Seton Hall’s Myles Powell named Associated Press All-America first team

Seton Hall’s Myles Powell has been named to the Associated Press All-America first team, becoming the first Pirate to receive first-team recognition since 1953, the organization announced Friday.

Powell was joined on the first-team by Dayton’s Obi Toppin, Iowa’s Luka Garza, Marquette’s Markus Howard and Oregon’s Payton Pritchard.

“This is truly a blessing,” said Powell, who helped lead Seton Hall to a share of the program’s first Big East regular-season title since 1993 and is also a finalist for the Naismith Award. “When I came back for my senior year, the goals were to win a championship and become a first-team All-American, and to now achieve both is a dream come true.”

Powell, who was also a first-team All-America selection by Sporting News, now joins Walter Dukes as the only two Pirates to earn first-team All-America honors from the Associated Press. Beyond Powell and Dukes, the only other Seton Hall player to earn a first-team honor was Bob Davies, a 1942 NCAA consensus first-team All-American.

The only other Pirates to be named to an Associated Press All-America team are Terry Dehere (1993, second team), Dan Callandrillo (1982, third team) and Nick Werkman (1963, third team).

Powell, the 2020 Big East Player of the Year, enjoyed an epic senior season for Seton Hall, leading the Pirates to the school's best season in nearly 30 years. Powell and the Pirates, which started the league season 8-0, went wire-to-wire in first place in the Big East for the first time in program history. On a national scale, the team was ranked in the Associated Press top 25 for most of the season, reaching as high as No. 8, while also rating high in all the metrics used for NCAA Tournament selection (KenPom 20, NET 15, KPI 11, SOR 18, BPI 22, SAG 15).

Powell finished the season with a 21.0 points per game average, which ranked second in the Big East and 17th in the nation (fourth among players competing in power conferences), all while receiving an incredible amount of defensive attention from opponents. In Big East games, Powell was also second in the league in scoring at 20.9 points per game as well as tied for 10th in assists (3.4) and tied for eighth in steals (1.4).

Powell did his best work in hostile environments as he averaged 25.8 points in Seton Hall's nine Big East road games, leading the Pirates to a 7-2 mark in those contests, the most conference road wins in program history. His top-three road efforts included a 34-point outburst in a win at Georgetown on Feb. 5, a 29-point effort in a comeback win at then-No. 5 Butler on Jan. 15 and a 28-point, five-assist game at Marquette on Feb. 29.

Although his non-conference season was cut short due to injury, Powell performed in some of the biggest games of the early year. He scored 37 points against then-No. 3 Michigan State, which helped cement his status as one of the nation's best players. Then he set the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament record for most points scored with 74, including 32 against then-No. 11 Oregon. He averaged 25.8 points in the eight non-conference games he was able to finish without leaving due to injury.

Powell left a huge imprint on Seton Hall's record book. He became just the fifth Pirate to ever reach 2,000 points and finished third in program history with 2,252 points. He is the program's all-time leader in three-pointers made with 348, and he also is fifth in field goals made (736), 12th in free throws made (432), 17th in assists (303) and 13th in steals (166). His 84 wins as a Pirate are tied for sixth-most in Seton Hall history.

Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.

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