PHILADELPHIA — This was not about a lack of effort or discipline. This was not about execution. This was not about preparation.
This was simply about facing the No. 1 team in the country in its own building — unquestionably the toughest game Seton Hall will play all season — and being unable to match that team shot for shot over 40 pressure-filled minutes.
“You’ve got to almost play perfect when you play Villanova on the road, and I thought we did a really good job for a lot of the game,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said after his team’s hard-fought 92-76 loss in front of 16,115 at Wells Fargo Center that was closer than the final score would indicate. “Sometimes you’ve got to give credit [to the other team].”
The Pirates, who have now lost 16 straight on the road to Villanova spanning 25 years, weren’t perfect. Foul trouble to seniors Desi Rodriguez and Khadeen Carrington was a significant factor. But they were pretty good for 30 minutes. It was the final 10 that was the problem, once the shots stopped falling and the Wildcats morphed back into the team that couldn’t miss, the one with five potent weapons able to do damage from anywhere on the floor. They found a gear Seton Hall didn’t have, and turned what looked like a nail-biter into a rout.
While it wasn’t the two-hour party Villanova home games have become this season, it was a celebration nonetheless — of the continued dominance for the four-time regular-season champion Wildcats in the reconfigured Big East. Seton Hall gave the large, football-minded crowd a few uneasy moments. There were periods of doubt.
“They’re physical, and they’re tough, and they’re smart,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said.
But down the stretch, as the top-ranked Wildcats stacked together stops on top of a dizzying string of 3-pointers, Villanova was tougher. The result never felt in doubt. Consider this: Seton Hall committed just 10 turnovers, shot 50 percent from the field, didn’t let National Player of the Year candidate Jalen Brunson (21 points, six assists) torch them, and still lost by 16. That’s in part because fifth-leading scorer and redshirt freshman Omari Spellman was the best big man on the floor, taking advantage of the less mobile Angel Delgado, hitting 6-of-7 3-point attempts en route to 26 points and 11 rebounds.
“He made a lot of shots I wasn’t expecting,” said Delgado, who had 18 points and nine rebounds. “We were really focused to stop the other guys.”
With 9:43 left, Seton Hall trailed by just two points, before the Pirates came undone as Villanova ripped off a 28-9 run, hitting four 3-pointers in that span. Willard felt the game began to get away earlier, when Carrington was whistled for his fourth foul, with 13:21 left and Villanova up five, on an illegal screen.
“It really changed the momentum of the game,” Willard said, adding later: “When you don’t have your point guard out there for — I think it was almost a solid six minutes — that really just kills your whole rhythm offensively and defensively.”
Willard declined to comment on that call or the foul disparity, as Villanova attempted 11 more free throws and was called for eight fewer fouls. But his smile at the questions revealed his feelings. The frustration was understandable.
Seton Hall (17-5, 6-4) got off to the start it needed, building an early seven-point lead. It answered mini-runs with spurts of its own, playing the kind of determined, resilient and physical game needed to hang with the No. 1 team in the country.
But hanging with the powerhouse Wildcats (22-1, 9-1) and beating them are two distinctly different things. Seton Hall learned that on Sunday afternoon, and now the Pirates have a little under a month before taking another shot at the best team in the country, this time in Newark.
“We’ve got 3 ¹/₂ weeks and we’ve got a big opportunity,” Delgado said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence right now. I think at home we’ll definitely do better.”