In the spirit of the holidays, Seton Hall men’s basketball made room at the table for a familiar face in former head coach Kevin Willard—just for him to come in like the Grinch and steal a win in the final mid-major contest of the year before Christmas.
On Tuesday, the Pirates (11-2, 1-1 BIG EAST) fell to the Villanova University Wildcats, 64-56, in their BIG EAST home opener before a sold-out crowd at the Prudential Center. The game was also Willard’s first time facing the program he coached for 12 seasons before he left for the University of Maryland in 2022.
Although he stole the win from the Pirates in his return, Willard is no Scrooge—after the game, he expressed his gratitude for the program and the arena where he coached them for so many years.
“It was emotional for my wife and I last night with my boys,” Willard said about his return to Newark. “When I got this job, I had a one-year-old and a three-year-old; now I have a senior in high school and a freshman in college. This place helped raise my family in a very special way.”
“They have the same security guards that used to carry my kids after games back there, the same alumni are here,” Willard added. “This place is just very special because they take care of their own, and so that was the emotional part.”
For those who don’t know, your homework’s overdue—because Willard is a legendary figure in SHU basketball lore. The last time the Pirates were 11-1 was in 2011-12, which was Willard’s second season as head coach. The last time for most of the Pirates’ milestones, in fact, was likely during Willard’s tenure, being a testament to the impact he had on the program.
Before the game, a tribute video played for Willard, who received a standing ovation from Pirate Nation, which was then followed by a more mixed reaction of mostly applause but some boos when his name was announced during lineup introductions. It seems that some are still bitter from his sudden departure from the program.
But that was where the applause ended for Pirate Nation, as it was a first-half of offensive struggles for SHU. They scored just 27 points before the break, tied for their lowest first-half point total this season. They also shot just 11-for-32 (34.4%) from the field and 2-for-8 (25%) from the three, their second- and third-worst first-half shooting performances of the season, respectively.
Junior guard Adam "Budd" Clark handling the ball | Photo by Ace Crawford | The Setonian
It’s hard not to pin part of the blame for the Pirates’ first-half offensive struggles on junior guard Adam “Budd” Clark, who finished the game with just four points on 1-for-11 (9%) shooting.
Clark picked up two quick personal fouls less than two minutes into the game, which got him as well as the rest of the team “out of rhythm,” said SHU head coach Shaheen Holloway after the game.
“With him sitting, we really didn’t get into the flow of the offense too much [in the first half],” Holloway added.
This carried over into the second half, as the Pirates' offense continued to struggle. They shot even worse from the field and from deep, going 11-32 (34.4%) and 1-for-5 (20%), respectively.
With a final score of 64-56, SHU finished the game with season-lows in field-goal percentage (33.3%), 3-pointers made (3), and assists (10).
“Just from an offensive standpoint, we were awful,” Holloway said. “I thought our defense was solid today [though]…. A team like [Villanova ]with a lot of offensive power, for them to score 64 points, was pretty good—but the problem is that we couldn’t score.”
A lack of scoring prevented the Pirates from getting into their full-court press, which has produced so many steals for them so far this season. Indeed, the Pirates recorded their lowest steal total of the season with seven in this game after recording at least nine steals in a program-record 12 straight games before Tuesday’s contest.
Willard nonetheless acknowledged the Pirates’ defense after the game, which has been their calling card all season.
“I mean, that defense,” Willard said. “They make it so hard for you to execute, and if they keep playing defense like that all year, they could be a second-round NCAA tournament team.”
While the Pirates couldn’t score in the game, the Wildcats couldn’t miss. They shot 22-for-45 (48.9%) from the field and 10-for-23 (43.5%) from deep in the game, including 13-for-23 (56.5%) from the field in the second half alone. This generated 33 second-half points for them, including a roughly five-minute 16-0 run early on that helped them gain their largest lead of the game (they led 55-35 with about nine minutes remaining). SHU managed to cut the deficit in half down the stretch, but the damage was already done, as Villanova held on for the 64-56 win.
In closing, Holloway expressed that several moments disappointed him in the game, including the Pirates’ effort and intensity (as well as the absence of freshman forward Najai Hines, who missed his second consecutive game with some sort of illness). It was the team’s “hero-ball” that led to forced shots instead of ones created by the team’s offensive system that disappointed him most.
“Because we wasn’t scoring, everybody was like, ‘I gotta do it,’ instead of playing in the flow of the team,” Holloway said. “I thought we had a bunch of ‘Me’ shots tonight instead of Seton Hall shots tonight, and that got us in trouble.”
On a more positive note, Holloway also expressed his respect and gratitude for Willard. Before being hired as SHU's head coach, Holloway spent 10 seasons as Willard’s assistant coach—two at Iona University and eight at SHU.
“He’s a really good coach,” Holloway said about Willard. “I got a lot of respect for him. He did a lot for me in my career, and I’m very grateful for it.”
“He’s a big supporter of mine, I’m a big supporter of his,” Holloway added. “But tonight, he was trying to beat me, and I was trying to beat him.”
The respect was mutual, as Willard had nothing but praise for Holloway, whom he endorsed as his successor when he left the program for Maryland years ago.
“He’s done a phenomenal job ever since he’s been here,” Willard said about Holloway. “I know last year was a tough year, and everyone has tough years, but that dude can coach, and he’s the right guy for this program—I got nothing but the utmost respect for him.”
Now 11-2, the Pirates will have the holiday to regroup before they return to conference play on Dec. 30, when they travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to face Marquette University Golden Eagles (5-8, 0-2 BIG EAST).
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
