Seton Hall basketball: Myles Powell returns, leads win at DePaul in Big East opener

Jerry Carino | Asbury Park Press

After missing two weeks with a head injury, Myles Powell put Seton Hall’s basketball team on his shoulders.

The All-American notched 27 points, five rebounds and five steals in 34 tenacious minutes as the still-shorthanded Pirates muscled away 74-66 victory in the Big East opener at DePaul. This after the senior guard engaged in hardly any physical activity since suffering a concussion Dec. 14 at Rutgers.

“He’s one of the toughest son-of-a-guns I’ve ever, ever seen," Hall coach Kevin Willard said in his postgame radio interview.

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Seton Hall (9-4) rallied from 10 points down, serving up a little revenge after getting swept by the Blue Demons last season. DePaul (12-2) had beaten Iowa, Texas Tech, Boston College, Minnesota and Northwestern and was on the cusp of the Associated Press Top 25.

Senior center Romaro Gill (6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 blocks) anchored an interior defense that controlled the second half. Gill's presence slowed down DePaul frontcourt ace Paul Reed (17 points, 9 rebounds) just enough after Reed torched the Hall twice last season.

And senior guard Quincy McKnight put another head on a pike, spearheading the team defense that harassed standout point guard Charlie Moore into 4-of-15 shooting and 8 turnovers.

THREE THOUGHTS

1. Powell's legend grows. Even by his extraordinarily elevated standards, Monday’s effort was one for the books. He looked totally gassed — you try sitting in a dark room for for a week —yet got better as the game wore on. The great ones have a gear almost no one else can reach. I’ve said this before: It’s hard to fathom any other Pirate ever wearing No. 13.

2. Myles Cale, welcome back. The mercurial junior rewarded Kevin Willard’s unwavering faith with a long-awaited breakout performance. He notched 16 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals to help the Hall recover from a slow start. One of Willard's strengths is helping slumping players stay positive. Check out his quotes about Cale below.

3. Big East road wins are gold this season more than ever. Given the incredible parity across the league, to prevail in Chicago without top forward Sandro Mamukelashvili was beyond huge. Hold serve at home Friday against Georgetown and the Pirates will be off to the races -- and almost certainly back in the Top 25. Said Willard afterward: "We're not even close to as good as we can be." He's right, and that's the beauty of this result.

THREE QUOTES

(from Kevin Willard’s postgame interview with Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin)

1. On Ro Gill's second half: “Defensively what this team did was really, really good. I yelled at Ro (at halftime), I said Ro, every time you have a big game, you don’t follow it up. Must be on Twitter watching your blocks. You’ve got to do it every day. I was mad. He was minus-8 at the half. He came in the second half and changed the game, really gave us the boost we needed.”

2. On Myles Cale: “I had a big conversation with Myles after the Prairie View game. I said, ‘You haven’t seen one go in for a while. But man, that’s not why you’re out there. You’re going to make shots. I’m not worried about that. You don’t have to worry about missing shots (and getting yanked). You are so good at so many other facets. But you miss your first two shots and you go into the tank. I said, ‘Miss all you want, just keep doing what you’re doing on the other end. You’re an elite player when you’re focused in. Once you start worrying about missed shots, you become terrible. Everyone sees it.”

3. On whether he was concerned about Powell's head: “I was more worried in general, is he going to pull something. I trust him; when he tells me he’s good, he’s good. When he tells me he’s not, I take him out . . . Some GM is going to make himself look like a brilliant man for drafting that kid. I see a lot of college basketball and I see all these great players, and there are a lot of good ones. I’ll take that dude over anybody, everyday of the week."

DEHERE WATCH

Where does Myles Powell stand on Seton Hall's career scoring list?

1. Terry Dehere 2,494

2. Nick Werkman 2,273

3. Jeremy Hazell 2,146

4. Greg Tynes 2,059

5. Dan Callandrillo 1,985

6. Andre McCloud 1,976

7. Mark Bryant 1,906

8. Myles Powell 1,902

9. Andre Barrett 1,861

10. Khadeen Carrington 1,846

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Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.