Seton Hall Pirates road to the NCAA Tournament 2020

The Seton Hall Pirates came into the month of February riding a ten-game win streak. They now sit atop the Big East conference with a 10-3 conference record.

The Pirates are the number ten ranked team in the country. Their record is 18-7 overall, 9-3 at home, 7-3 on the road and right now have a two-game losing streak with back to back losses to Creighton and Providence this past weekend.

The Seton Hall Pirates had a ten-game streak stretching from their December 19 defeat of Maryland to their win over DePaul on January 29. Here’s a rundown of the Pirates journey so far during the month of February.

Tyrique Jones and the Xavier Musketeers hit the Seton Hall Pirates with everything they had that first Saturday in February. At one point in the first half, the Musketeers led the PIrates 30-6. The Pirates’ star senior Myles Powell was kept to nine points as his team was held to 22.2% shooting from the field and just 22 rebounds to Xavier’s 51. This was by far the Musketeers’ best game of the season. Jones had 19 points and 18 rebounds for Xavier. Seton Hall did come to within seven with just about seven minutes left to play but could not overcome this Xavier team.

Next up was the Georgetown Hoyas and a quick turnaround for Myles Powell and the Pirates. In the first half, Powell had 21 points and Romano Gill had five blocked shots. At the end of the first half, Seton Hall led by 10. Georgetown would come to within four in the second half but the Hall would win this one 78-71.

Seton Hall hadn’t won a road game against the Villanova Wildcats in 16 years. The last time they won a game there it was February 26, 1994. That is until February 8, 2020. Myles Powell led his team to a historic win, hitting a much-needed three-pointer to give Seton Hall a 46-42 lead with 10:18 remaining. Powell had four fouls and would have to go to the bench. Samuel Mamukelashvili contributed 12 points in the second half as the Pirates break a 17 game losing streak on the road to the Wildcats. Final score 70-64.

No. 23 Creighton defeated the number ten ranked Seton Hall Pirates 87-82. Myles Powell could do nothing. The Creighton defense had him on lock the entire game. He would make one three-point shot with minutes left in the game. His coach said he had a bad game. I would ask the coach where was the rest of his team? This was not a good look for Seton Hall.

An even worse look was the Providence Friars tearing apart the Seton Hall Pirates on this past Saturday. Providence would lead Seton Hall 34-9. The Seton Hall Pirates were down by 29 points. They would rally like crazy to come back to 52-50 but in the end, they just could not overcome this Providence team and would go down 74-71.

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The Seton Hall Pirates have gone to the NCAA Tournament every year for the past four years. Unfortunately, they haven’t made it past the first weekend. I don’t see that this year for the Hall. Even with their last two ugly losses. Before their loss on Sunday, both ESPN and CBS projected the Pirates as a third seed.

This team has lots of grit and have come from behind more times this season. They are ranked number one atop the Big East and number 10 in the country. Their slump aside, Seton Hall believes in themselves and that makes them dangerous come tournament time.

The Pirates will continue their journey to the tournament when they take on the Butler Bulldogs on February 19.