Prudential Center–Myles Powell went for 23 points on 8-of-22 shooting with seven rebounds, three steals and two assists as Seton Hall beat Marquette, 69-55, before 12,707 at Prudential Center for their sixth straight win. Romaro chipped in 10 points and six rebounds while freshman Tyrese Samuel went for eight points and five rebounds.
The Hall has won three of their last four games against Marquette at the Prudential Center.
The Pirates is 132-60 (.688) all-time at the Prudential Center with 60-49 (.550) mark against Big East foes and a 72-11 (.867) record against non-conference opponents.
The Hall is now 12-4 overall and stands as the only 4-0 team in the Big East entering Wednesday’s showdown with Big East unbeaten Butler, the No. 6 team in the country.
“It feel like it didn’t matter who did it or how it got done,” Powell said. “Everybody just wants to win. When you got a group of guys that just want to win, you find yourself rolling and good things always wind up happening. I’m very happy with my team right now.”
Marquette Markus Howard, the leading scorer in Division 1, entered this game averaging 26.8 points per game and finished with 27 points on 8-of-20 shooting while being guarded by Shavar Reynolds who was in Howard’s hip pocket all game long.
“It’s about time Shavar guarded somebody else like that,” Powell joked. “I mean, I get that treatment every day in practice so to finally see him come out and make somebody else work like that, I’m happy for him.”
Marquette is now 1-3 in Big East play with two straight losses and 11-5 overall. In the end, Seton Hall’s defense is the main topic of the story, forcing the Golden Eagles into 14 turnovers, including six steals.
“It’s a big one and they’re really good,” Pirates coach Kevin Willard said of the Bulldogs. “Coach LaVall Jordan has done as a good a job as anybody in college basketball. They’re just not Kamar Baldwin, they have guys that can get you and they’re as good a team as there is defensively.”
This is just the second time in program history that Seton Hall has started 4-0 in the conference. The 1992-93 squad also got off to a 4-0 start in conference play and ultimately won the Big East regular-season and tournament titles.
“I think Myles Powell is arguably the best player in college basketball so you get a chance to see those two guys play in a high-level college basketball game, it’s pretty fun,” Willard said.
After trailing 24-13 during a stretch where Powell just scored a bucket, the Pirates closed the first half on a 27-13 run to enter the break up 40-37.
Powell had 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting at the half, while Howard scored 18 on 5-of-10 shooting.
With the game tied at 45-all, the Pirates used an 11-0 run sparked by Anthony Nelson with four points to go-ahead 56-45.
Up Next: On Wednesday, Marquette will be back at Fiserv Forum with Xavier coming into town. On Jan. 18, the Pirates will face St. John’s in the annual Howard Garfinkel game at Madison Square Garden.
