Phil Booth drains 7 3-pointers as No. 18 Villanova blows out Seton Hall

Share

BOX SCORE

Phil Booth hit seven 3-pointers and scored 25 points, helping No. 18 Villanova beat Seton Hall 80-52 on Sunday for its eighth consecutive victory.

The Wildcats (16-4, 7-0 Big East) made 17 3s and are rolling toward another conference crown under coach Jay Wright. The national champions still have some kinks to work out to become a deep threat in March — namely, finding a third scorer — but again should be a low single-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Pirates (12-8, 3-5) remain 0-for-Nova on the road since 1994. The Wildcats have won 17 straight games on their home court against Seton Hall (15-0 Pavilion; 2-0 Wells Fargo Center) and were never threatened in this one.

The Wildcats held Seton Hall to just nine baskets through the first 26 minutes and Collin Gillespie hit Villanova's ninth 3-pointer to push the lead to 45-26.

Eric Paschall and Booth are a two-person show for the Wildcats and shot the team out of their early season funk (that included four losses by Dec. 16). Against the Pirates, Paschall and Booth combined for six 3s and 26 points in the first half. The duo outscored Seton Hall 26-20 and the Wildcats led by 10 at the break. Booth missed a 3, the offensive rebound got kicked out to him and he nailed a 3 from the top of the arc to make it 30-20.

Paschall finished with 17 points, going over 1,000 for his career.

Seton Hall had 14 turnovers in the first half and missed 8 of 10 3-pointers, the latest inept performance against a Villanova program the Pirates have not defeated since 2016.

Myles Cale led Seton Hall with 14 points and the Pirates shot 35 percent from the floor.

Big picture

Seton Hall: The Pirates have lost five of six games and continue to struggle on defense after allowing 97 points last time out to DePaul. It's hard to believe this is the same team that beat Kentucky and Maryland in December.

Villanova: The Wildcats also need to tighten up their free-throw shooting. They made just 7 of 13 attempts.

Up next

Seton Hall hosts Providence on Wednesday.

Villanova plays Wednesday night at DePaul.

Contact Us