PHILADELPHIA — Kevin Willard’s hesitancy spoke volumes. His uncertainty should create further concern.
The Seton Hall coach wasn’t sure what to expect Monday, if he would get an angry team ready to fight through this slump or a group of players that was now resigned to its fate following this depressing performance.
“We’re going to find out tomorrow,” Willard said, a worrisome quote from the Seton Hall coach about his struggling team.
Seton Hall had just been exposed, eviscerated by No. 18 Villanova, 80-52 at Wells Fargo Center, extending the Pirates’ losing streak to four games — their 17th straight loss on the road to the Wildcats.
Willard felt his players played with effort, just didn’t perform particularly well. Senior Michael Nzei disagreed somewhat, saying, “Villanova came out fighting more than us.”
“They outfought us today,” Nzei added, as this once-promising season took another wrong turn, the Pirates now tied in the Big East basement with four others.
Seton Hall did defend Villanova (16-4, 7-0 Big East) well in the first half, holding the Wildcats to 40 percent shooting. But the Pirates trailed by 10, the result of 14 first-half turnovers, a recurring theme. After halftime, Villanova’s shots began falling — sinking 11 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes — and the rout was on. A 20-2 run, giving the Wildcats a 27-point lead with 13:30 to go, led to extended garbage time. Seton Hall (12-8, 3-5) never punched back.
Junior star Myles Powell had a nightmarish afternoon, scoring a season-low three points on 1-of-5 shooting, to go with seven turnovers, continuing his recent downward trend. His backcourt mate, Quincy McKnight, wasn’t much better committing five turnovers himself. Willard said he may have to use freshmen point guard Anthony Nelson more to mitigate mistakes.
“You can’t have your starting backcourt have 12 turnovers,” Willard said. “I’m going to have to look at different combinations and maybe give him a little more time with the starters or just maybe get him out there with different lineups.”
Afterwards, sophomore Myles Cale (14 points), the lone Pirate in double figures, said a players-only meeting had been scheduled for Monday. Nzei expressed confidence his teammates would be ready Wednesday when Providence comes to the Prudential Center in what amounts to a virtual must-win.
“We need to get back on the winning [side], we got to take care of business,” Nzei said. “I think there is going to be a lot more toughness on Wednesday. Everybody is going to be really mad at themself. There is going to be a lot of toughness, a lot of fight.”
Willard wasn’t so sure. He never had to wonder in past years how his players would respond in difficult times. The group that reached three straight NCAA Tournaments always answered the bell in moments like these. This unit hasn’t gone through this together before. The players have yet to respond as their coach would like.
“They haven’t been faced with this situation. They haven’t been through this league,” Willard said. “You have a bunch of guys out there that are experiencing this for the first time, and they have to decide whether they’re going to keep fighting, or are they going to show up and keep getting smacked around?”