Game 1
Fairleigh Dickinson (0-0) at No. 23 Seton Hall (0-0)
Date: Friday, November 10, 2017
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Prudential Center (Newark, N.J.)
Coverage: Fox Sports 2 and Fox Sports Go (online)
Live Stats
 
The Series...Seton Hall leads 18-4    
at Seton Hall...4-17 (Walsh Gym/Prudential Center)
Streak...Seton Hall, W1
Last Meeting...SHU 91, FDU 70 (11/11/16 at Walsh Gymnasium)
In last season's opener, these two teams squared off in South Orange with the Pirates hoisting their 2016 BIG EAST Championship banner and nabbing a 21-point victory over the Knights. Darian Anderson poured in a game-high 27 points in the loss connecting on 4-of-8 from behind the arc and 11-of-17 (64.7 percent) overall with three assists and three steals. The Pirates, who led by five at the break (33-28) before pulling away with the comfortable win, received a double-double from Angel Delgado with 22 points and 14 rebounds on 11-of-15 shooting. Khadeen Carrington matched Anderson's game-high point total and hit 5-of-6 from downtown. The Pirates shot 35-of-57 (61.4 percent) from the field and limited FDU to 24-of-61 (39.3 percent). The Knights were also held to 31.0 percent on 9-of-29 attempts from beyond the arc in the loss. The 29 attempts from downtown tied the Knights' season-high.
Herenda's Take: "I am really proud of how we battled and withstood a number of Seton Hall's runs but they were just too big and too good for us in their building tonight. Delgado was a real issue tonight for us and Rodriguez and Carrington were very efficient as well, but I cannot say enough about Darian Anderson and the night he had."
 
The Knights: The Knights are set to open the 2017-18 season on Friday night following a 71-56 win over Manhattanville in their final preseason tune-up. Coach Greg Herenda and his staff had the opportunity to get a look at all 12 of their active players and get them some quality experience. Junior guard Darnell Edge finished with an 8-for-13 shooting effort, totaled four steals and was one of four Knights to score in double figures. Freshman guard Jahlil Jenkins and sophomore forward Kaleb Bishop each scored 12 points, while junior forward Mike Holloway Jr. finished with 10. Freshman Noah Morgan came off of the bench and displayed his defensive prowess by tallying a game-high seven steals to go along with four points and three rebounds in his 19 minutes of action. The Knights defense limited the Valiants to just 29 percent shooting overall and just 1-of-13 (7.7%) from three-point range in the opening half as the home team led 37-24 at the break. As a team, the Knights logged a 48.2 percent (27-56) shooting performance, while the Valiants rebounded in the second half to raise their overall field goal percentage to 36.8 percent (21-57). 
 
Herenda's postgame quotes - "We had to grind that basketball game out tonight – and give Manhattanville a ton of  credit – those kids played really hard and were well-coached. It was a great night to play a lot of different combinations and we gave all of our freshmen tons of minutes. So, in the long run it was a very beneficial night to evaluate our guys. Darnell had a huge second half and Kaleb had two major dunks that really got the crowd into the game. On top of all of that, Noah Morgan gave us a huge lift off the bench when we needed it most." 
 
 
The Pirates: Seton Hall enters the 2017-18 season with high expectations and a national-ranking to boot. The Pirates are the only team in Division I that returns three 1,000-point scorers (Angel Delgado, Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriguez). Five of the program's top six players are four-year players. Delgado headlines the group as the only active player in Division I with 1,000 career points and rebounds entering the season. The Pirates, who have competed in the NCAA Tournament each of the past two seasons, finished with a 21-12 record last year and comfortably won both of its exhibitions this season with an 87-74 win over La Salle and a 77-48 victory over LIU Post.  
 
Prudential Proven: Last time these two teams met at the Prudential Center, the Knights came out on top 58-54 (12/1/13). With the win, Herenda became the first head coach in the Garden State since 1987 to defeat both Rutgers and Seton Hall in the same season. The only other coach to accomplish the feat was Pete Carril at Princeton.
 
The Schedule: The 2017-18 slate features another difficult non-conference excursion for the Knights as they open on the road with No. 23 Seton Hall before visiting Happy Valley two days later to square off with Penn State. After playing nine of 11 non-conference tilts on the road last season, the team will host four games prior to NEC play this time around including dates with Holy Cross and Princeton. This year's 11-game, non-conference schedule concludes with KenPom's 41^st-ranked team Maryland.
 
Jersey Tour: The Knights will get a good look at their in-state competition this season by playing seven games against New Jersey schools. In addition to the aforementioned games against Seton Hall and Princeton, the Knights will travel to Rutgers, NJIT and Saint Peter's, while playing host to a pair of Division III schools in Kean and FDU-Florham.
 
Darian's Dash: Entering his senior season, Darian Anderson is on the precipice of etching his name amongst the program's all-time leaders in several categories. The senior guard currently sits 11th in points with 1,326, needing 577 to become the program's all-time leader. Additionally, Anderson is third in steals, ninth in 3-pointers made and 10th in assists. The senior guard has started all but one game since his arrival in Hackensack in 2014. He was picked as Mid-Major Madness' NEC Preseason Player of the Year in addition to his Preseason All-NEC honor.
 
Preseason All-NEC: Anderson, who was an All-NEC Second Team honoree last season, was named to the Preseason All-NEC squad this year. The Knights were picked to finish second in the NEC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
Staff Update: Herenda and longtime associate head coach Bruce Hamburger are back but they will be joined by two new staff members this season. Last year's Director of Basketball Ops., Pete Lappas has moved down a seat to the assistant coach spot, while former Knight and Iowa Hawkeye, Darius Stokes has been appointed into Lappas' former role. The biggest addition to the staff is experienced assistant coach Pat Sellers. Sellers, who played for the NEC's Central Connecticut St. Blue Devils, joins the Knights after tenures with Creighton, UConn, Hofstra and most recently, DePaul. Sellers brings a wealth of knowledge and has coached several professional players including 2014 National Player of the Year, Doug McDermott.
 
Next up for the Knights: FDU travels to University Park, PA to square off with Penn State on Sunday, November 12. Tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m. on Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center.