Villanova outlasts Seton Hall, 73-67, in another gut-it-out battle

Villanova can, at times, rely too much on three-point shooting. When the shots aren’t falling, the Wildcats are sometimes in trouble.

Saturday in South Philly, they found a path inside.

Jermaine Samuels and Justin Moore each scored 16 points as the No. 15 Wildcats held off a hot-shooting Seton Hall team, 73-67, at Wells Fargo Center.

The Wildcats (19-6, 12-3 Big East) erased a seven-point deficit in the second half because of their ability to get to the rim. Villanova outscored Seton Hall, 32-20, in the paint.

Brandon Slater twice made strong drives to the basket and scored to bring Villanova back. Samuels had a key three-point play and a late bucket at the rim.

The Wildcats also got key triples by Moore and Chris Arcidiacono to secure the win.

Villanova was trailing, 41-36, when Samuels drove to the basket early in the second half and was swarmed. With the shot clock winding down, Samuels found Caleb Daniels at the top of the key for an open three-pointer. Two-point game.

Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard, perhaps looking for a travel call on Samuels, was assessed a technical foul. Two Collin Gillespie’s free throws tied the game. After a defensive stop and a Slater drive, the Wells Fargo Center crowd felt alive for the first time since tip. They got louder after Samuels drove and slammed.

But Willard called timeout, settled the Pirates down, and his team responded with an 11-0 run to grab a seven-point lead. Then, a late-game slugfest ensued, and Villanova landed the late punches.

Seton Hall made five of its first seven tries from deep while Villanova made one of its first seven. But the Pirates (15-8, 6-7) only led by as many as six during that stretch – the first 10 minutes of the game.

The Wildcats stayed close thanks to nine Seton Hall turnovers in the first half. Their early shooting woes from beyond the arc were less worrisome because they were scoring in the paint.

“We’re trying to get a balance,” Wright said. “We have not been able to get into a rhythm offensively this year … We go for spurts. We’ll go spurts where we’re hitting threes and spurts where we’re going inside. We don’t have that balance yet, and for that I feel fortunate that we’re able to gut it out.”

Samuels made a few nifty moves in the post and finished around the rim with his left hand multiple times.

“They were giving it to him,” Wright said of Samuels. “They were letting him go one-on-one and he really did assert himself.”

For his part, Samuels said, “I was just trying to take what the defense gave me and try to make aggressive plays.”

He and Eric Dixon combined for 15 first-half points as Seton Hall, behind the hot shooting of Myles Cale and Kadary Richmond, led, 32-29, at the break.

“They were playing really well [in the first half],” Wright said. “We were playing OK. We just felt like this is going to be a grind.”

Seton Hall made 11 of 26 three-point attempts on the day. Villanova was just 8-of-26.

Villanova’s free-throw shooting, the best in the nation, was on display again Saturday. Moore made all eight of his attempts, including a few late ones to close the game out. The Wildcats were 15-of-16 at the line.

Saturday was the eighth consecutive Villanova-Seton Hall game to be decided by single digits.

Villanova also won the earlier matchup this season at Seton Hall, 73-67.

“We’re just very similar and we know each other so well,” Wright said. “It’s a Seton Hall-Villanova game. You can’t expect anything different.”

“You can tell from tipoff what type of game it’s going to be and usually they’re always close,” Samuels said.

Villanova’s quest for another regular-season Big East title goes through Providence. The Wildcats play at the No. 11 Friars Tuesday night. A win by the Friars would all but secure a regular-season crown.