NEWARK — The circulation desk was still closed early on a recent Monday morning in the Peter W. Rodino Jr. Library, on the fourth level of the Seton Hall School of Law, where Braeden Anderson settled by a desk in the corner. He flipped an accordion-size textbook to Page 563.

Just outside, pale sunlight cast the hallways in a periwinkle glaze, nearly matching the color on the coffee mug resting before him, with Seton Hall’s logo, a patch-eyed pirate, splashed across it. The watch on Anderson’s left wrist read 7:35 a.m. Like most of the other first-year law students, he had almost every minute of the unfolding day mapped out. Except that his schedule included basketball practice that afternoon.

His days, then, seem to carry out like a stream of buzzer beaters. He has learned to thrive on less sleep — five, maybe six hours — than is recommended for a Division I athlete, and tailored his diet to handle the toll that the academic-athletic duality of his life can take. But Anderson is not one to complain. In fact, as he skimmed line by line through a textbook on torts, he insisted there were aspects of his studies that amused him.

Take this case, for example, he said, pointing over at Page 557. Bencivenga v. J.J.A.M.M. Inc. (1992). Guy at a nightclub gets beaten up by some other guys.