The Seton Hall men’s basketball team now knows their path through the BIG EAST for the 2026-27 season. On Monday, the BIG EAST announced its conference schedule, with the Pirates set to play 20 conference games. SHU will face every BIG EAST team twice—once at home and once on the road.
The Pirates will open BIG EAST play on Dec. 19 when they travel to Washington, D.C. to face Georgetown. Four days later, the Pirates will head to the Prudential Center for their conference home opener against defending BIG EAST champions St. John’s.
St. John’s will give the Pirates an early test. The Red Storm finished last season 18-2 in conference play before beating SHU, 78-68, in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals and UConn, 72-52, in the conference championship game.
Led by head coach Rick Pitino, St. John’s will be one of SHU’s biggest matchups. They will meet for a second time on Jan. 23, when the Pirates travel to New York to face the Red Storm.
Another major home matchup will come on Jan. 9 when UConn visits the Prudential Center. The Huskies are coming off a national championship run in which they lost to the Michigan Wolverines, 69-63.
The matchup will feature the return of former Pirate Najai Hines, who transferred to UConn during the offseason. Hines was a key defensive piece for SHU before joining the Huskies and will now get his first opportunity to play against his former team back in The Rock. SHU will travel to Storrs for the second matchup on Feb. 17.
Another familiar face will return to Newark when Villanova visits SHU on Feb. 10. Villanova head coach Kevin Willard spent 12 seasons leading the Pirates from 2010-22 before leaving for Maryland. He returned to the BIG EAST last season to coach Villanova, where the Wildcats, similar to SHU, finished above preseason expectations with a 24-9 record. Willard’s first trip back to the Prudential Center as Villanova’s head coach ended with the Wildcats defeating his former team, 64-56. The Pirates will travel to Villanova on Jan. 12 before hosting the Wildcats less than a month later on Feb. 10.
The Pirates will look to build off their 2025-26 season, when they finished 10-10 in BIG EAST play and earned the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. The Pirates defeated Creighton in the quarterfinals, 72-61, before their season ended against St. John’s in the semifinals.
The Pirates will close the regular season on March 6 at Butler before returning to Madison Square Garden for the BIG EAST Tournament March 10-13.
Game times, streaming details and arena locations will be announced at a later date.
Jaden Highsmith is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at jaden.highsmith@student.shu.edu.
