Earlier today, the BIG EAST named Seton Hall men’s basketball team’s AJ Staton-McCray its Player of the Week.
With the honor, Staton-McCray is the first Pirate to receive it since Dre Davis in March 2024. That season, Kadary Richmond also earned the honor twice consecutively in January. Other Pirates who have received the honor in recent years include Al-Amir Dawes, Sandro Mamukelashvili (also twice), and Myles Powell (six times)—all to say that Staton-McCray joins elite Pirate company.
This honor comes after the graduate guard led the Pirates to a 2-1 record and third place finish in the Maui Invitational Tournament last week. During the tournament, he averaged 19.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.6 steals. He also shot an efficient 58.3% (21-for-36) from the field and 47.3% (9-for-19) from 3-point range.
While in Maui, Staton-McCray delivered his best two performances of the season. The first came in the Pirates’ 85-74 statement win over the then-No. 23, tournament-favorite North Carolina State University Wolfpack in the quarterfinal of the tournament on Nov. 25. In the win, he scored a season-high 22 points—the highest single-game scoring total by any Pirate this season—while shooting 7-for-11 (63.6%) from the field and 3-for-7 (42.9%) from distance.
“That’s Seton Hall basketball—just playing aggressive [on] offense and defense,” Staton-McCray said after the game. “So we really came out and did that today.”
The second came during the third place game of the tournament, where he scored 20 points on 8-for-14 (57%) shooting to lead the Pirates past the Washington State University Cougars Nov. 27. After his performance, he was one of five players selected to the Maui Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Although his first BIG EAST-related honor, it is far from the first honor of Staton-McCray’s collegiate career. Before joining SHU in the offseason, he spent four seasons at Samford University, where he was named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman Team after the 2020-2021 season, as well as the Southern Conference Third Team and All-Defensive Team after the 2023-2024 season.
In concert with his experience, honors like these are what motivated head coach Shaheen Holloway and his staff to pursue Staton-McCray in the offseason. During their media day in October, Holloway said that the team’s recruiting approach this year “was about getting guys who have played a lot of games, and guys with a lot of experience who did well at their schools.” Staton-McCray, a sixth-year guard with multiple conference honors, fits this criteria perfectly.
At that same media day, Holloway also mentioned how the team’s vocal leader had yet to emerge.
“I’m still looking for that,” he said. “We talk about that every day, and I got a lot of older guys, but it doesn’t [necessarily] have to be any one of them—it could be a younger [player].”
“I’m not giving [that title] to them,” Holloway added. “They have to earn it.”
But fast forward to their win over Fairfield University on Nov. 11, and it’s clear that Staton-McCray has begun to emerge as such. After the game, he mentioned that he sent a group text to his teammates reminding them of the importance of a team-first mentality.
“I texted in our group chat the other day that no matter who scores the most amount of points, on any given day, any one of us can have double digit points—it's just [about] playing with each other and just having that good feeling that your brother’s doing a good job on the court tonight, they’re having a good game,” he said. “So that’s just what it is—that’s just how we’re going into each game.”
Hearing about the text for the first time, Holloway praised the graduate guard for his leadership after the game while also stressing the high expectations he has for him.
“That’s why he’s a captain,” Holloway said. “That’s what captains are supposed to do.”
“We need him—he’s an older guy, an established guy,” Holloway added. “Before Miami he was at Sanford, and he had a great career there, did really well, took them to the tournament—so I expect a lot from him.”
Staton-McCray has met his coach’s high expectations so far this season, with this BIG EAST Player of the Week honor serving as proof of such. He and the Pirates look to carry their momentum from Maui into their final three non-conference games against Central Connecticut State University on Wednesday (at Walsh Gymnasium), Kansas State University on Saturday, and Rutgers University on Dec. 13.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
