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Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard loved the effort from his shorthanded team Wednesday night in Providence, R.I. He didn’t have any such praise for unnamed Big East administrators.
Willard didn’t hold back in his radio interview following a hard-fought 70-65 loss to No. 21 Providence at Dunkin’ Donuts Center, ripping the league for what he described as being “stupid” in scheduling makeup games.
Wednesday afternoon, the Big East rescheduled two postponed games. It moved the St. John’s-Seton Hall contest to Jan. 24 and the Seton Hall-DePaul game to Jan 13. The Pirates had been set to be off from Jan. 9-14 before the DePaul game was rescheduled.
“I have eight guys for [three] games. When can I practice? When can I get these guys rest? When can I get these guys time for recovery?” said Willard, who only had eight scholarship players at his disposal due to COVID-19 protocols, and expects that to remain the case for Seton Hall’s next two games, Saturday against No. 22 Villanova and Tuesday at Butler.
“You don’t do that by chucking games in because, ‘Oh, it fits here.’ That’s why administrators are stupid. They have no idea. ‘Oh, look at this, it’s a date that works.’ ‘Glad it works for you. It doesn’t work for [coaches].’ ”
Willard was otherwise pleased with what he saw Wednesday, considering his team was on the floor for the first time in 17 days, after a COVID-19 outbreak. The Pirates were without top forwards Ike Obiagu and Tyrese Samuel, along with freshmen Tyler Powell, Ryan Conway and Brandon Weston, due to the coronavirus.
“I just told the guys this: ‘That’s one of the most proud I’ve ever been of a basketball team. It really is,’ ” Willard said. “Us not being able to play five-on-five basketball [in practice] to now go against a physical, physical team on the road, I thought we did a lot of really good things. … Super proud of this basketball team. Can’t believe the heart they gave, can’t believe the effort they gave in a really tough atmosphere.”
The Pirates did look exactly as would be expected of a team that was coming off a lengthy layoff and hadn’t been able to run full practices because of the lack of healthy bodies. They didn’t have the same cohesion and defensive tenacity that had led to big wins over Texas, Michigan and Rutgers. They failed to finish off fast-break opportunities, blew defensive assignments and committed unforced turnovers.
Still, there was a lot to like. No. 15 Seton Hall (9-2, 0-1 Big East) never lost contact with Providence (12-1, 2-0), rallying from 13 down on multiple occasions, and getting as close as three in the final minute. Alexis Yetna was a force in the paint, with 13 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks while battling Friars star big man Nate Watson.
Bryce Aiken (11 points, four assists) led Seton Hall’s late rally. Despite his shooting woes, senior Jared Rhoden had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The absence of Samuel and Obiagu was significant. Providence forwards Watson and Noah Horchler produced a combined 31 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks.
Horchler, in particular, was instrumental for the Friars. With Seton Hall sitting back in a zone, he hit three 3-pointers in a 15-0, game-turning run. Horchler started the second half with a layup and soon Providence was up 13.
“He was the difference-maker,” Willard said. “Horchler killed us in the first half.”
Seton Hall made a frantic final run, ripping off a 13-5 spurt to get within three with 17.3 second left on a Yenta basket, but Al Durham hit four clutch free throws to ice it.
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