Acaden Lewis controls game, leads to marquee Big East win for Willard, Villanova

Acaden Lewis conducted his first Big East game like a seasoned veteran, taking over as Villanova defeated Seton Hall. (Photo by Villanova Men’s Basketball)

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

NEWARK, N.J. — With all of the noise surrounding Kevin Willard’s return to the Big East and the Prudential Center, where he spent over a decade as the coach of the Seton Hall Pirates, it’s easy to forget just how important Tuesday’s game could be in the grand scheme of the 2025-26 college basketball season itself.

Villanova hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since Jay Wright retired following the run to the 2022 Final Four. The Wildcats didn’t have anything resembling a notable win coming into the stretch run at the end of December. Now, heading into Christmas, they have two. Villanova marched into Newark and led by as many as 20, handing Seton Hall just its second loss of the season. It stands – and likely for the year will stand – as a Quad 1, 64-56 victory for Willard’s team. In a Big East where opportunities for big wins will be sparse, seizing the first one is massive.

Because it took so long for Villanova to win a marquee game, it hasn’t quite popped up on the national radar yet. Despite a 9-2 record, with both losses coming away from home to top 10 teams (BYU and Michigan), it didn’t receive a single vote in the AP Poll.

“I like the fact that no one’s really talking about us, to be honest with you,” Willard said. “It gets you to keep them focused.”

There won’t be an AP Poll next week, but if Villanova defeats both DePaul and Butler, it will have a strong chance of being ranked in the January 5 poll, as it would be 12-2 at the time.

Seton Hall has controlled games with its pressure defense and Budd Clark’s playmaking. On Tuesday though, it was the Wildcats’ point guard who controlled the game. Freshman Acaden Lewis, who has started all 12 games for Villanova this year, passed his first Big East test. Just a minute into the game, he drew Clark’s second foul, drilling a three-pointer from the left wing in the process.

Losing Clark that early to foul trouble put the Pirates on the back foot, and allowed Lewis to attack on both ends of the floor. He finished with 16 points on 6-for-11 from the field, grabbing five rebounds, and picking up three steals as well. Even when Clark checked back in, Lewis and the Wildcats executed their game plan of turning him into a scorer, and his shots weren’t falling most of the night. The hay was in the barn by the time he scored his first points.

Meanwhile, Lewis used his speed and poise to beat defenders off the dribble, and get out in transition for his points.

“Acaden Lewis is special, man,” Willard said. “He’s had one bad college game so far in my eyes, and nobody played good at Michigan, we all had goose eggs.”

He went on to shower praise on redshirt freshman Matt Hodge as well, an athletic forward who had 12 points and six rebounds in the win.

“Those two freshmen are playing at an extremely high level,” Willard said.

Villanova’s 60 percent effective field goal rate was the highest mark that Seton Hall’s defense had allowed all year, but the Pirates still forced 18 turnovers. Not having Najai Hines in the middle forced head coach Shaheen Holloway to ride Stephon Payne more than usual, and it was not his best defensive performance of the season. For Holloway, the Pirates didn’t make it hard enough on Lewis.

“We didn’t do a good job putting him on his heels,” he said. “(We weren’t) pressuring them and making them think. I thought he was just playing free. When you play free like that, I think you play well.”

The Wildcats led by eight in the first half before Seton Hall scored six in a row spanning the two halves, seeming primed to take the lead at home. But Villanova’s defense buckled down, holding the Pirates without a point on six straight possessions on a 16-0 run.

“We played really good defense,” Willard said of the run. “I thought we got our hands active, we got a couple of steals. We got some good ball fakes (on offense) because they do run at you a lot, and we’re able to get in transition. You have to get in transition against them, if you don’t, you’re not going to beat them.”

