Credit: GR Productions
Pirates suffer First Conference Loss to Kevin Willard’s Wildcats
Published: Tuesday, December 23, 2025
by Ryder Nuesell
NEWARK, N.J. -- The Seton Hall Pirates (11-2, 1-1), were taken down in a sloppy affair against the Villanova Wildcats (10-2, 1-0) in Kevin Willard’s return to the Prudential Center on Tuesday night by a score of 64-56.
The final score does not tell the full story, as Seton Hall struggled to keep pace
with Villanova all night long.
Mike Williams opened the scoring for the night with a three-pointer on the first Pirates
possession. However, a four-point play gave Villanova momentum, and four minutes in,
the Wildcats held a 9-5 lead.
Turnovers slowed the scoring for the visitors in the opening half, though, as Villanova
committed eight before the ten minute mark.
On the other side, the Pirates shooting struggles began early, leading to a low-scoring
first half. Budd Clark also committed two fouls in one minute of play, causing the
starting point guard to take a seat just 60 seconds into the matchup. This was only
the beginning of a tough night for the junior.
By the end of the half, AJ Staton-McCray had a pair of fouls himself, leading to the
Pirate stars sitting more than Coach Holloway likely would have preferred.
Prior to the break, Josh Rivera’s putback dunk ejected life into the sold out New
Jersey crowd that was waiting to erupt. Rivera would go on to post a season-high 10
points and be one of the few positive takeaways that Seton Hall can walk away with
from the game.
After a discombobulated 20 minutes of play, the Pirates were fortunate to trail just
31-27 at halftime.
Villanova cleaned up their ball-handling struggles when they returned to the court,
but Seton Hall was unable to improve their shooting.
After an Elijah Fisher bucket to start the second half, the Wildcats went on a 16-0
run to go up 47-29, which set the tone for the rest of the game. During this stretch,
Seton Hall endured a six-minute long scoring drought.
Frustration began to set in for the Pirates. Just when The Hall was able to muster
together consecutive baskets to cut into the deficit, it seemed that Villanova had
an answer every time, especially from behind the arc.
The Wildcats shot 43% from three-point range throughout the game, which was key to
their ability to put the Pirates in the rear view mirror.
It was a tough loss for Seton Hall, as their stellar defense continued to get the
job done, but the offense was dormant. In many ways, the Pirates beat themselves.
They were without Najai Hines once again, as the freshman center missed his second
consecutive game, and Budd Clark finished the night one of 11 from the field with
four points, all coming in the final two minutes.
Elijah Fisher led the team with 13 points, but the team as a whole posted a season-low
point total of 56. Their previous low was 68 points, which was enough to earn wins
against both Wagner and Fairfield earlier in the season.
However, while the Pirates trailed by as much as 20 points during the game, they were
able to close the gap and make the score more respectable by the time the final buzzer
sounded.
Seton Hall will try to bounce back from the loss when they head to Milwaukee to take
on the Marquette Golden Eagles after a week of rest. On December 30 at 7:00 P.M.,
AJ Rayer and Nick DiBlasi will have the call for 89.5 FM WSOU as the Pirates search
for their twelfth win.
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