Villanova basketball is finally back. After a nearly month-long layoff resulting from two virtually consecutive COVID pauses, the Wildcats will resume play Tuesday night against the Seton Hall Pirates. The unusual circumstances make it virtually impossible to predict how things will play out, but we’ll look at some numbers to at least get a feel for the Pirates.

For his part, Jay Wright doesn’t know what to expect from his team after the long layoff and disrupted practice schedule. “I think we got five-six guys that are in really good shape and are good to go so I feel better about them,” Wright said. “We got a couple guys on the court today for the first time, they did individual things, they look like they’re in pretty good shape. Playing in a game, game decisions, game situations I just don’t know what we’re gonna do yet.”

Seton Hall is coming off an extended break of its own, although not to the extreme of Villanova’s. The Pirates haven’t played since January 9 after having a game postponed due to COVID issues with a scheduled opponent.

After a disappointing 1-3 start, the Pirates have won eight of 10 to come into Tuesday’s matchup at 9-5 and 6-2 in the Big East. Seton Hall has taken down Big East rivals St. John’s, Marquette, Georgetown, Xavier, Butler and DePaul while losing to Providence and Creighton. The common opponents there are Marquette, Georgetown and Butler. Hall beat Marquette 70-63, Georgetown 78-67 and Butler 68-60. ‘Nova beat those opponents 85-68, 76-63 and 85-66 respectively.

Seton Hall checks in at No. 44 in the KenPom rankings, 33rd offensively and 67th defensively. Haslametrics ranks the Pirates 35th overall, 33rd offensively and 68th defensively. Two factors stand out when looking at the advanced metrics, and they are probably at least somewhat related.

First, Seton Hall gets a high percentage of its shots near the basket, ranking 25th in the country in number of “near proximity” attempts, per Haslametrics. The Pirates have connected on 53.4% of their 2-point attempts this season.

Second, the Pirates get to the free throw line. Per Haslametrics, Seton Hall ranks 10th in free throw attempts per 100 possessions against the average opponent. How does that transfer into hard numbers? The Pirates attempt just over 23 free throws per game. They have gotten 23% of their points from the line so far this season, per KenPom, a number that is the 27th highest in the country. They have connected on 73.9% of their free throw attempts.

Sandro Mamukelashvili leads the way for Seton Hall with 18.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Wright mentioned that the difficulty in simulating what Mamukelashvili does adds to the challenge of trying to slow him down.

Jared Rhoden adds 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds, while Myles Cale rounds out the double-figure scorers for Seton Hall with 11.6 points while adding 3.1 rebounds and connecting on 38.7% of his 3-point attempts.

Shavar Reynolds chips in 7.7 points per game to go with 48.4% shooting from 3. Takal Molson adds 6.7 points, Tyrese Samuel chips in 6.4 and Ike Obiagu adds 5.6.

We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on how often the Pirates get to the line as well as how efficient they are on their 2-point attempts and where those attempts are coming from. But with Villanova coming off such a long layoff, we’ll be paying even more attention to what the Wildcats are/aren’t doing than to what the Pirates are doing or which team is controlling which factors.

That will be Wright’s focus as well, and it has led the team’s preparation for Tuesday. “At this time of year, we would probably be in pretty good shape in terms of preparing for our opponent, being very comfortable with what we do,” Wright said. “Right now, we’re far more concerned with what we do tomorrow. I don’t think we’re in a position yet to really be making great adjustments for Seton Hall.”

While there’s plenty of uncertainty regarding how the game will go, Wright was pleased with what the guys were able to do under the trying circumstances. “I’m very impressed with what they’ve done individually, what our strength coach John Shackleton has done with them, I’m very impressed,” Wright said.

There are a pair of concerns resulting from the layoff that we’ll be watching on Tuesday, one early and one late.

Early, we’ll be looking to see how rusty the team looks. Will the offense be run with precision and able to get in rhythm? What kind of looks will the ‘Cats get and are they knocking them down? Can they continue to take care of the ball at the elite level they have all season? Will they be connected defensively and be able to avoid breakdowns?

Late, we’ll be watching to see if they simply run out of gas. Wright has praised the work the players have put in during the pause and seems generally pleased with how they have looked. But even with conditioning, it can be hard to simulate game situations. As Wright has pointed out, there’s a difference between a 90-minute practice and a 40-minute game. We saw this effect, with Villanova on the opposite side of it, when the ‘Cats played Butler coming off a long pause.

Ultimately, the Wildcats will do their best to play their brand of basketball. “We gotta go out there and play hard,” Collin Gillespie said. “We just have go out there and play Villanova basketball for 40 minutes and we’ll accept whatever comes with that. But we just have to make sure we’re playing Villanova basketball hard and together.”

Regardless of the challenges, the team is excited and ready to get out and compete again. “I think it (the delay) makes us more eager to compete,” Gillespie said. “Whenever you get a chance to play against somebody else in another uniform, you’re excited to play. We’re excited and our guys are competitive so we’re ready to go out there and play another team.”

His coach shared a similar sentiment.

"I don’t know what we’re going to look like in a game,” Wright said. “You can’t simulate Seton Hall’s length and athleticism. We’re gonna have to deal with that and then not having played a game in so long, I have no idea. But I know we are going to be thrilled just to be going through game day routine and getting out there on the court and playing against somebody else.”

The game is scheduled for a 9 p.m. tip on FS1.