NEWARK, N.J. -- Over the past four seasons, No. 19 Seton Hall has not handled being ranked very well, so coach Kevin Willard addressed it earlier this week.

"When we got ranked, we talked about protecting it," he said, "and I talked to them for about an hour about things given and things earned, and in life, you're really going to appreciate things that are earned more than things that are given."

Seton Hall (7-1) earned its fourth straight win after dominating Virginia Commonwealth 90-67 in the first game of the Never Forget Tribute Classic on Saturday at the Prudential Center.

The Pirates entered the season ranked 23rd, moved up to 20, but fell out of the top 25 after a one-point loss to Rhode Island. Willard's team scored impressive wins against formerly ranked Texas Tech and Louisville last week to vault back to its highest ranking since January 2015.

"Losing to Rhode Island, when we were number 20 in the country, we know how that felt and we don't want to have that feeling again," Desi Rodriguez said. "Our older guys know what it takes to win, and it's up to us to lead our younger guys to doing the right things. Let them understand how good of a team we are, and every time we play someone, they're going to give us their best game."

Rodriguez led five Seton Hall starters in double figures with 17 points as Seton Hall won its 21st straight game against non-Big East opponents at the Prudential Center. The Pirates own a 64-8 record in nonleague games at Prudential.

Myles Powell contributed 16 points while going 4 of 7 on 3-pointers. Angel Delgado recorded the 56th double-double in his career, accumulating 14 points and 13 rebounds. Michael Nzei tossed in 14 points and Khadeen Carrington added 13 points.

"We've been playing together for so long, so everybody knows their role," Delgado said. "We don't focus on one guy. Everybody knows that when it's your night, when it's not your night. The guys are doing a really good job and we play as a team. We share the ball and when you share the ball, everybody gets points. That's what we're doing."

It marked the second time this season that Seton Hall scored at least 90 points. The Pirates knocked off Fairleigh Dickinson 90-68 in their opener.

Justin Tillman led VCU (5-5) with 20 points and seven rebounds. He has scored 20-plus points in four consecutive games.

"We worried about one guy and one guy only," Willard said. "Even though (Justin) Tillman still ended up with 20, he got a lot late. We wanted early in the game to make him uncomfortable and make him take tough shots, not let him get an easy look from three."

A torrid second half from Seton Hall put the game away. The Pirates shot 63.6 percent (21 of 33) after halftime and led by double-digits the entire half.

"We ran into a buzz saw today," said VCU coach Mike Rhoades. "Seton Hall has a great team. Definitely a Top-20 team. They didn't miss a beat. They scored at the rim at will on us and did a great job spreading the ball, spreading the ball around, springing it out, getting shots.

"We didn't give them much of a resistance around the rim. Disappointed in our play. We've been fighting like crazy all year long and finding ways in games like this to get back in them and give ourselves a chance.

"We didn't give ourselves a chance today and Seton Hall had everything to do with it. They were very, very good today."

The Pirates scored 52 points in the paint.

They hit six straight shots to start the second half, opening a 56-39 cushion, their largest lead to that point.

A traditional three-point play from Ismael Sanogo moved the Seton Hall lead to 67-47 with 10:11 to go.

Powell scored 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting to help the Pirates to a 43-30 lead at the break. The Rams shot just 33 percent in the half and led for just 1:06.

A 13-1 run over 5:35 enabled the Pirates to grab a 29-13 edge with 6:13 left in the half. Powell fueled the run with five points. The Rams failed to score a field goal in 6:06, missing all 10 shots.

NOTES: Seton Hall is 52-3 in its last 55 games dating to the 2015-16 season when holding a lead of seven points or more at any point in the game. ... Seton Hall has its highest AP ranking since January 2015. The Pirates had not been ranked higher than 19 since 2001. ... Seton Hall wore the names of alumni who died in the 9/11 attacks on the back of its warmup shirts. ... The Never Forget Tribute Classic partnered with Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund in the support of the education of the children of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. ... This was the second meeting between the schools. The Pirates won 69-54 in 2011.