Whether Willard wants them to or not, people will start taking notice of the Wildcats if they keep winning. He knows that his team has room to grow throughout the year as well, given that three starters are underclassmen. But even now, coming out of the first portion of the season sitting at 24th in KenPom and 21st in Wins Above Bubble, Villanova is in a better position than anybody in the college basketball sphere predicted coming into the year.

It was always going to be a memorable night for Willard to come back to the Prudential Center. He discussed seeing the same security guards who used to carry his kids when they were toddlers. But he’s writing a new chapter in his story at Villanova, and it is turning out to be a pretty good one.

St. John’s overcomes sluggish start, pounds Harvard in non-conference finale

Ian Jackson was one of three St. John’s players with 14 points as Red Storm won non-conference finale against Harvard. (Photo by St. John’s Athletics)

By Jason Dimaio (@Jaydimaio)

NEW YORK — Three days removed from perhaps its most disappointing game of the season to date, St. John’s was unable to shake off the rust in the opening minutes of its final non-conference matchup Tuesday.

After a second half against Kentucky that the Red Storm would love to forget, St. John’s allowed Harvard to score on its first five possessions, opening up an early 13-5 lead.

Ian Jackson made sure the adversity was short-lived.

The North Carolina transfer showed signs of life on both ends of the ball, knocking down two early threes to get the wheels turning. The sophomore’s on-ball defense improved as well, as he was a key cog in the Johnnies’ late first-half run, a 20-2 blitz that turned a five-point deficit into a 13-point lead, and eventually, an 85-59 win over the visiting Crimson at Carnesecca Arena.

“Ian is improving every day,” head coach Rick Pitino remarked as Jackson’s 14 points were complemented by zero turnovers. “He’s cut down on his turnovers. The last hurdle is learning to embrace contact on the glass.”

“Can you get a tough girlfriend or something to beat you up?” Pitino jokingly quipped to his sophomore guard.

The other prominent conundrum that St. John’s (8-4, 1-0 Big East) has faced was the lack of impact of

Bryce Hopkins. That took a step in the right direction Tuesday, as the senior matched Jackson on the scoreboard with 14 points, also adding three rebounds and four assists.

Hopkins looked much more comfortable and involved in the Red Storm offense, backing down defenders and crashing harder for offensive boards. The former all-Big East big man has been aware of the criticism he’s received so far, and has made sure to take it with grace through his first months with the Johnnies.

Bryce Hopkins responded to criticism Tuesday, scoring 14 points and looking more comfortable in St. John’s offense. (Photo by St. John’s Athletics)

“That’s why I came here,” he replied when asked about his critiques. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Coach P is a legend in the game, and I came here to be pushed. Whatever he expects from me, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.”

While Pitino has made his thoughts public on how Hopkins has struggled so far, the Hall of Fame coach also reiterated his confidence in the senior Tuesday.

“Bryce is highly intelligent,” he said. “When you come off an injury and you’re not used to playing, it takes time to get back into action. He will get it. I don’t doubt it.”

Hopkins, Jackson and Zuby Ejiofor tied the team high with 14 points each, while Joson Sanon added 10 points as the Johnnies went on to a non-competitive second half in their final tuneup before returning to Big East play.

St. John’s will have eight days off before their next contest, on New Year’s Eve at Georgetown. And while some naysayers have dismissed the Red Storm for lacking a signature victory in the non-league portion of its schedule, its leader quickly dispelled the notion that he has an underachieving squad.

“We do not panic,” Pitino boldly declared. “We do not pay any attention to any nonsense about where we are as a team. We’re just trying to get better each day. We know that by March, we believe we’ll be a good basketball team. We still have a long way to go and a lot of growth to make, but we’re growing.”

“You can be disappointed that you lose a game, but I have not been disappointed one day with these guys, because they give me 100 percent in practice. They play hard.”

5 Thoughts: Villanova stumps Seton Hall in Willard’s return

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEWARK, N.J. — When Kevin Willard was hired to be the head coach at Villanova this past offseason, you immediately circled this game on the calendar, when he would return to Prudential Center to coach against the program he rescued from the scrap heap and elevated to prominence.

