NEW YORK — Seton Hall signee Myles Powell scored 17 points on 7-of-21 shooting from the floor, as Team East lost to Team New York 148-128 at the Jordan Brand Classic Regional Game at the Barclays Center Friday night. The sharpshooter was 3-of-14 from behind the arc.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Powell is still working his back into shape after re-injuring the left foot he broke in October. He re-injured it in February.
Powell will join a talented core of juniors – Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez, Angel Delgado and potentially Isaiah Whitehead – that won the Big East Tournament by defeating Villanova, the eventual national champions.
“I was actually at Seton Hall watching it with the guys,” Powell said about the national championship. “It can be them. It was just crazy, but we were happy for them.”
Powell said he sees himself taking the role of reserve guard Derrick Gordon, who will graduate this May. He may have an even bigger role if sophomore guard Whitehead signs with an agent and doesn’t return to campus. Whitehead is currently training for the NBA Draft in Las Vegas.
“Hopefully, we’ll get Isaiah back,” he said. “We’ll have a nice, dominate squad.”
Powell averaged 18.5 points, four rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in 20 games with the NJ Playaz last summer on the Nike EYBL circuit. Powell also shot 44 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3-point range.
Powell’s shooting will be a needed asset on a team that was eighth out of ten teams in the Big East in 3-point field goals made last season.
“Hopefully, I’ll be the best 3-point shooter in the Big East and the country and help my team get a couple victories,” he said.
Villanova signee Dylan Painter added 14 points and 12 rebounds. He and big man Omari Spellman, who played in the National Game, will join the defending national champions, who will lose senior Ryan Arcidiacono, Daniel Ochefu, Patrick Farrell, and potentially Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, who declared for the NBA Draft but didn’t hire agents.
“I was actually in Germany playing in a tournament down there so I couldn’t see the Sweet 16, Elite 8 or Final Four games, so I followed them on Twitter,” Painter said. “But by the time I got home, I was able to watch the national championship, and I was probably the most excited I’ve ever been in my life.”
The 6-foot-10, 230-pound forward chose Villanova over Xavier, Yale, St. Joseph’s and Pitt, to name a few. He’s unsure what his role will be next season, but is willing to help the team in whichever way they need.
“If they need me to work hard in practice to get the older guys better, I’ll do that,” he said. “But if they need me to help them on game day, I’ll do that to.”
Indiana signee Devonte Green – brother of San Antonio Spurs guard Danny Green – racked up nine points, eight assists and seven rebounds for Team New York.
Green will join a squad that made the Sweet 16 this season, but will lose senior guard Yogi Ferrell next season. Green, a shifty guard who can create off the dribble, sees himself filling part Ferrell’s void for the Hoosiers.
“I see me as a combo guard,” Green said. “Maybe a point, maybe sometimes at the wing, a catch-and-shoot kind of guy, dribble-shoot.”
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