Injuries and losing finally seem to have broken Seton Hall’s will. The Pirates collapsed and quit in last night’s 67-46 loss to Marquette. And afterward, an admittedly frustrated Kevin Willard admitted his team didn’t have enough fight, and what little it had has been beaten out of it.
The Pirates suffered through a 9:26 drought without a basket, offering precious little resistance in a 25-1 second-half run that blew the game open. And when it was over, the Hall (13-14, 2-12 Big East) had dropped its eighth straight and fallen to its worst Big East start in a generation.
“The effect of all the injuries has really demoralized this team, to the point of where when a 25-1 run happens, we don’t have much fight in us,’’ said Willard, who signed a six-year contract in March 2010 then inked an extension.
Willard, who sources say has the backing of the Seton Hall administration, closed the locker room for just the fourth time in his tenure.
“We’ve got to bring in a couple guys that have a bit more fight than some of the guys on this team,” said Willard, who complained of his team’s lack of fortitude. “We’ve got to make a couple changes going into next year, and get the guys hurt healthy, and go from there.”
Willard has had a full roster for just one game (Nov. 12 vs. Norfolk State) and seen seven players miss games — with Brandon Mobley and Patrik Auda out for the season.
A 17-0 Marquette run blew open a game Seton Hall led, 33-32, early in the second half.
* Willard before the game expressed his frustration with junior Brian Oliver’s ankle injury.
“Brian Oliver has a self-proclaimed ankle injury, so he’s out indefinitely. I don’t know when he’ll be back,’’ Willard said. “It’s one of those injuries that when a game appears it goes away and feels real good, and when a practice appears it really hurts.
“We’ll have the New England Journal of Medicine come in and study him because they’ll want to know how that’s possible. It’s quite amazing.”
Oliver had three fouls and zero points in 16 minutes last night.