And on Tuesday night in Newark, the Wildcats hit a bunch of threes early to build a halftime lead, then used a 16-0 run in the second half fueled by their defense to put the game out of reach, running away with what became a 64-56 victory over Seton Hall that marked the Pirates’ second loss of the season, a letdown for the home side after a stirring win at Providence over the weekend.

Here are the Thoughts:

1. Budd in the Mud

It's been a roller-coaster ride for Budd Clark in the last three games. Against Rutgers, he dominated from the start. On Friday against the Friars, he was held in check for the most part, but came up enormous when the game was in the balance.

Tonight, he struggled badly. After picking up two fouls in the first 1:15 of the contest, he played just five minutes in the first half, and could not find any sort of flow, finishing with just four points on 1-for-11 shooting and four personal fouls along with only two assists, and with all four points coming late when the game was out of reach.

“I thought having those two fouls early kind of got him out of rhythm,” Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway said after the game. “He’s not used to sitting. Then with him sitting down, we didn’t really get into the flow of the offense too much, and I thought in the second half, he came out aggressive, missed a couple shots. They got a couple runouts and then from there, we were trying to play catch-up. He had a tough game, and not just him. A lot of our guys had tough shooting games tonight.”

“Our whole game plan was to make Budd a scorer,” Willard said about the Pirates’ lead guard. “You can’t let him spray (passes), he’s so good at spraying it. We would have changed up our defense if he was making shots, but you can’t let Williams and (Staton-)McCray make threes, because it really ignites their defense.”

More on that last point in a bit.

Seton Hall was able to weather the storm in the first half despite getting almost nothing from its most important player thanks to forcing turnovers and crashing the glass, but when the struggles continued deep into the second half, the Pirates’ offense could not pick up the slack against a Villanova defense that, if nothing else, was sound and physical.

One of the hallmarks of the early season for the Pirates is that they have so many players who can lead the charge, but against good competition in the Big East, they’re going to need to be led, if not statistically, then spiritually, by their point guard.

2. Remember Who You Are

Tonight was a rough night, no doubt about it. But even on nights like tonight, it was good to see the Pirates’ identity show through, at least on paper.

Point No. 1: Balance, although maybe not enough of it volume-wise. Seton Hall got another solid outing from Elijah Fisher, with 13 points, four rebounds, and two steals, continuing to be maybe the stickiest of The Hall’s glue guys.

Josh Rivera played a good hustle game as well, finishing with a season-high 10 points, and playing well at the head of the Pirates’ full-court press in the second half when they fell behind by 20 and needed a spark.

“It’s a positive for him because it gives him more confidence,” Holloway said. “He understands what I want from him. He has to play like that all the time, not just sometimes, play with that type of energy and passion. If he does that, he’ll see more minutes.”

Point No. 2: Defensive hustle. According to the Pirates’ skipper, it was there “in spurts” tonight, but just not on a consistent basis. The final tallies were nonetheless pretty good, with 18 turnovers forced and 23 points off those takeaways, as Seton Hall finished a plus-14 in that regard over the Wildcats. If those kind of numbers are present on an off night, if and when The Hall’s pressure gets really going, look out.

Even the opposing coach had something to say about that.

“They make it so hard for you to execute,” Willard said after the game. “If they play defense like that all year, they’re a second round NCAA Tournament team.”

But it didn’t translate onto the scoreboard because...

3. Buckets Absent

The saying that offense wins games, but defense wins championships, gets bandied about a ton in a lot of different situations in many different sports. But the reality is that if you can’t put the ball in the basket, you’re not going to be successful.

And in Seton Hall’s case, it also doesn’t allow them to reach its full potential on defense if the ball doesn’t go in the hoop.

