Villanova Takes Care of Seton Hall Behind Career Night from Palmer

VILLANOVA, Pa.— Villanova Men’s Basketball poked Seton Hall’s No. 10 ranked defense full of holes early in their 72-60 win at the Finneran Pavilion on Tuesday, Feb. 4, racing out to a double digit lead with 40 first half points.

Sophomore Malachi Palmer contributed a career-high 15 points off the bench for the Wildcats (17-5, 8-3 Big East), whose reserves totaled 25 points. Tyler Perkins and Philadelphia West Catholic alumnus Adam “Budd” Clark led the field with 18 points apiece for their respective teams. Duke Brennan (12 points, ten rebounds) helped Villanova dominate The Hall 37-27 on the glass.

Bench Steps Up

Sixth man Devin Askew took the court just two minutes in after a Bryce Lindsay turnover, making two threes in two minutes as the Wildcats’ bench flexed its muscle early. Villanova head coach Kevin Willard rotated in Palmer, Braden Pierce and Chris Jeffrey at the first media timeout, Palmer feeding the seven foot tall Pierce for an immediate dunk.

Next it was Lindsay’s turn to get hot, making two threes in 94 seconds as the Pirates began to chip away at the lead. That began a 5-of-9 stretch from deep for the Wildcats, two of them during an 8-0 run to close out the half. Villanova pushed their lead to 20 early in the second half, but a Tajuan Simpkins triple started a 9-0 burst as Seton Hall provided a gut check.

Villanova’s bench retaliated with the knockout blow. After a Brennan free throw stopped the bleeding, Palmer got involved with consecutive shots made, a three and a corner two that the officials initially ruled as beyond the arc. Although Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway called an immediate timeout, Jeffrey maintained the momentum, using his length to bat the ball away from Pirates’ guard Trey Parker before taking it the other way for a layup. Seton Hall never made it back within double digits.

Up next, Villanova will travel to face Georgetown at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7.