Seton Hall’s men’s basketball team opened its season with a dominant 77-50 victory over St. Peter’s University at Prudential Center on Nov. 3.
This marked the third consecutive year the Pirates and Peacocks have faced off to open the season, with both Shaheen Holloway and Bashir Mason entering their fourth season as head coach at their respective programs.
Both teams also enter this game with very different rosters since their last contest a season ago: the Peacocks return just six players, while the Pirates return just four—sophomores Jahseem Felton, Assane Mbaye, Godswill Erheriene, and senior David Gabriel.
The Pirates brought in 11 new players this season, the most notable addition being Najai Hines—a 6-foot-11, 250-pound true freshman from Plainfield, NJ. As previously reported by The Setonian, after his commitment in July to SHU, Hines became the highest-ranked recruit for the Pirates since Isaiah Whitehead in 2014—he was ranked the 36th best player in his class, and 71st best recruit in the nation as a senior at Plainfield High School.
In his first collegiate game, Hines lived up to the hype: despite not starting, he led all scorers with 12 points, finished one rebound shy of a double-double, and went 4-for-6 (66%) from both the field and the free throw line.
But what stood out most about the first-year center’s performance, however, was his six blocks—four of which came within just the first 11 minutes of the game. In doing so, Hines recorded the most blocks by a Pirate in a single game since KC Ndefo also recorded six in a game against Lincoln (PA) in 2022.
Despite his impressive performance, Hines remained modest after the game.
“It’s just something usual, you know?” Hines said. “It’s something I should be doing.”
He was just as modest in explaining the key to blocking shots—as if he didn’t just have six in one night.
“Just being in the right position,” Hines said. "We practice that all the time, so I just executed that.”
His teammate, Adam “Budd” Clark, was far more animated about Hines and his performance.
“I’ve been telling everybody he’s a monster,” Clark said. “And he was as good as advertised today.”
With under five minutes in the first half, the two connected for one of the best moments of the game. After Hines collected the ball in transition, Clark gave it back to Hines, who finished with an emphatic right-handed dunk to make it 34-24.
“With that play, it was just a connection between me and Budd,” Hines said. “He knows I run the floor—we work on it in practice—so I just called it out, he threw it, and it just happened.”
“It definitely got me hype,” Hines added. “[It was a] great feeling [in my] first college game.”
Clark offered a similar explanation for the play, also noting the “connection” between the two players.
“We got a turnover, then I just felt it was like ‘connection,’” Clark said. “I just felt Najai running right beside me, so I hit the open man and he dunked it.”
In addition to Hines, the junior guard also praised the team for its defensive performance. The 50 points allowed were the fewest in a home opener under Holloway since he was hired as head coach in 2022. In doing so, SHU held St. Peter’s to just 27% (14-for-51) shooting from the field while also forcing 15 turnovers—four within the game’s first four minutes alone.
“We caused a lot of havoc,” Clark said. “We had energy from start to finish, and we came out with the win.”
Clark contributed to that defensive performance with a steal on the game. He also finished the game with eight points, while shooting 3-for-5 (60%) from the field and 2-for-3 (66%) from 3-point range.
Coach Holloway also praised Hines—though he noted that the freshman’s performance did not surprise him.
“I thought he was good—but this is how he practices every day,” Holloway said. “He’s one of the guys that I can never say doesn’t have energy or ‘juice’ in practice.”
This becomes less surprising also considering how Hines performance at this past summer’s Peach Jam tournament, where he averaged 2.8 blocks in eight games with the The New York Renaissance (or “RENS,” for short).
What impresses Holloway most about Hines, however, is the freshman’s potential and more traditional style of play.
“I like the fact that he’s an old school big guy,” Holloway said. “He loves fighting down low, he loves rebounding, he loves blocking shots—those things make him different from any player right now.”
“I think we got a good one,” Holloway added. “And the thing about him that I like is that I think he’s just going to get better and better.”
Never one to be satisfied, Holloway is already looking ahead to the team’s next matchup.
“Good performance today,” he said. “But I think we can get better, and we got just a couple more days to prepare for the game on Friday.”
As Holloway mentioned, the team will play again on Nov. 7, when they host the Wagner Seahawks. Instead of playing at the Prudential Center in Newark like usual, Friday’s game will be one of three this season held at Walsh Gymnasium on SHU’s campus in South Orange.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