“We didn’t make any shots, so we couldn’t get in our press,” Holloway said. “Then, down the stretch, you’re playing comeback, you’re making some steals, and scoring, now you can get in your press. But we couldn't score, and when you don’t get in your press against a team like that, they run the shot clock down. They run all these dribble handoffs, and the point guard’s phenomenal. And when they make shots, they’re a tough team to beat.”

Clark will get the brunt of the comments tonight, but Seton Hall shot just 3-for-13 from deep as a unit, and the other big-gun guard from Friday’s win at Providence also struggled, with Tajuan Simpkins going just 2-for-11 from the field for six points. As Holloway mentioned, a lot of guys who have stepped up at times this season had off nights.

Speaking of that point guard for Villanova...

4. Awesome Acaden

I was impressed by Villanova overall tonight, but Acaden Lewis maybe the most. As only a freshman playing in his first Big East game, he scored Villanova’s first six points, including converting a four-point play while drawing Clark's fateful second foul. He finished with a game-high 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting, adding five rebounds and a pair of assists along with three steals.

“Acaden Lewis is special, man,” Willard said. “He’s had one bad college game so far in my eyes, no one played (well) at Michigan. But you look at what he’s done…we start two freshmen, a sophomore, a junior and a senior, and they’re getting better and better. He’s a special point guard.”

A former point guard himself and developer of guards, Holloway also had good things to say about Lewis afterwards.

“I thought he played well,” the Pirates’ head man said. “I think we didn’t do a good job of putting him on his heels, pressuring him, making him think. I thought he played free, and when you play free, you play well.”

For a younger team entering its first Big East action against a Seton Hall team playing so well coming in, and on the road with a first-year point guard, Villanova was uncommonly poised despite The Hall being able to turn them over. It’s something that we saw over and over again from Willard’s Seton Hall teams of the past: They would go to places like Maryland, Michigan, Madison Square Garden against a pro-Kentucky crowd, and win those games.

“We’re battle-tested,” Willard said of his new team. “We’ve played BYU on the road, Michigan on the road, Wisconsin on the road, we’ve had to play three Big 5 games. I’ve got a lot of confidence that our guys have played some really good teams, and watching Seton Hall on film, we knew we were going to have to play very well to get a win.”

And play well, they did, taking the first of what figures to be many head-to-head matchups between Willard and Holloway. I look forward to watching future matchups between the former mentor and mentee in Big East play.

5. Willard Returns

I’ve told the story before, but I’ll tell it again. Back in 2010, Seton Hall was in desperate need of a reset. Coming off a Bobby Gonzalez era that I’ll be kind and describe as tumultuous, and an end to said era that embarrassed the program, I remember attending the press conference at Walsh Gymnasium introducing Kevin Willard as the head coach of the Pirates. I came away from that press conference knowing that The Hall got someone who could handle the task ahead.

It took time, but once Willard was able to elevate the talent level of players in the program, things took off like a rocket ship. A school that hadn't sniffed the NCAA Tournament in a decade broke through in 2016 with a Big East championship, and became a fixture on Selection Sunday. Even though those great teams were only able to win one game in the gauntlet that is the Big Dance, what Willard did was outstanding over 12 years leading the Pirates.

It’s what made the appreciative ovation just before the national anthem when Seton Hall played a tribute video to its former coach hit home. That was the appropriate reaction from a sold-out Prudential Center, even if afterwards, it reverted to fans wanting nothing more than to see him go down on the other sideline.

Willard himself put things in perspective when talking about how it was to come back to a building he once got rocking like it had never rocked before.

“When I got this (Seton Hall) job, I had a one-year old and a three-year old,” he said. “Now, I have a senior in high school and a freshman in college. This place helped raise my family in a very special way. We still have the same security guards that used to carry my kids after games back there, the same alumni, so for me, that was kind of the emotional part. We went through the pictures, we relived a lot of the good times, relived a lot of the bad times. This place is a very special place because they take care of their own.”

