SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. -- Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard admitted he doesn't like playing at the No. 15 Pirates' cozy on-campus Walsh Gym.

"It was my bright idea to play here," Willard said sarcastically about the 1,650-seat gym. "I hate it. We don't practice at Walsh. We don't shoot-around at Walsh.

"We got very comfortable playing at the Prudential Center. Sometimes when you bring schools that are used to playing in small gyms they are more comfortable than playing at the Prudential Center."

If Willard had any trepidation about playing at Walsh Gym, it didn't show in his players as Seton Hall cruised to a wire-to-wire 84-61 victory over Saint Peter's on Tuesday.

Angel Delgado picked up his 57th career double-double with 18 points and 11 boards, moving into third place on the Pirates' all-time rebounding list.

"It just shows you what a workhorse he's (Delgado) been," Willard said. "How much intensity and how much he has brought it every game. You can't get the numbers if you don't bring it every game."

Seton Hall (9-1) has won five straight since losing by one point to Rhode Island on Thanksgiving. The Pirates have won 26 consecutive non-conference home games, the 10th-longest streak in the country.

The Pirates own their highest ranking since January 2001, when they also were No. 15.

"We embrace it," Willard said of the ranking. "You have to. You respect it and understand how you got there and you don't want to lose it."

Seton Hall is 46-7 at home and 64-24 in the all-time series with Saint Peter's. The Pirates are 4-0 this season against New Jersey-based schools.

"The seniors have done a phenomenal job in getting the younger kids to understand, to the local schools it not a Super Bowl game, but a bigger game and it's their chance for them to knock us off," Willard said.

Desi Rodriguez contributed 17 points for Seton Hall, and Khadeen Carrington added 11 points and five assists against no turnovers. Carrington has posted a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in all but one game this season, and registered four or more assists in seven of 10 games.

The Pirates outscored their New Jersey rivals 46-22 in the paint and scored 19 points off of 15 Peacocks turnovers.

"I told Kevin (Willard) before the game I don't get overly impressed watching too many teams when I'm preparing for them, but I'm really impressed with these guys," Saint Peter's coach John Dunne said. "They have all the pieces. They can make shots, they offensive rebound, they play with ridiculous intensity and energy and they're playing unselfishly.

"They're (Seton Hall) legit. That's what I told my team. We made some mistakes that I'm not happy about that were self-inflicted, but at the same time we didn't lose to a bad team."

Davauhnte Turner topped Saint Peter's (4-5) with 13 points, and Quinn Taylor chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Saint Peter's trailed by 19 at halftime and never got closer than 16 points in the second half.

"We were stymied by their (Pirates) switch-up and match-ups," Dunne said. "When we played our two bigs it made our offense even more choppy. We had to do that because of their size. Plus their length. It was combination of things."

Seton Hall increased its lead to 61-38 by going on a 7-0 run with 10:29 to play.

A Delgado lay-in capped a 7-0 run and gave the Pirates their largest lead of the half at 42-23 with 41 seconds left. Seton Hall shot a sizzling 54 percent in the first half, outscoring the Peacocks 26-10 in the paint.

A 10-2 burst propelled the Pirates to a 26-8 cushion with 7:14 left in the half.

Saint Peter's connected on just one of its first 12 shots in the first 10 minutes.

The Pirates opened with a 12-2 run in the first 5:12. The Peacocks went nearly four minutes without a basket, missing five shots and committing three turnovers.

"I loved the way we came out and played defensively," Willard said. "I thought the first 10 minutes of the game defensively was terrific.

"The way John (Dunne) plays, he has one of the slowest tempos and they run their offense so well, we just wanted to play a little bit of a zone to get them out of rhythm."

NOTES: Saint Peter's coach John Dunne was an assistant coach with Seton Hall from 2001-06. He helped guide the Pirates to two NCAA Tournament berths and one NIT appearance. ... Seton Hall leads the Big East in offensive rebounding and offensive-rebounding percentage. ... The Peacocks lead the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in scoring defense, field-goal-percentage defense, 3-point-field-goal defense and turnover margin.