Seton Hall-Villanova delivers another classic, even in disappointing ending for Pirates

Even after narrow loss to Villanova, Kevin Willard had no regrets about Pirates’ effort. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

PHILADELPHIA — It was what everyone has come to expect from the rivalry that is now considered the premier clash between Big East Conference foes.

Yes, Saturday’s latest reprisal of the Villanova-Seton Hall series produced a similar result when the Wildcats emerged 73-67 victors over a Pirate side that has only gotten the better of the national power twice since winning the Big East tournament championship at Villanova’s expense six years ago, but a sense of respect and admiration has pervaded both sides over the years, leaving Seton Hall’s coach to walk away with a positive feeling in defeat.

“I’m not frustrated at all,” Kevin Willard remarked. “I’m proud of my guys, they battled. If you look over the last seven years, the games we’ve had against each other have been a battle. I’ve talked about how much respect I have for (Collin) Gillespie and (Jermaine) Samuels, and what they’ve done for the league, so it’s definitely a battle every time we play each other.”

“I thought we had opportunities at the rim. We just didn’t come up with two key rebounds. We did a good job scrambling and getting them to take tough shots at the end, but give them credit. They made two huge offensive rebounds that penalized us.”

The first of the caroms came with just over four minutes remaining in regulation, with Villanova leading by two and Eric Dixon having missed a point-blank look under the rim before Brandon Slater fought off Alexis Yetna to secure the ball, tipping it out to a wide-open Chris Arcidiacono for a left arc 3-pointer that extended the lead to five, at 62-57.

But Seton Hall was not done, eventually retaking the lead on the strength of back-to-back Tray Jackson threes in the latest heavyweight showdown with the Wildcats. Again trailing by two inside the final minute, Caleb Daniels missed what would have been a dagger before Collin Gillespie climbed the ladder and fed the ball to Justin Moore, who ultimately drew a foul and iced the game at the line. Where Willard kept his head held high, one of his veteran leaders lamented the lack of execution in a critical moment after harping on it in the days of practice leading up to Saturday’s action.

“It’s very frustrating,” Myles Cale admitted. “We talked about it a lot going into the game. They crash the boards very well, that’s how they beat us at our house (January 1). We were very light, we only had seven players that game, so we were trying to make an emphasis on offensive rebounding and them crashing a lot.”

That said, Seton Hall is still in a very favorable position heading to another road battle Wednesday against Connecticut. At 15-8 on the year, the Pirates are still on the positive side of the bubble despite not having Bryce Aiken available for the past seven games as he recovers from a concussion suffered at Marquette last month. There is no timetable for when the point guard will officially return, but one of his fellow seniors carries the same positivity Willard conveyed as far as a big-picture perspective.

“I feel good,” Cale said of Seton Hall’s long-term prospects. “We went through adversity coming off that stretch coming out of COVID, so I feel like we found ourselves again and we’re in a very good spot. We’re not trying to have a domino effect and let this affect us the whole rest of the season. We’ve just got to come back to work on Monday, have a good head on our shoulders and prepare for UConn.”