When he left for Maryland, though it wasn’t the cleanest exit ever, the reason I wasn’t really torn up about it as a Seton Hall alum myself was appreciation for what he accomplished. I was a student when he was hired in South Orange, and saw firsthand the magnitude of the task ahead, and to go from those lows to the heights he hit was special. It remains a crime that his best Seton Hall team got shut down by the pandemic.

I’ll close by saying it’s nice to have him back in the Big East Conference, if for no other reason than his dryest of wit will give us all some good things to write about when the Wildcats are in town.

For Seton Hall, it’s back to the drawing board after Christmas to take on a Marquette squad that has struggled to find its footing this year. Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays to all!

Kevin Willard quote book: Seton Hall

By Jake Copestick (@JakeCopestick)

On what it was like returning to Seton Hall:

“It was emotional for my wife and I last night with my boys. When I got this job, I had a one-year-old and a three-year-old. Now I have a senior in high school and a freshman in college. This place helped raise my family in a very special way. I saw the same security guards that used to carry my kids after games that are back there, the same alumni are here. For me, that was the emotional part, also the scary part that I have a freshman in college and a senior in high school. But just to relive, we went through the pictures, we relived a lot of the good times, we relived a lot of the bad times. This place is a very special place just because they take care of their own, that was the emotional part. Once I walked out, we had to win a game.”

On sharing a moment with Shaheen Holloway before or after the game, and the job Holloway has done:

“I’ll talk to Sha tomorrow at some point, but he’s done a phenomenal job. I mean, that defense, they make it so hard to execute. If they keep playing defense like that all year, they can be a second round NCAA Tournament team.”

On Villanova’s defense:

“It was good tonight. I didn’t think it was that good in the first half. We went back and watched it at halftime. We looked a little tired. I mean, the size of Wisconsin kind of wore us out a little bit. I thought once we watched the film, the second half, we were much more aggressive. I thought we got our hands much more active, and made them take a lot of tough twos.”

On Acaden Lewis:

“Acaden Lewis is special, man. He had one bad college game so far in my eyes. No one played good at Michigan. We all had goose eggs at Michigan. You look at what (Lewis) has done, I look at Matt Hodge. Those two freshmen are playing at an extremely high level. You start two freshmen, a sophomore, a junior and a senior, and they’re getting better and better. He’s a special point guard.”

On the defense on Budd Clark:

“Our whole game plan was to make Budd a scorer, just let him shoot. You can’t let him spray. He’s so good at spraying it, and we would have changed our defense if he was making shots. You can’t let Williams and Staton-McCray make threes, because it really ignites their defense, especially at home. I saw what they did to Rutgers when they started making threes. That was our whole game plan, just let him score and not let him spray, because he can spray with the best of them.”

On what worked during Villanova’s 16-0 run early in the second half:

“I just thought we played really good defense. I thought we got our hands active, we got a couple steals. We got some good ball fakes because they do run at you a lot. They really challenge the three as well. We were able to get in transition. You have to get in transition against them.”

On if the team is farther along than he thought:

“We’re trending in the right direction. I like the fact that no one’s really talking about us, to be honest with you, because it gets me to keep them focused. We’ve got three days off for Christmas and when we get back, this will only be our second home game in December. That’s been a little bit of a challenge. I just look at Matt Hodge and see he had six more rebounds tonight. He knows that’s what he’s gotta do. I look at Acaden and what he’s doing, Bryce Lindsay is only a sophomore. As long as those guys can continue to improve, we’re going to continue to improve.”

On matching Seton Hall’s intensity:

“We’re battle tested. We played BYU on the road, Michigan on the road, and Wisconsin on the road. We’ve had to play three Big 5 games, which if you haven’t played through the Big 5, every one of those games is intense. I have a lot of confidence in the fact that our guys have played against a lot of good teams. Watching Seton Hall on film, we knew that we were going to have to play at a very high level to get a win.”

