Wednesday evening, Seton Hall was envisioning a big week. By late Saturday afternoon, that hope had turned into resigned disappointment.
The Pirates suffered a home sweep against the best of the Big East, blowing a big lead against No. 17 Creighton on Wednesday and getting overwhelmed on Saturday by third-ranked Villanova, 80-72, at Prudential Center.
“We’ve got to rebound, we’ve got to come back and get after it — on the defensive end more than anything — and get ready to play two tough games,” coach Kevin Willard said.
Instead of proving without a doubt it belongs in the NCAA Tournament, Seton Hall finds itself squarely on the bubble, badly needing to pad it’s now-underwhelming résume\é and without many opportunities to do so.
It has lost three straight games — all to Creighton and Villanova — and needs at least a split next week on the road against fellow middle-of-the-pack Big East foes Providence and Connecticut.
“Big week,” said senior guard Shavar Reynolds, who scored a team-high 13 points.
Eleven days ago, Seton Hall and Villanova played a classic game in Philadelphia in which the Pirates were two points shy of pulling the upset. This matchup wasn’t nearly as close. Villanova led by double figures nearly the entire way. It torched the Pirates’ shaky 3-point defense, making 10 of 22 attempts, and limited star forward Sandro Mamukelashvili to 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Over two games this week, Mamukelashvili was held to 23 points.
“What he’s going through is something every top player goes through at some point,” Willard said. “He’s getting double-teamed. Everyone knows what we’re running for him. It’s the same thing Myles [Powell] went through his junior year, same thing Myles went through last year. I do think he’s forcing it at times, but that’s just because he hasn’t been through this.”
Willard harped on the perimeter defense afterwards, saying it went from “horrific” on Wednesday, when Creighton hit 17 3-pointers, to merely “terrible” on Saturday. Details, Reynolds said, are holding Seton Hall (9-8, 6-5) back. It will play 25 seconds worth of quality defense, only to falter at the most inopportune time.
“That kills you against really good teams, and so I’m frustrated a little bit for the fact that we’re just having little breakdowns,” Willard said. “It’s like a little hole in the boat is causing it to flood. We have to somehow get better at it, because if we don’t, we’re going to continue to struggle.”
They weren’t nearly sharp enough to threaten the Wildcats (11-1, 6-0), whether it was 11 turnovers leading to 15 points, the suspect perimeter defense that enabled Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to go off for 23 points and Jermaine Samuels add 17 or the at-times-questionable shot selection. Seton Hall couldn’t create any sustained runs, trailed by 16 in the first half and only got as close as seven over the final 20 minutes.
Whenever the Pirates tried to gain momentum, the Big East’s premier program responded with a haymaker. And now they desperately need to bounce back. Anything other than a strong finish and the New Jersey program will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years.
“You find out what you’re made of when adversity hits,” Reynolds said. “Our backs are against the wall right now.”