Seton Hall men’s basketball hoped their third matchup against St. John’s (STJ) would be the charm—but instead, it was their third strike, and now, they're out.
In game one of the BIG EAST Tournament’s semifinal session at Madison Square Garden (MSG) on Friday, the Pirates’ (21-12, 10-10 BIG EAST) quest for their elusive fourth BIG EAST Championship title came to an end, as they fell to the Johnnies (27-6, 18-2 BIG EAST), 78-68, after conceding an 8-0 deficit in the opening minutes that set the tone for the rest of the night.
“They dominated us because they came out and they swung first and we didn’t swing back,” SHU Head Coach and unanimous BIG EAST Coach of the Year Shaheen Holloway said postgame. “And that’s not us, normally, and that’s what's so disappointing about it.”
Leading 38-30 at the break after killing SHU inside in the first half (24-17 advantage in points in the paint, 17-13 in rebounds and 10-6 in second-chance points), STJ started the second half just like the first, and even better, opening it with a 11-0 run through its first six minutes to take a 49-30 lead—their largest of the game.
“They’re very physical, obviously well-coached, got experience,” Holloway said about the Red Storm. “They got a couple of guys that, when they need a bucket, you go go to them.”
But “Second Half Seton Hall” would never go down without a fight, especially in the most historic fighting venue there is: trailing by as much as 19 points in the second half, The Hall managed to get within six points of the Red Storm with just 4:41 left to play behind a two-minute 9-1 scoring run.
STJ responded with a 7-0 run to regain a 13-point lead, however, as the Johnnies led 69-56 with just 2:27 left.
Still, The Hall just refused to go away quietly, getting the game back within single digits with just 1:59 remaining, trailing 69-61, while Pirate Nation (as well as UConn Nation, with fans funneling in for the next game) cheered them on.
But even with SHU clawing their way back into the game, it was too little too late, as the Johnnies ultimately iced the game from the line in the time remaining for the 78-68 win.
STJ were led by 20 points from BIG EAST Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor, while they shot 52% (25-for-48) from the field and 33% (4-for-12) from 3-point range compared to SHU’s 42% and 25%, respectively.
“We bent a little bit down the stretch after playing great basketball—but we never broke,” STJ Head Coach and Naismith Hall of Famer Rick Pitino said postgame. “Seton Hall breaks everybody. They come back against everybody because of their intensity.”
With the win, Pitino and the Johnnies will face the winner of second-seeded UConn and eleventh-seeded Georgetown on Saturday night in their second-straight BIG EAST Tournament Championship game—a feat which Pitino said pales in comparison to beating a Holloway-led Pirates squad three times in one season.
“Walking over here, John Fanta was asking me, ‘How impressive it is to go to a second-straight final game'—I said, 'Well, what’s really impressive to me is to beat Seton Hall three times, because that’s not easy to do,'” Pitino said. “That's not easy to do because of the way they get after you.”
As he has consistently done all season, Pitino had further praise for Holloway as a longtime fan of his.
“I love the way he gets his guys to play hard, unselfish basketball,” Pittino said. “He recruits a lot of ‘no-name’ guys that aren’t on the radar and makes them ‘name’ guys.”
“So he’s tremendous, he deserved Coach of the Year by far,” Pitino added. “He's a terrific coach, and Seton Hall is very, very lucky to have him.”
Lucky indeed is Pirate Nation to have him, as well as All-BIG EAST Second Team guard Adam “Budd” Clark, who paced SHU with a 17-point, 11-assist double-double. Such a statline made Clark both the first Pirate to have at least 15 points and 10 assists in a BIG EAST Tournament game and just the fifth ever with 10 assists as well.
With SHU now hanging in postseason limbo, Clark reaffirmed his commitment to The Hall.
“I'm definitely hoping to keep continuing playing,” Clark said about the postseason. “And I'm definitely looking to keep playing at Seton Hall, and whatever happens, happens.”
Reflecting on the season, although likely not over yet, Holloway said the team’s improvement from last year to this year was exactly what he envisioned, despite some shortcomings, when he brought Clark and 10 other newcomers to the team in the offseason.
“This is why I brought these guys here,” Holloway said. “I thought that we could have this kind of season, and a little better—I thought that we let some games slip away.”
Holloway also said this year’s team, Clark included, embodied “The Three D’s” of “Dedication, Desire, and Discipline” that Holloway lives by on and off the court.
“For me as a coach, they gave me everything I asked for, that you could ask for, nothing more than that,” Holloway said. “They definitely lived up to the three D’s, and they carried themselves well on and off the court.”
As mentioned, the loss ended The Hall’s conference postseason, as well as their hopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament—although Holloway feels otherwise.
“I’ll be honest with you, I told these guys in the locker room, I think if the committee really sits down and has, you know, good minds in there like I know they do, if they look at our resume and look at what we did,” Holloway also said postgame. “And our body of work is really good, it’s way better than a lot of people (think).”
“Obviously, it didn’t end well today, but I thought we did enough,” Holloway added. “But like I said, that’s not up to me.”
If the committee doesn’t see things how Holloway does, rather than defend their 2024 NIT Championship title, SHU will likely continue postseason play in the College Basketball Crown Tournament, a postseason tournament that debuted last season where the top two non-NCAA Tournament teams from the “BIG” conferences are granted automatic bids, which begins on April 1.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