On if Holloway gets enough respect as a coach nationally:

“I know within the coaching community he does. No one listens to you guys. Your Twitter is horrible (to Adam Zagoria). You post like, ‘on the Hudson,’ you post like, ‘hey, good morning on the Hudson.’ I’m like, I’m at the office. I don’t give a fuck about you’re on the Hudson. You post about that, you got a dog. I’m like, alright, you’re supposed to be a sportswriter. You’ve got your dog in the Hudson and Jerry (Carino)’s talking about Festivus.”

On Seton Hall’s turnaround:

“(Sha’s) done a phenomenal job. He’s a phenomenal coach. He’s a great person. It takes time. This era is crazy. This era is insane. What he and everyone has to deal with, the NCAA is totally clueless, lost. It’s a joke. I just tried to sign a 47-year-old Chinese guy from the European League. I’m sure he’ll get eligible. I think Oklahoma just signed a 24 year old Russian. It’s like, what are we doing? But Sha has done a phenomenal job. He’s done a phenomenal job since he’s been here. I know last year was a tough year, and everyone has tough years. That dude can coach and he’s the right guy for this program. I’ve got nothing but the utmost respect for him.”

La Salle looks to chart a new course in A-10 play

La Salle coach Darris Nichols (right) reviews strategy before a recent game. (Photo:  La Salle Athletics)

Follow @sportsmatters

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Darris Nichols found himself in a familiar place with a familiar feeling.

About 20 months ago and a few steps down the same hall at High Point’s Qubein Center, Nichols sat in a chair, clearly feeling the effects of a 99-74 loss by his then-Radford Highlanders to High Point. Nichols was struggling with a team that had lost its way.

On this chilly December evening, with Christmas lights twinkling outside and the bright bulbs in the arena on full display, Nichols again searched for answers. Nichols’ La Salle team – the school for which he left his hometown prior to the season after Fran Dunphy retired – had just dropped a 12-point decision to the Panthers. The feeling – when compared to that prior night and his first season at Radford, at least – was similar for Nichols.

“In terms of how I feel, it’s very similar,” Nichols said. “My first year (at Radford), we came out of Christmas and some games were canceled. My first year after I got (the Radford) job, the next day, the team went home for the summer. This year, I got the job in the spring. I had nobody working out but one player (Eric Acker). It’s trying to build continuity and consistency with the guys you have. You need a spring to go into (the new program).”

The Explorers, who fell to 4-9 with the loss at High Point and a subsequent loss at Michigan two days later, have been beset by key losses. Forward Jerome Brewer missed the loss at High Point and had not played in nearly a month, with transfer guards Josue Grullon and Jaden Johnson both unavailable. Neither Grullon nor Johnson had appeared in a game this season. The losses left Nichols unable to fully assess the potential of his team.

“I don’t know, because we’ve got to get healthy,” Nichols said. “I have three dudes over there that are potential starters, so I don’t know.”

La Salle collected its most recent victory December 6, turning away Drexel, 69-64, in the Big 5 Classic. Despite the missing players, Nichols – as he often does – saw a teaching opportunity with his team.

“Sometimes, I think (with) the ups and downs of the season, guys get poisoned by accomplishment. Then, they’ll be in the valley of disappointment. You don’t really know where they are. If you’re high and you’re low, it’s a recipe for disaster. I think a lot of them are going through that.”

Nichols then elaborated on the process of working through struggles and maintaining consistency.

“Jaden Johnson has (developed as a voice), but he’s hurt. I think – it’s different guys (taking leadership roles). That’s what I’m trying to get them to understand. They feel their voice is more powerful when they’re playing well. If they’re not playing well, they don’t talk. I told them they can’t be up and down. Emotionally, we’re draining each other. If things aren’t going well for you, you stop talking, but things are going well for you now, so you’re talking. The emotional part of the season – of the game – is something that we’ve got to overcome. You see different versions of guys based on how they’re playing.”

