Villanova @ Seton Hall preview
Prudential Center
Last Meeting ( Jan 19, 2021 ) Seton Hall 74, Villanova 76
Villanova will be searching for its ninth consecutive victory when it visits Seton Hall on Saturday in Newark, N.J.
The No. 3-ranked Wildcats improved to 10-1 overall and 5-0 in the Big East following a 71-56 win over Providence last Saturday. They're the only team in the conference without a loss.
Villanova was supposed to play at UConn on Thursday, but the game was postponed when one of the officials who worked the Huskies' game earlier in the week tested positive for COVID-19. Villanova has had 11 games either postponed or canceled.
The win over the Friars was far from easy; Villanova led by just one point with 13 minutes remaining before rattling off an 11-0 run to break free.
"We were playing off our defense," Wildcats head coach Jay Wright said. "We were getting confidence from getting stops defensively. We kept grinding."
That especially applies to Jermaine Samuels, the reigning Big East Player of the Week.
Samuels had 10 points and 10 rebounds against Providence that followed a 20-point, nine-rebound outing in a 76-74 victory over Seton Hall on Jan. 19.
Samuels' defense has been impressive along with the rest of the Wildcats. Villanova's defensive tenacity is one of the main reasons for its success in this unique season.
"I think Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is one of the best defensive players in the country," Wright said. "He can guard any position and it helps everybody else. Justin Moore is the same kind of guy, believe it or not. Our other teams could do that, but not as well as this team. Other teams were better offensively.
"We're not there offensively yet, but we have a chance to be one of our best defensive teams."
Moore and Collin Gillespie each scored 15 points in the win over Providence.
Seton Hall looks to respond from a disappointing 85-81 loss to No. 17 Creighton on Wednesday. The Pirates were unable to hold a 16-point second-half lead and fell to 9-7 overall and 6-4 in the Big East.
Bryce Aiken led the way with a season-best 21 points while Myles Cale added 20.
It was just the ninth career loss under head coach Kevin Willard when scoring at least 80 points. The Pirates are 81-9 when reaching at least 80 or more points under Willard.
Following the loss, Willard pointed to a specific reason for relinquishing the 16-point lead and losing the game.
"I said we're not very good defensively, and that's on me," Willard said, referring to what he told his team. "We've been a top 20 defensive team over the last seven years, and we might not be Division I now. I told them we have to get stops when games are on the line.
"It's easy to get stops when you're playing well but when you're not playing well, you have to figure out how to get stops."
Losing twice to the Wildcats in an 11-day span would be difficult to handle, especially after falling in maddening fashion to the Bluejays.
"We lost a tough game to Nova, and I thought we responded great," Willard said. "Now we've lost a tough one and we have to respond again. I thought they responded well in practice, but that's life in this league. We'll see what they're made of."
--Field Level Media