Seton Hall's forgotten sophomore comes up big in win over Marquette
Seton Hall sophomore Desi Rodriguez finished with a career-high 19 points on Wednesday night in an 83-63 win over Marquette in the Big East opener.
As Rodriguez was forced to sit on the bench after picking up his fourth foul midway through the second half, classmate Isaiah Whitehead orchestrated an 18-4 run, turning a five-point lead into a blowout.
Sophomore Khadeen Carrington ended with 17 points, while Angel Delgado recorded his sixth consecutive double-double with 11 points and 11 boards.
Lost in the all sophomore lineup for the Pirates is Ismael Sanogo. The 6-foot-7 second-year wing had little experience as a freshman, but has worked his way into the starting lineup this season. On Wednesday night, he had his best game to date, scoring a career-high 10 points, grabbing eight boards and playing exceptional defense on Marquette freshman forward Henry Ellenson.
“I like that match-up for us,” Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard said via Chris McManus SHUHoops.com. “I thought he made it difficult for Ellenson to get clean looks, especially early in the game … Ish had an unbelievable second half.”
Sanogo gave up three inches to the 6-foot-10 future lottery pick, but made up for it with foot speed and physicality. He limited Ellenson to 3-of-14 shooting and 13 points (six of which came in the final three minutes).
To make matters worse for Marquette, Luke Fischer, the team's second leading scorer, was held in check in a one-on-one matchup with Angel Delgado. Fischer finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, but was 1-for-5 from the field in the second half and had zero free throw attempts for the first time all season.
"[He had] a couple finishes that he missed that he normally makes." Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski said in the postgame press conference. "Those guys (Ellenson and Fischer) have a lot of responsibility and team's gameplan to take them away. I still thought we had some really good looks at the basket that just didn't go down. We got to get him to the free throw line. I can't remember a game this season where he shot zero free throws. That's unusual."
Road wins in the Big East will be hard to come by this season, especially when teams commit as many turnovers (20) as the Pirates did on Wednesday night. But overall, Seton Hall is playing well heading into the New Year, one Kevin Willard hopes includes an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