The Michigan game also created an opportunity for Nichols to share a helpful lesson.

“The thing about it is that (Michigan head coach) Dusty May and I worked together for all those years with (Jacksonville coach) Jordan Mincy. We all have head (coaching) jobs because we were unselfish. I said (to the team) that we weren’t draining each other in the office every day.”

“I told them that most of you guys know it’s about to get harder in real life. That’s why everybody wants their (extra) year back. You better master this, because it’s about to get harder. You don’t get your year back. You’ve got to go into the real world and it gets really hard.”

The transfer portal also presents a challenge for Nichols, who is a leader who thrives on relationships. Nichols acknowledges the challenges of retaining players while remaining true to who he is as a coach.

“Some of it may be different lineups. Some of it may be different patterns of guys’ plans,” Nichols said. “A lot of it is, ‘Okay, I’m going here. I’m here for a year. Let’s see what happens.’ That’s the nature we’re in. If you’ve got guys who are thinking like that, sometimes it shows on the court.”

As the portal takes from Nichols and schools like La Salle, it also gives. The Explorers added 12 players to the roster in the offseason, and that group is still finding its way. Nichols acknowledges that many of those players are taking on increased roles in the Explorers’ lineup.

“That’s just the ups and downs of the game. A lot of these guys haven’t been in those situations. The last two years, (guard) Rob Dockery sat beside the water cooler at Texas A&M. If he got in, he got in when the team was up 30 or down 30. Now they’ve got to get used to the ups and downs of the game, and some of them are struggling.”

La Salle will need to use the holiday break to work through the struggles Nichols cited. The Explorers’ first five games in A-10 play start with a home date against George Mason on New Year’s Eve, with a game at John E. Glaser Arena in Philadelphia the only other home outing mixed in with road tests at George Washington, Rhode Island, and Richmond. Nichols lamented the lack of road contests early in the season to help his group bond, but the league slate will accelerate that bonding process.

“I didn’t take into consideration (before the season) how important it is to get these guys on the road,” Nichols said. “We didn’t have our first road game until December 13. I think that’s a bonding experience where guys are around each other for a majority of the day. I didn’t – a lot of the schedule was already made, but I didn’t – you don’t think about that as much.”

Sha Sounds Off: Villanova

On Seton Hall’s 3-point defense:

“Those questions are really kind of…they made some shots and we didn’t do a good job tonight. Give them a lot of credit, they’re a good team. They’re a really good team, really disciplined, got good guard play. They average 11 made threes a game, so you know that’s something that they’re gonna do. Our job was to try to contain it as much as possible, try to keep them off the offensive glass, but we just didn’t play well. We picked the wrong game to not play well at all. From an offensive standpoint, we were awful. I thought our defense was solid, they scored 64 points — I mean, we’re kind of keeping teams in that range, the sixties, whatever — so a team like that with a lot of power that they have, as far as offensive power, for them to score 64 points is pretty good. The problem is we couldn’t score.”

On Budd Clark:

“I thought having those two fouls early kind of got him out of rhythm. He was out of rhythm with two fouls early, he sat a lot, he’s not used to sitting. Then with him sitting down, we didn’t really get into the flow of the offense too much, and I thought in the second half, he came out aggressive, missed a couple shots. They got a couple runouts and then from there, we were trying to play catch-up. I’m still learning him, right? He had a tough game, and not just him. A lot of our guys had tough shooting games tonight. We just gotta get back, I know these guys gotta — this rule they have, they gotta get all these days off — so we gotta give these guys a lot of days off, then come back and have a short turnaround to go to Marquette.”

On shot selection:

“We missed a lot of layups, I know that. I don’t understand how you miss that many layups, but I have to watch the film more to see. I know we had some pull-ups…I know early on, Mike had some pull-ups, Budd had some pull-ups, shots that they’re capable of making. We knew they were gonna play that defense, they were gonna drop. But you just can’t have four guys and you’ve got one guy 1-for-11, another guy 2-for-11, 2-for-9. I’m not calling no names out, that’s just what it is. Those are our key guys, those guys gotta be able to make some plays for us, and they didn’t. Give Villanova a lot of credit tonight, but we’ll bounce back.”

