-back victories after securing a season-openng 84-67 triumph over Dartmouth on Friday evening at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.
• In that contest, four Seton Hall players finished the game scoring in double-figures, led by Brooklyn-product Isaiah Whitehead, a Second-Team Preseason All-Big East selection, who poured in a team-leading 18 points, on 5-of-13 shooting.  In addition, the former Abraham Lincoln High School standout dished out a game-high eight helpers in the 17-point victory. 
• Derrick Gordon, formerly of Massachusetts, contributed 14 points, on 5-of-7 shooting from the field while logging 30 minutes and dishing out five assists off the bench.  
• Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriguez each finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively on a combined 7-of-12 shooting from the floor and converting 10-of-16 from the charity stripe. 

SERIES HISTORY:

• Tonight's matchup between the Seahawks and the Pirates marks the 28th all-time meeting between the schools and Wagner trails in the head-to-head series, 21-6
• The Green & White will look to end a seven-game losing skid to Seton Hall, last picking up a victory nearly 37 years ago, defeating the Pirates, 94-90 in double overtime on January 31, 1979.. Leading the Green & White to victory was head coach P.J. Carlesimo who was opposed by Bill Raftery. 

WAGNER ALL-TIME VS. BIG EAST OPPONENTS:

• All-time, Wagner is 7-50 against current members of the Big East Conference.  
• The Seahawks have seen St. John's and Seton Hall the most out of the Big East, posting a 7-39 combined all-time mark vs. these two schools.
• There are only three schools within the conference that the Green & White haven't faced, namely Butler, Creighton, and Xavier.

WAGNER-SETON HALL CONNECTION:

• These two programs share a common bond in the form of three-time NBA Champion (as an assistant coach), P.J. Carlesimo
• Carlesimo came to Wagner College in 1976 as the youngest Division I head men's basketball coach, taking over a school that was new at the Division I level and provided immediate results.
• In his just his third season in 1978-79, he led the Seahawks to a 21-7 record.  In that magical season, the team posted a 16-game winning streak, beating such teams as Alabama, Seton Hall, and Northeastern before suffering a heart-breaking overtime loss to St. John's with an NCAA Tournament bid on the line.  
• The team would go on to earn the school's first-ever bid to the NIT and Carlesimo would go on to add the duties of Athletic Director in 1978, a post he held until 1982. 
• After putting Wagner on the basketball map, he moved on to Seton Hall, where he helped lead the Pirates to the 1989 National Championship game before becoming a head coach in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1994. 

THE CORE OF THE OFFENSE:

• Sophomore guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) had a productive and efficient opening contest against Big East foe, St. John's. 
• The second-year guard, who started his first game at the point, caught fire, finishing the first half with 11 points, on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor including a blistering 3-of-3 from beyond the arc en route to finishing the contest with a team-high 16 points, nearly tying his career-best at 18, set last season at home against Saint Francis U on January 22. 

JUMPING JAPH-OSAFATS:

• Second-year forward Japhet Kadji (Douala, Cameroon/Gulliver Prep [IMG Academy]) was impressive on opening night for the Seahawks. 
• The brother of former Miami (FL) and Florida forward, Kenny, the bouncy 6-7 Japhet put forth a shooting clinic against the Red Storm.
• After being limited to just three points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field in the first half, Kadji erupted on 4-of-7 shooting from the field following intermission, which included 3-of-5 from three-point range, to finish with a career-best of 14 points.  
• Wagner's last lead of the game came on a three-ball from Kadji with 11:37 remaining which gave the Seahawks a 46-45 edge.
• At the 6:20 mark, Kadji soared the lane for two that drew the Green & White to within 53-50. Neither team could manage a point during a 3:18 scoreless spell until Mark Ellison split a pair from the line to make it a 54-50 game with 3:02 left. 
• Wagner would get back to within three on two occasions, the last coming on yet another Kadji three-pointer, which pulled the Seahawks to within 57-54 at the 1:47 mark.

WELCOME BACK, MR. ANDERSON:

• Redshirt senior guard Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay, MI/Suttons Bay [Michigan State]) returned to action for the first time since re-injuring his foot on January 5 against NEC-rival, Mount St. Mary's. In the season opener at St. John's on November 13, the former Mr. Basketball of Michigan, recorded his first career "double-double," finishing the contest with 11 points and a new career-high of 13 rebounds, surpassing his previous high of eight, set back on February 27, 2014, against fellow NEC-member, Saint Francis U.

WAGNER DEBUTS FOR A TRIO:

• Head coach Bashir Mason was able to feature three of his four new players in the season-opener at St. John's on Friday evening.
• Junior transfer guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) earned his first career start against the Red Storm, finishing the ballgame with four points, on 2-of-7 shooting, which included six rebounds, two steals, and one assist in 27 minutes of action. 
• Graduate transfer forward Henry Brooks (New Orleans, LA/Miller Grove [Pennsylvania]) had a quietly effective opening night, totaling four points and five rebounds during a 21-minute stint.
• Redshirt sophomore forward Marquis Salmon (Lancaster, LA/Village Christian [East Los Angeles Community College]) logged one minute of action and recorded his first career block. 

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