For one night, Seton Hall’s strength — defense — became a weakness, and the good vibes of the last few weeks turned sour.
A winnable game was instead a disappointing defeat, and the Pirates find themselves back in the muck of the NCAA Tournament bubble with six games left in the regular season.
They picked the wrong opponent to be off their game against. Butler, desperately needing to bolster its résumé, took full advantage. The Bulldogs shot a whopping 55 percent from the field — the highest any Big East opponent has shot against the Pirates — in snapping Seton Hall’s four-game winning streak, 81-75, Wednesday night at the Prudential Center and beating coach Kevin Willard’s team for the third straight time and fifth time in six encounters.
“I hate Butler,” Willard said jokingly after the loss. “I do, I hate them. I can’t wait for [Kellen] Dunham and Roosevelt [Jones] to graduate.
“They played good, we played average. And when you play Butler and you play average, you’re going to lose.”
Derrick Gordon, the graduate transfer from UMass who has been such a pivotal part of the Pirates’ run into the tournament picture, took responsibility for the setback. In addition to scoring just four points, his trademark defensive tenacity was missing.
“If I would’ve come out ready to play, we would’ve won this game,” he said.
His teammates didn’t bring it either, giving up easy shots in the paint and open looks from the perimeter. Gordon said the Pirates (17-7, 7-5 Big East) were too worried about their play on the offensive end after struggling to score against Georgetown in a win Saturday, while Willard and sophomore point guard Isaiah Whitehead chalked it up as a lifeless performance without the usual energy and intensity.
Butler’s experience and offensive efficiency had a lot to do with it, with five different Bulldogs (17-7, 6-6) scoring in double-figures, led by Kelan Martin’s 23 points and 10 rebounds. Butler leads the Big East in points per game (81.5) and field-goal percentage (47.4) for a reason.
“We let them get a head of steam and we had a lot of mental lapses on the defensive end,” Gordon said. “We weren’t communicating, we were just all over the place. We weren’t playing like we usually play.”
The game was tied at 38 at halftime, but only because of Whitehead’s sterling first half. The sophomore made all eight of his shot attempts — seven from downtown — to score 23 points. He was 0-for-6 after the break, but had nine of his 10 assists in the second half, keeping the Pirates in it all the way until the end. But down two points with less than a minute left, Jones, Butler’s junior forward, iced it by sinking a high-arcing floater as the shot clock expired.
Seton Hall will have a lot of time to think about this loss. Its next game is next Wednesday at Georgetown. But don’t look for Willard to give them much time off. Whitehead, who had a career-high 26 points and 10 assists but was 0-for-6 in the second half, expects practices to be particularly grueling.
“I feel bad for our next opponent, defensively,” Whitehead said. “Coach is going to rip us apart in practice about defending. I would guess we’ll probably touch a ball 25 percent of the next practice.”