By Colin Rajala
Seton Hall has competed against Villanova as hard, if not harder, than any other Big East team since the reformation of the conference a decade ago, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that by the head-to-head
record against the Wildcats over the last four years, which stood at 0-8 entering tonight’s matchup.
The Pirates removed the proverbial monkey off their backs with a 66-56 victory over Villanova in front of a sold-out Prudential Center Wednesday evening, which has guaranteed Seton Hall at least a fourth-
place finish in conference play after being picked to to finish ninth in the preseason coaches’ poll.
With the victory, Shaheen Holloway’s 100th as a collegiate head coach, Seton Hall notched its sixth Quad 1 win, which is tied for 10th most in the country, to close in on securing an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 2022. The Hall can lock up a bid to the big dance with a victory over a winless DePaul team at home Saturday evening on Senior Night.
“I look at every game as a must-win game this time of year. I don’t look at it and say, ‘okay, we need to win this game more than that game.’ Obviously, we want to come back and play better than we played
the last two games on the road, right? It’s good to be back home. I thought we had a good crowd ... I thought they made the difference, and anytime we get a good crowd, it’s always great for us,” Holloway
said in the post-game press conference.
Villanova entered the matchup winning five of their last six games, including two straight, and came out of the gates strong, seizing a 10-4 advantage on two shots from long range and two layups less than four minutes into the game.
“We wanted to make a big thing of taking away the three. I thought the first five minutes of the game, they came out and hit a couple threes. We called a timeout, we kind of adjusted ... I thought for the most
part, we chased them off the line a little bit and made them take some tough twos.” Holloway said.
Seton Hall closed the score to 13-12 on a three-pointer from senior forward Dre Davis off a dish from senior wing Dylan Addae-Wusu seven minutes into the game, but the Wildcats held the lead for much of
the first half, staving off the Pirates best efforts to take their first lead. That is until graduate guard Al-Amir Dawes received a pass from senior guard Kadary Richmond and buried a shot from long range for
the Pirates first lead of the game, 23-22, with less than three minutes remaining in the opening stanza.
Little did the raucous sellout crowd know, The Hall would not trail the rest of the game.
Dawes’ three was part of a 10-2 Seton Hall run to end the half with a 30-24 advantage.
“It was chippy for a reason. I’m gonna leave it like that. It needed to be chippy. I knew we were gonna come out and play hard. You can’t come out and say, ‘okay, we’ll come out and win.’ Obviously, you
prepare to win. Villanova’s a good team, they’re playing very well right now, they’ve got a winning pedigree, they’ve got a couple of guys that played in a Final Four. But the last two days was how it’s been
before the last two road trips. Probably a little bit extra sauce was added to it, and that starts at the top. These guys have to understand, and they understood,” according to Holloway.
The Hall left nothing to chance to start the second half and entered the first media timeout with a 41-29 advantage thanks to two triples from Addae-Wusu, another three from Davis and a layup from
Richmond, who scored his 1000th point as a Pirate in the contest.
The Pirates extended their lead to the largest of the game, 50-37, on a three pointer from Richmond off the assist from Davis to prompt a timeout from Villanova Head Coach Kyle Neptune with less than nine
minutes remaining in the game.
Villanova remains firmly on the NCAA bubble and would not go away, cutting the lead to 52-48 on two free throws from Brendan Hausen with five minutes to go before Seton Hall extended the lead back to
56-48 on two free throws from Davis and a layup from graduate center Jaden Bediako off the dish from Richmond.
Seton Hall finished a perfect 10-10 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes to lock up with the victory.
Richmond led all scorers with 20 points, including two triples, to go along with six rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block.
“I’ve been preaching the whole year — since the beginning of the year — that I thought I had the best backcourt in the Big East, one of the best backcourts in the country. He’s playing like a Big East-caliber
player of the year. This is what he’s supposed to do, he’s supposed to carry us when we need to be carried,” Holloway said of Richmond’s performance.
Davis played the entire game for the Pirates, recording 18 points, including a couple of second half buckets to stymie any momentum shifting Villanova’s way, as well as seven rebounds, four blocks, two
assists and a steal.
“Dre’s been doing that the whole year for us. He’s kind of been our backbone anytime I need a big bucket, anytime we need some toughness. He’s playing out of position and I’ve asked a lot of him. He’s
just going out there and playing. He’s been doing that for us and we need it,” Holloway said.
Bediako finished with a double-double, 11 points and 12 rebounds, alongside two blocks, while Addae-Wusu tallied 8 points and 6 boards.
“I’ve been saying this from day one: Our big guys were going to be okay. Jaden just plays hard, understands who he is. He’s not trying to do things he can’t do. He sets screens, gets offensive rebounds, rolls to the basket when we get him some shots, plays hard defensively. He’s embraced his role, and when you have a guy who embraces his role, that’s what happens,” according to Holloway.
Seton Hall only allowed two Villanova players to score in double figures in the matchup - Eric Dixon (14) and TJ Bamba (11) and held the Wildcats to 19/54 (35.2%) shooting from the field and 9/27 (33.3%) from
distance, while also out rebounding the visitors 39-29.
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