After a loss to Michigan State in a game that had all the madness of March, No. 12 Seton Hall faces another tough challenge on Saturday.

All-America guard Myles Powell's 37-point effort was not quite enough to push the Pirates past the No. 3 Spartans on Thursday, and now Seton Hall must regroup on the road against a Saint Louis team that has handled this challenge before.

The hot Billikens (3-0) will go for their second straight victory in the series on Sunday afternoon after stopping Seton Hall 66-64 in Newark, N.J., exactly a year ago.

The Pirates (2-1) are tasked with making a quick emotional recovery. They led Michigan State 71-66 in the last two minutes before the Spartans scored four points in the final 28 seconds of a physical last few possessions to pull out a 76-73 victory.

Powell, who sustained a high ankle sprain against Stony Brook on Nov. 9 and did not practice all week, scored 24 points in the second half, but his half-court shot bounced off the rim as time expired. He also had six rebounds and two assists.

"You dream about games like this," said Powell, who admitted the intensity of the crowd helped him play through adversity. "It's not something you pass up."

Powell, a 6-foot-2 senior who was selected the Big East's preseason player of the year, is averaging 21.3 points per game on 46.3 percent shooting from the field. He has made 10 of 23 3-point attempts and was 6 of 14 from long distance against Michigan State.

Pirates forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, another veteran returnee from a 20-win team in 2018-19, is averaging 12.3 points a game. Guard/forward Myles Cale returned to form Thursday with 12 points, four rebounds and two steals against the Spartans.

"We know we can compete with the top teams," Cale said.

Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said he does not expect any lingering effects after the 872-mile flight from Newark to St. Louis.

"There's no aching," Willard said. "We left it all out there. They left it all out there. They just made some plays that we didn't, and we'll learn from it and get better from it."

The Billikens have reworked their rotation after losing four seniors from their 2018-19 Atlantic 10 tournament championship team, but they are scoring as well as ever. They have produced at least 80 points -- albeit against lesser-regarded foes -- in each of their first three games. They hadn't scored that well in three consecutive games in 19 years.

"We're finding different ways to score, which is something we haven't done," Saint Louis coach Travis Ford said after an 82-60 victory over Eastern Washington on Wednesday.

"On the break, inside, making a couple of threes. It can add up, but the true tests are going to be coming up. In the past, we were glad to score 60."

Guard Jordan Goodwin, one of two returning starters, is averaging 16 points and 8.3 rebounds, and forward Hasahn French is averaging 15.3 and 6.7. Freshman point guard Yuri Collins, a hometown product, has a team-high 25 assists in three games off the bench.

--Field Level Media