On not having Najai Hines:

“To answer your question, it impacts us a lot not having him. A low-post presence, a defender, somebody to protect the basket, somebody that we could throw the ball to, a guy to get offensive rebounds. I thought Steph was good, but I think he played too much. I played him too much, he was tired. When you’re out there going over all those ball screens, man, I don’t care who you are. You’re gonna get fatigued. And I hope we have (Hines) back soon because we need him.”

On Hines’ activity between games:

“Yeah, he tried to do some non-contact stuff. He’ll get evaluated, I guess, when we get back (after Christmas) because after tonight, guys are going on break for a minute.”

To Adam Zagoria following up on Hines’ absence being called an illness, and on Kevin Willard:

“Yeah, sure. There you go. It’s an illness, yeah. You want to call it an illness? You know, you’re a funny guy. You know that, man? You know, welcome back, man! You don’t be here for all these games and you come back with that? Come on, man!”

“(Willard) did a good job, man. He’s a good coach, man, he’s a really good coach. I don’t know why people don’t understand that. He’s a really good coach, I’ve got a lot of respect for him, he did a lot for me in my career, I’m very grateful for it. We definitely talk, he’s a big supporter of mine, I’m a big supporter of his, but tonight, he was trying to beat me and I was trying to beat him. He did a good job tonight, but on to the next.”

On this game being a lesson to the team:

“I don’t think you ever could burn a tape, because you want to make sure you — I don’t think we played at the intensity we should have played at the whole game. We had spurts with it. I thought we could have really got after them, and we really didn’t. And that’s, like I said, it’s a combination of a lot of things, right? When you’re not making shots, you can’t get in your press, and that was kind of one of the things with us. We didn’t make no shots, so we couldn’t really get in our press, and then down the stretch, you’re kind of playing comeback, you’re getting some steals and you’re scoring, now you can get in your press. But we couldn’t score, so we couldn’t get in our press. And we didn’t get in our press because of a team like that, they’re running the shot clock and they run all these grenades — all these dribble handoffs — and they’ve got a point guard, a freshman, that’s phenomenal. He controlled the game. And they made shots. And when they make shots, they’re a hard team to beat.”

On Villanova’s Acaden Lewis:

“I thought he played well. I thought we didn’t do a good job of putting him on his heels, pressuring him and making him think. He was just kind of playing free, and when you’re playing free like that, I think he played well…what did he have, 16 points? He played well. I don’t know, fellas. This was a tough one, man. I’m disappointed in our effort, I’m disappointed in the way we played, I’m disappointed in a lot of things. The one thing I’m disappointed in is these guys were like, forcing a lot of things instead of just playing. They were like, ‘oh, this gotta go in,’ instead of just playing. You gotta play. I thought one of the good things is Josh gave us some positive minutes, so that’s a good thing. I don’t like the way we played tonight. I don’t think it was tight. Jerry, you’re the best, man. Both you guys are the best. I think because we weren’t scoring, everybody was like, ‘I gotta do it, I gotta do it,’ instead of just playing within the flow of the team, passing it and getting an extra one, then the next one, and getting a good shot for Seton Hall and not for me. I thought we had a bunch of me shots tonight instead of Seton Hall shots, and that got us in trouble. But we’ll get better.”

On Josh Rivera:

“I’m kind of the last guy to ask stuff like that because I’m a sore loser, because when you lose, it really doesn’t matter if someone played good individually. We lost. But for him, that’s a positive for him because he’s getting more confidence. He understands what I want from him. He’s gotta play like that all the time, not just sometimes. Play with that type of energy and that passion, and if he does that, he’ll see more minutes.”