No. 12 Seton Hall picked up its second win of the season on Saturday, beating Stony Brook 74-57.
That win, though, may have come at a lofty cost.
First-team All-American and Big East preseason player of the year Myles Powell suffered a “serious” left ankle injury less than five minutes into the game while going up for a layup and limped off the floor to the locker room. He didn’t return.
This could be disastrous for Seton Hall if Myles Powell suffers a serious injury
— Official Bookmaker (@bookmaker_eu) November 9, 2019
Powell is averaging 27 ppg
Currently left the floor to the lockeroom with what looked like a ankle injury pic.twitter.com/0CWSDUA4sf
Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard doesn’t yet know the extent of his star guard’s injury, but he said a “prolonged absence” is likely. Powell almost certainly won’t see the court on Thursday, either, for their game against No. 1 Michigan State.
“Injuries happen, but especially where he’s at in his career, I’m probably going to be a little bit extra safe,” Willard said, via the Asbury Park Press. “I’ll hold him out as long as I need to, to make sure he comes back to where it doesn’t affect his future.”
The injury took the wind out of the Pirates, too.
They fell into a hole after Powell left for the locker room, and went into halftime down two points after shooting just 31 percent in the first half.
“It’s hard when he goes down that early and it’s only the second game of the season,” guard Quincy McKnight said, via the Associated Press. “Nobody thought this would happen, so that happened and it kind of took the energy out of our team. It just took us out of our whole rhythm.”
Seton Hall rallied just fine in the second half, holding the Seawolves to just 24 points en route to the 18-point win. Sandro Mamukelashvili led the Pirates with 17 points, and McKnight added 14.
While the injury isn’t a good sign for Seton Hall — especially this early in the year — Powell didn’t seem too concerned.
“God got me!” Powell posted on his Instagram story on Saturday night. “Everything going to be straight! My boys about to hold it down for me.”
And, until he returns, Willard said he’s now just focused on helping his team flow offensively without its star player.
“For me, trying to find a rotation now,” Willard said, via NJ.com. “I really struggled in the first half trying to find a rotation that would work and be natural [without Powell]. I’m going to spend all day [Sunday] and the next couple days trying to find a rotation that will let us play offense smoothly.”
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