Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard may have some concerns over the “bad attitudes” of some of his reserves, but he’s apparently unconcerned with the offensive struggles of two of his stars.
Myles Powell and Romaro Gill have both suffered offensively in recent games as the Pirates (18-7, 10-3 Big East) have lost two in a row and three of five, dropping them to No. 16 from 10 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll released Monday.
Five Big East teams cracked the top 25, with Seton Hall joined by No. 12 Villanova, No. 15 Creighton, No. 19 Marquette and No. 21 Butler, which visits Prudential Center Wednesday night.
Willard pointed out that Powell and Marquette star Markus Howard receive more attention from opposing defenses than any other players in the league. Howard ranks first nationally in Division 1 scoring at 27.3 points per game, while Powell is 10th at 21.7.
Powell started 0-for-5 and 1-for-7 as the Pirates got down 25 points in the first half of Saturday’s 74-71 loss at Providence but came on strong in the second half and finished 9-of-20 for 27 points.
“[Powell and Howard], they’re the only two guys in the conference that get the attention that these two guys get,” Willard said. “The other night Markus was 4-for-15 at one point before he got it going. These two guys are getting attention that no one else gets. And I think at times, you do press a little bit. We saw a triangle-and-two the other night and two guys were on [Powell].”
Against Creighton, Powell shot 3-of-16 for 12 points in an 87-82 loss.
In the wake of Willard’s “bad attitudes” comment on the radio on Saturday night in which he threatened to trim the rotation to as few as six players, Seton Hall has made no players available to speak and Willard hasn’t made himself available after his post-game comments with media in Providence (during which he did not reference his radio rant).
Meantime, Gill’s offensive production has also declined in recent games as opposing defenses have keyed on him.
From Jan. 3-Jan. 22, the 7-foot-2 big man reached double-figures in scoring in six straight games during the team’s 10-game winning streak. He scored often off of screen-and-roll lob dunks that seemed almost unstoppable.
But in six games since Jan. 22, Gill has reached double-figures just once — he had 13 points against Creighton. During those six games, Seton Hall went 3-3.
“I just think it’s a strength of ours and teams are doing a good job of clogging up the lane a little bit and making us shoot from outside,” Willard said of Gill. “I think teams are loading up the lane a whole lot more than they were because he was doing such a great job of catching it and guys were finding him. So it’s something that we just gotta keep getting him the ball a little bit because he does a lot of good things for us.”
One bright spot for Seton Hall of late has been sophomore Jared Rhoden, who’s averaging 9.2 points and 6.9 boards on the season and started at the three against Providence.
The 6-6 Rhoden has scored in double-digits in five of his last seven games, and is a double-double threat every night.
“I think the biggest thing with J is he always brings great energy but I think he’s bringing a consistent effort right now,” Willard said. “On both ends of the floor, he’s just bringing such great energy out there.”
Though Seton Hall’s lead in the Big East is now down to one game over Creighton and 1 1/2 over Villanova, Willard is trying not to be overly concerned. Of course, if the Pirates lose Wednesday against Butler, that will mark the team’s first three-game losing streak of the season and panic could set in among fans.
“I know in our conference and a couple other conferences you have no night off,” he said. “I’ve watched the Big Ten, I’ve watched us and I think the Big Ten has one bad, bad team but for the most part we don’t. Every night’s a grind and you’re going to have some nights where you hopefully don’t come out the way we came out [against Providence]. I just think top to bottom our league is so tough that if you’re not ready to play you’re going to get smacked around a little bit.”
Still, the Pirates remain atop the Big East — for the time being — and are still 6-1 on the road in league play.
“It’s pretty darn good,” Willard said. “I’m pretty happy with that.”
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.