Seton Hall 82, Grand Canyon 75 – Post-game quotes and Wooden chips

Coach Kevin Willard, Seton Hall – Opening Statement: “I really love their team (GCU) a lot. They play hard and they are tough to guard. For us, a young team, to battle and find way to win is good. We made some big plays and I think this is the first time we’ve showed some toughness. We got an offensive rebound and hit a big three down the stretch.”

On Miles Powell: “That’s the Miles Powell we usually see in practice. I said this at the beginning of the season, you’ll see a lot of that this year. You’ll see some 40s, you’ll see some 45s, but he’ll also have some nights where he struggles. We just have to get him to understand that he always has to play with the intensity required but no I’m not shocked by what he did tonight. We always see that in practice.”

Coach Don Majerle, Grand Canyon – (On the game’s outcome and effort): “I’m disappointed. We’re at the point of our program, 6 years as a division one team that we expect to win every game, we knew this was going to be extremely tough. Seton Hall is a very good team. They are very well coached with a lot of talent but this is a game we wanted to come in and win. Our guys are disappointed, I’m happy with our effort, it was just too much [Myles] Powell. He just had one of those games and we knew he was able to do it. We concentrated on him, we tried different coverages but he just continued to make big shots and we couldn’t stop him.”

(On the halftime talk to guard Powell): “Well it just can’t be one guy, he’s got to see a bunch of bodies. That’s what we talked about before the game, we tried to blitz him the second half, we just doubled him off of ball screens. But, good players find ways to make good plays and he absolutely did that so hats of to him. I was happy with our effort, our guys fought back and had a chance to win so hopefully we can learn from this and continue to get better.”

(On the GCU travelling contingent): “Oh man, if you ever have a chance to go to Phoenix and watch one of our games, it’s that times one hundred. We rock the place at 7,500 standing room only we have, and this is not a hyperbole, if not one of the best student fanbase in the country, it’s one of the best. They travel and they care about our team. We don’t take it for granted, we love it, and they just do a great job to travel. That’s one of the best things about Grand Canyon, it’s the support we have.”

Wooden Chips

• Seton Hall’s Myles Powell scored 21 points in the first half, which is the most ever scored in the first half of a Wooden Legacy game and tied for eighth-most in any half… He finished with 40 points, tying for the most in Wooden Legacy history in regulation with James Harden of Arizona State vs. UTEP in 2008.
• Seton Hall trailed 75-73, then scored the final nine points of the game to secure the victory.

Seton Hall (2-2)

• Seton Hall is playing in its fifth ESPN event (8-5 record in those).
• Seton Hall entered today with the lowest scoring average in the field (70.0 ppg) as well as the lowest field goal percentage (.402), then burst out with 82 points and a blistering .622 FG%.
• Myles Powell became the 14th player in Seton Hall history to score 40 points in a game, and just the third to do so since 2010.
• Seton Hall shot .622 FG in the game, its highest FG percentage since shooting .647 on 12/2/14 vs. Mount St. Mary’s.
• The Pirates only attempted 45 field goals, its fewest taken since needing just 43 to defeat Illinois State on 11/24/14.
• Taurean Thompson had scored just nine points in Seton Hall’s first three games, but tonight he came off the bench to score 12 points, the most points by a reserve this season.

Grand Canyon (2-2)

• Grand Canyon is playing in its first ESPN event (0-1 record in those).
• The .622 FG% by Seton Hall marked the first time ever the Lopes had allowed a team to shoot over 60% FG.
• Since Grand Canyon went to Division I, the Lopes have made 11+ 3pt-FGs just 17 times including tonight (13-4 when that happens)
• Grand Canyon’s bench produced 31 points tonight, its third straight game with at least that many points.
• Damari Milstead scored a career high 21 points… Combined with Lever’s 20 points, it marked the first time two Grand Canyon players scored 20 points since 1/23/18.
• Alessandro Lever contributed 20 points, his 10th game with 20+ points (Grand Canyon now 6-4 in those games).