Seton Hall’s season ends with Big East tournament loss to Villanova

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEW YORK — It’s been a rough winter for Seton Hall fans.

After losing nearly the whole starting lineup from last year’s NIT title-winning squad, I don’t think fans expected a year where there wouldn’t be at least a little bit of a dropoff.

But after a 67-55 loss to Villanova on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, the final result says seven wins and 25 losses, the most defeats in program history. And it’s clear that the Pirates have work to do. A lot of work.

In many ways, the game against the Wildcats encompassed the whole season. Seton Hall fell behind 25-6 in the game, as it started out ice-cold against Villanova’s stout positional defense, while on the defensive end, the Pirates struggled to find any footing against one of the more efficient offenses in the nation.

After the lengthy cold spell, they got their sea legs, and were able to work their way back to within 31-17 late in the half. But poor free throw shooting (1-for-6 in the first half) and foul trouble to key guards (Scotty Middleton had three personals and Garwey Dual a pair at the intermission) negated some more momentum Seton Hall could have had. 

Because of this, the Pirates couldn’t take full advantage of Villanova star and national scoring leader Eric Dixon having to sit for a long time with two personal fouls and scoring no points through the first stanza. Dixon singlehandedly won the Wildcats the game against the Pirates in Newark two weeks ago by outscoring Seton Hall by himself—literally—in the second half, so this was an opportunity that really slipped by the wayside.

And yet, in the second half, we saw a big punchback from this unit that we’ve seen so many other times. The Pirates hit their first five shots of the half, including a couple threes, and whittled their deficit down to eight points, forcing Kyle Neptune to call timeout.

It was a short-lived reprieve. The Wildcats went on a 13-0 run, led by 11 points from Dixon, and that was essentially that. Seton Hall fought the rest of the way, but didn’t have a chance to get any closer in the defeat to end their season.

“Disappointed in the way we came out,” head coach Shaheen Holloway said after the game. “We made some adjustments at halftime, we got back in there, had a chance to get it down to maybe ten (points), I think. But then we had some bad, bad shots. We took some bad shots, then they kind of got back out. It was an uphill battle from there again.”

It really feels like Seton Hall has been fighting an uphill battle all year long, and in a lot of ways, it has, the biggest and most obvious being NIL resources, which have been reported to far and away lag behind the rest of its conference brethren. It’s a lesson that Holloway has learned well, and something he mentioned is reportedly improving.

“In this climate of NIL, it’s important,” he said. “You have to have it. You have to have it, or you can’t be successful. We’re trending in the right direction, but I think we have got to make sure we understand, and I have to make sure the fan base understands how important it is, because no one wants to go through something like this again. I know I don’t. I know they don’t, either.”

“I get the word that people are stepping up,” Holloway added. “They think it’s going to be there, but I want to make sure it’s there and more, to tell you the truth, because I think we need more.”

As for what Seton Hall needs heading into next season aside from resources to get players, I’ve got some thoughts, some of which have been echoed by others.

First and foremost, the Pirates need a steady hand at point guard. The loss of Kadary Richmond really hurt Seton Hall badly. Neither Dual nor Addae-Wusu is really a true point guard, and not having a steady hand at that position put the Pirate offense behind the 8-ball right away before taking into account how much scoring needed to be replaced. When Holloway was an assistant under Kevin Willard, he specialized in both finding point guards and developing them, giving fans hope that he can do it again to find the right captain to steer the on-court ship.

Secondly, the Pirates need to find a presence to score the ball inside. Seton Hall’s rotation of big men this season was either young and raw (Godswill Erheriene), or generally ineffective (Manny Okorafor, Yacine Toumi, Gus Yalden). Not a lot of the things the Pirates generally run involve just tossing the ball down to the post and having someone go to work, but the lack of hands in particular from pretty much everyone in the post unit really hurt The Hall this year. Prince Aligbe showed flashes of that, particularly when the press was in full force, but the Pirates certainly need help down there.

Holloway was asked about the transfer portal in his press conference tonight, and it all boiled down to one thing, needing to find players that fit him and his system.

“The portal is tricky,” he said. “You have all of maybe a week to recruit somebody, and you are recruiting somebody that maybe played good on another team or maybe played good in another league. You don’t know if that stuff translates to your team or this league. So obviously you can’t go too young, not in this day and age. But you have to get a mix of both some high school kids, some JUCO, some transfers, and you have to try and gel it together in a short period of time.”

“I think the only thing that helps us this year is that last year, we made a deep run, we got done in April,” Holloway added. “By then, a lot of guys were going (to) other places. But I think it’s also important that you get the right people. You really have to do your research, take some chances, and you have to trust your gut. I think that all kind of plays into it.”

I’m going to end our Seton Hall coverage on Daly Dose this season on this note: If I had to pick a player to personify the Pirates this year, it’s Dylan Addae-Wusu. He ended his college career with a tough night (two points, seven boards, three assists, two steals, six turnovers), but has been a warrior for The Hall for the last two years, and drew a nice hand from the Seton Hall fans for his efforts after fouling out in the second half.

Addae-Wusu is a player who certainly had his moments, who was certainly not perfect, but who had the exact mentality that Holloway is looking for, particularly in a guard. Addae-Wusu, like his team, fought through so much adversity and injury both tonight and all season long. The Pirates fell behind by a lot this year, but they rarely if ever failed to give hustle and effort, and that was the St. John’s transfer for The Hall. His bulldog-like perimeter defense was a part of so many effective full-court press sequences.

And in his quest to rebuild the roster this offseason, Holloway will certainly be looking for more guys like that, willing to run through a brick wall for him and play his way. Time will tell how many players will heed the call, and hopefully be part of the next great Seton Hall team.

For now, it’s time to put on the hard hats, and get back to work in South Orange.