Seton Hall advances to face Louisville Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the second round of the BIG EAST Championship. The Pirates lost 60-51 to the Cardinals Jan. 28 in their only meeting this season.

 

Seton Hall and Louisville will meet in the BIG EAST Championship for the first time.

 

The Pirates won their BIG EAST tournament opener for the third time in the past four years. Seton Hall improved to 11-12 all-time in first-round games.

 

Seton Hall did not score in the first five minutes of the game.

 

Jordan Theodore had 13 assists – the most by a Pirate player in BIG EAST Championship history and one shy of the tournament record of 14, held by Brandin Knight (Pittsburgh), Dwayne Washington (Syracuse) and Mark Jackson (Seton Hall).

 

The 32-point margin of victory was one point shy of the Pirates’ largest in a BIG EAST tournament game. Seton Hall defeated Syracuse 103-70 in the 1993 championship game.

 

Seton Hall became the BIG EAST’s seventh 20-win team this season. Since the introduction of automatic bids to the NCAA Championship 147 of 152 BIG EAST teams with at least 20 wins reached the NCAA tournament (96.7 percent).

 

Seton Hall’s bench outscored Providences, 24-9.

 

Providence lost its fourth straight game in the BIG EAST Championship and has dropped nine of its last 10 in the tournament.