Myles Powell fulfilled his prediction and let out a few tears before taking the court in his final game at Prudential Center.
As he was introduced before a Seton Hall-record crowd of 16,863, Powell walked out, shared a long embrace with coach Kevin Willard and wiped away tears before being joined by his parents and his former AAU coach Jimmy Salmon for pictures.
But with a chance to clinch the program’s first outright Big East regular-season title since 1993, Powell shot 5-of-18 for 14 points along with eight assists and four rebounds as No. 8 Seton Hall lost to No. 14 Villanova, 79-77, on Senior Night.
The Wildcats (23-7, 12-5 Big East) are now tied with Creighton (23-7, 12-5) — which hammered Georgetown on Wednesday — for second place in the Big East, one game behind Seton Hall (21-8, 13-4). The Pirates need to win at Creighton on Saturday— a tough ask — to clinch the title. Otherwise, they would wind up in a tie with one or both teams. Seton Hall would be the No. 3 seed in the Big East Tournament in the event of a three-way tie.
Villanova got a combined 58 points from Saddiq Bey (20), Justin Moore (19) and Jermaine Samuels (19), while Seton Hall’s trio of seniors Powell, Quincy McKnight (16 points, seven assists, six rebounds) and Romaro Gill (six points, four rebounds) combined for 36 points. The Wildcats converted 13-of-32 from deep (41 percent).
After the Pirates trailed by 10 points with 2:28 left, Junior Sandro Mamukelashvili (20 points, 10 rebounds) drained a 3-pointer with 22.3 seconds left to cut the deficit to 76-73, but Samuels scored on a wide-open layup to make it 78-73.
After a basked by Jared Rhoden made it 78-75, Bey missed two foul shots for Villanova.
Powell missed a 3-pointer off the rim in the final seconds that would've tied it. Villanova fouled and Shavar Reynolds (12 points) made two free throws to cut it to 78-77.
With 3.4 seconds left, Samuels missed the front end of a one-and-one as the crowd went wild. He then made the second but Myles Cale missed a potential game-winning 3 from the corner.
Seton Hall was picked to win the regular-season crown narrowly over Jay Wright and Villanova, which has won five of the last six titles since the “new” Big East was formed in 2014.
“I look at the year they’ve had and what Jay’s done with arguably the youngest team he’s had,” Willard said earlier this week. “They’re still fighting for the same thing we’re fighting for.
“When you take away all the other factors, the crowd, the Senior Night, the chants, you’re still going to have to play against Villanova and that’s always a huge test, no matter what.”
Willard has talked a lot this season about the “precious present” because he wants his veteran team to enjoy their time together, and especially this time of year. The Pirates are a projected 2 or 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and many observers believe they’re a legitimate Final Four team. But they couldn’t take advantage of the present against Villanova.
“I hope they’re enjoying [this], that’s why I keep talking about it, is because I really do want them to enjoy this moment,” Willard said this week. “It’s hard to get to this level, it’s hard to get to this spot and I’ll continue to keep harping on it.”
Villanova took a 33-30 halftime lead despite a combined 24 first half-points from Powell, McKnight and Mamukelashvili.
Villanova used 20-9 run out of the break to go ahead 53-39.
Seton Hall closed to within 64-61 on the third 3-pointer of the half by Reynolds with under five minutes remaining as the crowd went wild.
But Moore hit yet another deep ball for Villanova, Samuels scored on a layup and Collin Gillespie scored to push it to 73-63.
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.