And just like that, only two Seton Hall men’s basketball players remain.
On Tuesday afternoon, 247Sports’ Dushawn London reported that junior guard Mike Williams has entered the transfer portal. Williams becomes the eighth Pirate to do so, with three entering the portal on Monday alone.
As it stands, The Hall’s roster consists of just four players. This includes two incoming Pirates in incoming freshman guard Darien Moore, who committed to SHU in February 2024, and junior guard Simeon Wilcher, who was added through the transfer portal from Texas on Monday.
The other two are the only players returning from last season, in sophomore center Assane Mbaye and sophomore guard Trey Parker, who is the lone rotational player remaining from last season’s team. If Parker were to enter the transfer portal, that would mean not a single player from last season’s active roster will remain.
Starting all but two of the Pirates’ 33 games, Williams averaged 7.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 20.9 minutes per game last season. From the field, Williams shot 37.1%, while his 33.3% from beyond the arc was the second-highest on the team.
Although nothing is set in stone yet with Williams’ potential departure, SHU will not retain a single player from last season’s regular starting five. He joins junior guard Adam “Budd” Clark and senior forward Elijah Fisher in the transfer portal, while senior forward Stephon Payne and postgrad guard AJ Staton-McCray are both graduating.
Sadly, SHU’s roster turnover is all too familiar for head coach Shaheen Holloway. After a disastrous 2024-2025 season, Holloway had to build last season’s roster entirely from scratch.
Bringing in 11 newcomers, ten from the transfer portal and a lone freshman recruit in Najai Hines, Holloway led them to a surprise 21 wins and fourth-place finish in the BIG EAST standings after being picked to finish dead last in the preseason.
Asking Holloway to repeat last season’s success might be a tall ask, sure—but if he did it once before, who says he can’t do it once again?
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
