Seton Hall used a suffocating defense to overwhelm Kansas State 78-67 Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, Kan.
The Pirates held the Wildcats to 37.1% shooting from the field and forced 16 turnovers that they converted into 22 points.
Seton Hall (9-1) was helped along by some atrocious shooting from Kansas State (5-4), which managed just 20% (6 of 30) from 3-point range and a similarly abysmal 42.9% (15 of 35) from the free throw line.
AJ Staton-McCray led the Pirates with 16 points and added five rebounds and four assists. Elijah Fisher had 16 points and five rebounds, Najai Hines scored 11 and Adam Clark added 10.
The Pirates frustrated the nation’s leading scorer PJ Haggerty (25.1 points per game), limiting him to 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Haggerty added insult to injury by missing seven of his 12 free throw attempts.
Khamari McGriff led the Wildcats with 12 points. Nate Johnson and Abdi Bashir Jr. each scored 11 and David Castillo added 10.
Seton Hall opened the second half with a 9-2 run to build a 44-31 lead less than three minutes in. Mike Williams III scored five during the outburst.
The lead crept up to 16 before Kansas State managed a 7-0 run capped by a Haggerty layup to cut the margin to single digits at 51-42 with 11 minutes left.
Seton Hall answered with a 9-2 surge, capped by a 3-pointer from Trey Parker and a steal and layup by Williams, to go up 60-44 with 8:25 to go.
From there, Kansas State never got the lead below eight.
Early on, the Pirates used an 8-0 run completed by a Clark 3-pointer to create a quick advantage, 11-5, in the game’s first five minutes.
Seton Hall increased its lead to 20-12 on a Hines layup with 11 minutes left, before Kansas State rallied to tie things up at 22-all three minutes later.
At 26-all, Seton Hall surged ahead 34-26 on another 8-0 run, with Fisher and Clark scoring four apiece.
Hines and Fisher paced all scorers with nine points apiece as the Pirates took a 35-29 lead into the break. Seton Hall had 11 points off turnovers, while the Wildcats were 2 of 14 (14.3%) from 3-point range.
The Wildcats welcomed recently hired football coach Collin Klein during halftime.
