The Big East Tournament bracket is set and Seton Hall has a tough road to the title.
The Pirates (21-9, 13-5) are the No. 3 seed and would potentially have to beat No. 6 Marquette, No. 2 Villanova and No. 1 Creighton to win their second Big East Tournament title since 2016.
After Seton Hall lost to Creighton earlier Saturday and Butler then beat Xavier Saturday night, the Pirates landed with a quarterfinal against Markus Howard and Marquette at 9:30 p.m Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
If they advance, they could potentially face Villanova in the semifinals on Friday at 9 p.m. The championship game is set for 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Myles Powell and Seton Hall went 2-0 this season against Marquette (18-12, 8-10).
The Pirates beat Marquette, 69-55, on Jan. 11 at Prudential Center in a game in which Powell went for 23 points on 8-of-22 shooting with seven rebounds, three steals and two assists. It was Seton Hall’s sixth straight win in what became a 10-game streak.
On Feb. 29, Howard went for 37 points in his final home game but Powell and Sandro Mamukelashvili combined for 54 as Seton Hall dominated in an 88-79 victory that only got close at the very end. The Pirates dished out 23 assists in one of their most complete performances of the season.
Powell went for 28 points and Mamukelashvili had a career-high 26 on 10-of-13 shooting with nine rebounds and three assists,
Following the loss at Creighton, Pirates coach Kevin Willard said he was “proud” of his team even though they failed twice to win the Big East title outright and ended up in a three-way tie with Creighton and Villanova.
He said the plan was to rest up and prepare for the Big East Tournament.
“I’m going to go home tonight and for the first time in a while, open up a really nice bottle of wine with my wife and I’m going to toast a regular-season championship,” he said on the radio. “I’m going to make sure all my guys understand how proud I am of them, and we’re going to get ready and get back to work on Monday. ... And we’re going to get ready for March.”
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.