In their third and final game of the season at Walsh Gymnasium, Seton Hall men’s basketball defeated the Central Connecticut State (CCSU) Blue Devils, 77-61, on Wednesday.
After winning only seven of 32 games last year en route to the worst season in program history, Pirate Nation can exhale a sigh of relief knowing that this season is far from a repeat of the last.
With the win over CCSU, the Pirates have already surpassed last season’s win total, doing so in 16 less games. They also now have their best record through nine games since the 2021-2022 season, when the team—led by former Pirate forward Jared Rhoden—went 9-1 through their first ten games.
This game comes after the team’s trip to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational, where they went 2-1 and finished in third place in the tournament. Their performance in the tournament was highlighted by a statement win over the then-nationally ranked North Carolina State University Wolfpack in the opening round.
As was true for their time in Maui, the key to the team’s success so far has been their defense—and this game was no different. With 13 steals—tied for their most in a single game this season—the Pirates have recorded nine or more steals in every game this season. They also held their opponents to below their season averages in both points per game (85.7 compared to Wednesday's 61) and field-goal percentage (49.9% to 43.1%).
Furthermore, the Pirates managed to neutralize Darin Smith Jr., CCSU’s star freshman forward. In the Blue Devils’ two wins last week, Smith Jr. averaged 31.0 points, while shooting 64.7% and 50% from the arc en route to being named Northeast Conference (NEC) Player of the Week and one of five Oscar Robertson National Players of the Week. In this game, however, Smith Jr. still scored 20 points, but took 17 shots to do so—a huge win for SHU’s defense.
“We hang our hats on the defensive side,” said junior guard Adam “Budd” Clark after the game. “Defense wins championships, and we enjoy playing together, playing hard, and just playing tough.”
In addition to contributing on the defensive end, Clark also had 10 points and tied his career-high with 12 assists—making it his first double-double as a Pirate.
“That’s what we do,” head coach Shaheen Holloway said about the team’s defensive showing after the game. “That’s what we work on from day one—when guys got in in the summertime, that’s what we did.”
While in Maui, the Pirates were led by graduate guard AJ Staton-McCray, who was selected to the Maui Invitational All-Tournament Team and earned the BIG EAST Player of the Week after averaging 19.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.6 steals during the tournament. He also shot an efficient 58.3% (21-for-36) from the field and 47.3% (9-for-19) from 3-point range.
After the game, he reflected on what he learned from the team’s successful trip to Maui last week.
“That we can compete with anyone,” Staton-McCray said. “On any given night, I feel like we can lock in and compete with anyone now. It’s just up to us—we [only] beat ourselves.”
In this game, he and fellow guard Mike Williams led the Pirates with 12 points each. The guard-duo were two of four Pirates in double-figures, with SHU recording a minimum of three of such in every game so far this season. Staton-McCray attributed this to the confidence and depth of the team as well as the work they all put in.
“Just playing with confidence and taking smart shots, taking what the defense gives us, and playing within the system,” Staton-McCray said as to what has been working on the offensive end. “On any given night, like I said a couple of games ago, any player can have double-digit points. So it's just been my nights.”
“We have confidence,” he added. “We all been putting the work in, we all shoot a certain amount of shots a week—2000 a week—and it's gonna show.”
Addressing the team’s depth, coach Holloway said after the game that that’s exactly what he envisioned entering the season.
“That’s what I wanted,” Holloway said. “I don’t know if we got a guy that’s gonna be a 20-point guy a night—I don’t think we have that. I think some guys can get that here and there, but I like the fact that we can get four to five guys in that 8 to 11 [point] range.”
“I think that’s a sign of a team growing,” he added.
Although the trip to Maui was a huge success for the program, Holloway said the week leading up to this game against CCSU had been “awful” because of how fatigued they were from travel—so much so that he admitted to being nervous before this game.
“It was tough because we had like no life, no legs, no nothing,” Holloway said. “And I was really nervous even leading up to after our walk through at 3 o’clock today, I was like, ‘Holy smokes, we’re in trouble.’”
Because the team was so fatigued, Holloway said that “the only thing we could do was shoot,” which ended up actually working in their favor. SHU shot 55% (11-for-22) from three-point range on Wednesday, which is their best 3-point shooting percentage of the season. It was also the first time five Pirates have had multiple 3-pointers made in a game since their win over St. John’s University in February 2012.
Given the tough week they had, Holloway praised his team for their ability to hold their own against another solid non-conference opponent.
“I think our guys showed some toughness tonight, I was proud of that,” Holloway said. “But the crazy thing is that we got to get right back to it.”
Sure enough, the Pirates have just a few days before their next game, when they travel to Manhattan, Kansas, to face the Kansas State University Wildcats on Dec. 6.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
