By JP Pelzman
Myles Powell effortlessly drained a three-pointer from about five feet beyond the arc. But there was no smile on his usually expressive face, and his arms hung limply at his sides.
It was much too little, and way too late. Powell's trey was his first and only make from long distance Wednesday night, and it came with but 1.4 seconds to go. The shot brought Seton Hall to within three points, but two free throws by Creighton’s Ty-Shon Alexander sealed an 87-82 upset victory for the Bluejays at the Prudential Center.
Coupled with Villanova’s win over Marquette, the loss dropped the Pirates’ first-place cushion to two games with six games left to determine the regular-season champion and a likely first-weekend NCAA tournament spot in Albany.
It would be unfair to blame the defeat solely on Powell, although a 3-for-16 shooting performance from its star player is difficult for any team to overcome. But the Pirates had many other problems on this night.
“He knows how valuable he is to us, but he had a rough one tonight,” McKnight said. “We can’t blame him. He's our brother.”
“He had an off night. It happens,” shrugged Willard, who admitted, “I thought we took too many threes.”
Seton Hall was 7-for-31 (22.8 percent) from three-point range.
“In this league, it’s really fragile,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “You’re a sprained ankle or the flu away from a three-game losing streak.”
Seton Hall certainly needs to avoid one of those if it wants to stay on track for the Big East title.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
Myles Powell effortlessly drained a three-pointer from about five feet beyond the arc. But there was no smile on his usually expressive face, and his arms hung limply at his sides.
It was much too little, and way too late. Powell's trey was his first and only make from long distance Wednesday night, and it came with but 1.4 seconds to go. The shot brought Seton Hall to within three points, but two free throws by Creighton’s Ty-Shon Alexander sealed an 87-82 upset victory for the Bluejays at the Prudential Center.
Coupled with Villanova’s win over Marquette, the loss dropped the Pirates’ first-place cushion to two games with six games left to determine the regular-season champion and a likely first-weekend NCAA tournament spot in Albany.
It would be unfair to blame the defeat solely on Powell, although a 3-for-16 shooting performance from its star player is difficult for any team to overcome. But the Pirates had many other problems on this night.
- An inefficient defense enabled Creighton to shoot 46 percent from the field, and 48.1 percent after halftime. The most damaging shot was a wide-open three-pointer that Denzel Mahoney drained to give the Bluejays a 78-74 lead with 1:05 remaining. He was left open because of a blown assignment by The Hall. No wonder coach Kevin Willard said, “I think they’re really good offensively, and I don’t think we played really well defensively.”
- Foul trouble, including at least two questionable calls, resulted in an early exit for forward Sandro Mamukelashvili with 5:29 to go. The pity of it was that he scored 13 points in only 15:10 of action, and had an assist and two baskets in a 7-0 run that put Seton Hall (18-6, 10-2) ahead, 66-62. He was providing the missing offensive ingredient in place of Powell until he fouled out on a call away from the ball. Creighton (19-6, 8-4) went ahead to stay with a 9-0 run after Mamukelashvili got his fourth foul with 7:37 left.
- Post-Villanova-itis? Maybe, but Willard indicated that the flu has swept through the team since that historic win. Mamukelasvili, Jared Rhoden and Tyrese Samuel all missed practice time, the coach said, as did bench warmers Taurean Thompson and Darnell Brodie. In fact, Brodie is hospitalized with a possible case of mononucleosis, Willard said. “We didn’t get the right amount of reps we should’ve gotten,” said Quincy McKnight, who scored 20 points and had six assists. “It’s flu season. Things happen.”
“He knows how valuable he is to us, but he had a rough one tonight,” McKnight said. “We can’t blame him. He's our brother.”
“He had an off night. It happens,” shrugged Willard, who admitted, “I thought we took too many threes.”
Seton Hall was 7-for-31 (22.8 percent) from three-point range.
“In this league, it’s really fragile,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “You’re a sprained ankle or the flu away from a three-game losing streak.”
Seton Hall certainly needs to avoid one of those if it wants to stay on track for the Big East title.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
