Villanova’s offense goes silent in key loss to Seton Hall: ‘They kind of just outlasted us’

NEWARK, N.J. — The stakes were pretty clear for Villanova. Beat Seton Hall, a team the Wildcats thumped by 26 points less than a month ago, and your ticket to the NCAA Tournament was just about punched.

The Wildcats picked the worst time to have bad night of offense, and it could be costly.

A scoring drought of nearly five minutes for Villanova allowed Seton Hall to grab control in the first half of what was a must-win game for both teams. But Villanova wasn’t done with the droughts. The Wildcats went nearly six minutes without scoring in the middle minutes of the second half.

All of it was too much to overcome in a 66-56 Seton Hall win, a loss that leaves Villanova (17-13, 10-9 Big East) in a precarious position heading into its regular-season finale Saturday at home vs. No. 10 Creighton. Seton Hall (19-11, 12-7), meanwhile, probably secured its March Madness bid.

“I thought they kind of just outlasted us,” said Wildcats coach Kyle Neptune.

Villanova looked left for dead with 9 minutes, 10 seconds to play. A three-pointer from Kadary Richmond, Seton Hall’s best player, who Villanova held to 12 points in the first matchup between the teams, capped a 7-0 Pirates run and extended their lead to 13.

Villanova had missed its last five shots and didn’t look like a team ready to author a comeback.

But a Jordan Longino triple, followed by a Brendan Hausen four-point play, cut the lead to six, and Villanova later cut it to four, 52-48, with five minutes to go.

Then came another drought. The Wildcats scored just eight points in the final five minutes.

“Credit to Seton Hall,” Villanova guard TJ Bamba said. “They made it hard to us. They played good defense. We just missed shots. That’s it.”

Seton Hall led, 30-24, at halftime mostly because of inept offense from Villanova and physical defense from the Pirates. Villanova made two of its final 14 shots in the last 10 minutes of the first half and went nearly five minutes between made baskets.

The Wildcats executed their defensive game plan, forcing the worst shooting team in the Big East to shoot three-pointers, but had nothing to show for it. It was rough going all night for Villanova.

The Wildcats were just 10-for-27 on their two-point shots, including 8-for-22 on layups.

Missed shots around the rim have been an ongoing issue for Villanova.

“Concentration,” Bamba said when asked about it. “We just got to be focused. A lot of times we’re so worried about the contact, trying to draw a foul, that we miss the shot.”

Neptune once again pointed to the other end of the floor when asked about the offensive woes. The Wildcats preach defense and rebounding. On this night, Seton Hall was the team hitting the tough shots — a prerequisite for winning tournament games — and the Pirates outrebounded Villanova, 39-29.

“They got some guys that just go after the ball,” Neptune said. “Sometimes you just got to give the other team some credit. They went and got some balls. They made some tough shots. They contested shots hard. They made it tough for us. They just did a really good job.”

Eric Dixon led Villanova with 14 points and Bamba added 11. No other Wildcats player scored more than six. Justin Moore and Mark Armstrong combined for nine points on 3-for-16 shooting.

Richmond led Seton Hall’s offense with 20 points to go with six rebounds and five assists. Dre Davis added 18 and seven rebounds. And Jaden Bediako tallied 11 points and 12 rebounds.

It wasn’t like Seton Hall shot the lights out. The Pirates made just 39.2% of their shots but delivered in every key moment.

Villanova was on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble heading into Wednesday and probably remains there even after the loss. But with Creighton up next, Villanova has plenty of work ahead to avoid missing the tournament for the second straight season.

Was Wednesday a missed opportunity?

“I get it. I get how most people would look at that,” Neptune said. “For us, we got to worry about what we can control. The game is over. There’s nothing we can do about it. We’re going to go back, watch the film, see where we can get better, try to practice as hard as we possibly can and get ready for our next one.

“This is our Super Bowl. We’re going to come out ... and lay it all on the line. That’s, by the way, the same thing we were thinking about tonight and the games we had before that. Our approach hasn’t changed.”

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The loss also means Villanova could play in the opening round at the Big East Tournament on March 13, most likely playing a team like DePaul or Georgetown, where a win would add nothing to its NCAA Tournament case and a loss would seal a bid to the NIT.

“Definitely a missed opportunity,” Dixon said. “You never want to lose. But we have another one coming up on Saturday.”