The Seton Hall Pirates visit the Providence Friars on Friday night in the Big East opener for a Seton Hall team that has one of the nation’s stingiest defenses. The Pirates are up against a Providence team that has one of the most efficient scoring groups in college basketball. Seton Hall is an underdog on the road here despite their 10-1 start to the season. Find out if I think that is justified as I make my Seton Hall vs Providence prediction.
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Seton Hall enters this game with a 10-1 record and a four-game winning streak, most recently dispatching Rutgers 81-59 behind a dominant defensive performance that limited the Scarlet Knights to under 60 points. A.J. Staton-McCray leads the Pirates with 14.3 points per game, spearheading a balanced roster that has thrived on its defensive intensity.
Seton Hall’s defense ranks sixth in the nation in points allowed per game at 61.4 points per game. However, the Pirates' defense could have a difficult night against a Providence team averaging better than 91 points per game.
This is the first game of the Big East schedule for Seton Hall this season. They will try to get off to a good start in conference play, but it is never easy to win on the road in a conference with as much quality as this one.
Providence is 7-5 and has split its last two games, losing their Big East opener last time out. They scored 110 points in a double-overtime loss to Butler, highlighted by a 32-point explosion from Jason Edwards that showcased his scoring prowess. The Friars have been lethal at home, posting a perfect 6-0 mark on their home floor. Defensive lapses have been costly for the Friars, as we saw against Butler, and they will try to avoid similar defensive issues here.
Score Projection: Seton Hall 76 – Providence 81
Win Probability: Seton Hall 42%, Providence 58%
Seton Hall has the better record and the better defense going into this game. But I'm going to take the Providence Friars to win and cover the spread on their home floor. Providence's offense should be able to do just enough to overcome the defense of the Pirates, as I'll take the Friars to even their Big East record at 1-1 and drop the Pirates to 0-1 in conference play.
Jay Sanin is the GM and Head of Sports at ATS.io. He has been writing about sports gambling since 2013, handicapping tens of thousands of sporting events. He plays sides and totals aggressively across most sports and is more selective in player prop markets. He does his own modeling across most sports, and his family is jealous of how much time he spends on his precious spreadsheets.
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