With every shot Myles Powell made Sunday, you could see the excitement in his Seton Hall teammates’ eyes. They went out of their way to congratulate him, further boosting the once-struggling freshman’s confidence.
Seton Hall (13-6, 3-4 Big East), which plays host to No. 11 Butler on Wednesday, knows it only will get where it wants to go — back to the NCAA Tournament — if Powell re-emerges as a reliable scorer.
“It keeps the defense honest,” junior guard Khadeen Carrington said after Powell keyed Sunday’s 86-73 win over St. John’s.
Against the Red Storm, Powell made 7-of-12 shots, his most made field-goal attempts since a win over Columbia on Dec. 1. He hit three 3-pointers, and attacked the rim when the outside shot wasn’t there, pouring in 19 points — two more than he produced in his previous three games, all losses, in which he made just 5-of-29 from the field.
“It felt like, finally, it was good to finally see [a 3-pointer] go in,” the 6-foot-2 Powell said. “I just wanted to prove I’m the same player I was earlier in the year.”
The Trenton, N.J., native got off to a sensational start, scoring 26 points in his first career road game at Iowa, blitzing Columbia with 21 points, and playing a pivotal role in the Pirates’ biggest win to date, a narrow victory over No. 23 South Carolina at the Garden on Dec. 12.
But what followed was a massive slump, unprecedented for Powell. Over the next eight games, he reached double-figures just once, in a rout of DePaul. He made 11-of-47 3-point attempts, missing wide-open jumpers he normally hits in his sleep. He missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in a road loss at Marquette and was 2-of-12 from the field in a rout by Villanova.
“I felt down on myself,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard gave the Pirates an off-day after the loss to Villanova, but Powell was back in the gym shooting, along with juniors Desi Rodriguez and Carrington. When the team returned to practice, Powell made sure to take extra shots before and after the workouts with assistant coach Shaheen Holloway. When he passed up a shot in practice, Willard stopped things to make sure Powell didn’t do it again, telling him, “we need you.”
“They still believe in me,” Powell said. “They tell me, ‘keep shooting, keep shooting, keep shooting.’ That’s what I’m doing.”