Philadelphia: One of the Marquee games of the College Basketball season came to the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia on Saturday as the Villanova Wildcats took on the Seton Hall Pirates. Villanova entered the game at 17-5 (7-3 in Big East) off a buzzer beater loss to Butler while Seton Hall made their way to Philly with 17-5 (9-1 in Big East)
Villanova announced that the game SOLD OUT prior to tip-off.
Notes:
Villanova split the season series with Seton Hall last year, winning the game at the Wells Fargo Center & losing at the Prudential Center. Villanova defeated Seton Hall to win the 2019 Big East Championship at Madison Square Garden.
Seton Hall defeated Villanova to win the 2016 Big East Championship.
Seton Hall is the top team in the Big East and lead by one of the top players in the nation in Myles Powell.
Villanova has won their last two games against Seton Hall at the Wells Fargo Center.
The way these games have gone the last couple of years, today promised be an instant classic.
Game recap
In the first half, Seton Hall got off to a fast start lead from Myles Powell. At one point in the first half, they had a lead of 10 at 20-10 with 10:37 left. The story of the season for this Wildcats team is slowly fighting their way back into games and we saw that on Saturday, with Nova clawing the lead back to just two as halftime approached
Samuels would blow the roof off with this monster dunk.
Villanova kept momentum going and took a 31-27 lead into halftime. A
In the second half, Both teams came out cold before Seton Hall broke through and things got very interesting as the shots started dropping for both teams. There were four seperate times in the second half where the Wildcats would get the Pirates lead down to 1 with the last one being 50-49 with 6:48 left. Seton Hall down the stretch made clutch shots headlined by Myles Powell.
The Wildcats would let Seton Hall that they would not go away easily.
That would be the closest that the Wildcats would get as the Pirates made their foul shots and played good defense, in turn doing something for the first time since 1994 which was win in Philadelphia. Villanova had won 17 straight games at home against Seton Hall.
What is Next:
The Wildcats will now take on Marquette on February 12 while Seton Hall does battle with Creighton also on February 12
Final Numbers:
Myles Powell lead Seton Hall with 19 points
Saiddq Bey lead the Wildcats with 22 points
Post Game Press Conference:
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
