newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MATT SUGAM

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

VILLANOVA, Pa – For Seton Hall, there’s been quite a few firsts for the current coach and roster. Most notably, it’s the first time any of the current Pirates beat UConn and the first time any of them were ranked in the Top 25.

Although that No. 24 ranking was just a week and a half ago, it seems much longer as Seton Hall dropped two games in a row for the first time this season, losing 84-76 to Villanova Wednesday night.

Coming off a deflating loss to USF, Seton Hall (15-4, 4-3 in Big East) appeared to be suffering from a hangover. The first half was filled with miscues, missed shots and complete domination by a Villanova (9-10, 2-5 in Big East) team that was dictating the pace of the game.

The only one who didn’t seem to be stuck in Tampa Bay was Brandon Mobley who scored 12 of Seton Hall’s 28 first-half points. His three field goals from beyond the arc were the only ones that fell of the 17 the Pirates chucked up. They’d go on to take 36 three-pointers on the night, hitting 12.

While they lead the Big East in three-point percentage, they took 12 more threes than their previous season high of 24.

“I thought we took some really good ones,” head coach Kevin Willard said on his team’s three-point attempts. “We took some bad ones early, but I thought we got a lot of good looks. So yeah, it’s probably 10 too many, but I thought out of the 36 we probably had 28 good looks, so you got to take them if you’re open.”

Even with the porous first half, the Pirates would only find themselves down nine. Seton Hall made futile attempts to come back, never getting closer than three.

While the entire team struggled against a downtrodden Villanova squad, no one seemed to more so than Jordan Theodore. After missing what could have been the game-tying point on the first shot of a 1-and-1 with 3.8 left against USF, the senior point guard was pressing too much Wednesday night.

“He took the loss so hard the other night when he missed those free throws and I think he said ‘I’ll make it up, I’ll get it back for us.’ I think he tried to put the team on his back. I think this was one of the poorest games of his year.” Willard said. “He’ll bounce back. I’ve got tremendous confidence in him.”

Willard also hasn’t lost any confidence in Pope, whose numbers have dipped significantly since the start of conference play.

Wednesday night, the 6-foot-8 forward scored just 10 points along with eight rebounds. The senior forward only took eight shots.

Willard said the issues for Pope's lack of offense were his teammates' inability to get him the ball and the senior's bad positioning on offense.

Now, Seton Hall has a week to stew over its back-to-back losses. While the time off would be better coming off a win, Willard is just happy his paper-thin rotation gets to rest their legs.

“It’s a great thing,” Willard said of the time off. “I think the staff needs it, I think the players need it.”

They also need a win when they step back on the court on Wedensday to host Notre Dame. A third loss in a row will ramp up speculation that the once promising season is beginning to unravel.

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