When a player has to do push-ups at one of Shaheen Holloway’s practices, everyone in the gym must join him. That includes teammates, coaches, trainers, managers and any random visitors to the newly constructed Seton Hall Basketball Performance Center that day. “Even parents,” says 6-foot-4 graduate guard AJ Staton-McCray, a transfer from Miami, with a chuckle.
The unique rule is one of the many challenging aspects of a typical practice in South Orange. “Practice is definitely harder than games,” adds 5-foot-10 junior guard Budd Clark, a transfer from Merrimack. “There’s nothing like a Seton Hall practice. It’s physical. There’s a lot of energy. There’s a lot of effort. And just (Holloway) getting on us all the time. When we’re being bad or good, he’s just always the same. He wants us to be the best at all times.”
That intense approach hasn’t wavered, and it’s a big part of why Seton Hall has already vastly exceeded expectations. At 14-5, the program currently sits at fifth in the Big East and No. 47 on KenPom. Last week, it earned its first national AP ranking since the 2021-22 campaign, slotting in at No. 25. And yet, all the buzz about Holloway’s team over the past few months has gone in one ear and out the other. Holloway couldn’t care less about being a feel-good story in January; the Pirates have way bigger goals and a lot more work to do. “I’m not with the happy-go-lucky stuff,” he tells Hoops HQ. “I like to keep the same energy I’ve always had.”
A former standout player for the Hall from 1996-2000, Holloway has long been known for his fiery, competitive nature. As a coach, he builds his rosters by pursuing players who share those traits — or, as Holloway puts it, “who fit my personality.”
“The game has changed so much right now where you have guys who don’t love the game — they love what comes with it,” he continues. “I want guys who love the game.”
After a dreadful season in which his team went 7-25 and lost 16 of its final 17 games, Holloway hit the reset button. From a resource standpoint, Seton Hall entered the offseason in a better situation than last year but still lacking in comparison to other Big East schools. The Pirates weren’t going to attract any of the big fish on the market with what they could afford to offer, so they faced an uphill battle from the beginning. (The hope is that this will change in the revenue-sharing era, as Seton Hall won’t have to contend with an FBS football program for funding.)
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The Huskies are still unbeaten in conference play, but struggled against Providence. Elsewhere, St. John’s stock climbs while Georgetown’s struggles continue apace.
With an entire roster to rebuild, Holloway attacked the portal with a slightly different mindset. In addition to seeking toughness, he prioritized experience. That was a significant departure from the program’s approach two years ago, when it recruited high-major players — mostly rising sophomores — who hadn’t received the opportunities they coveted as freshmen. Those guys were talented, no question, but they possessed very minimal experience. “This go-around I said, I want guys who played a lot of basketball,” Holloway explains. “I don’t really care what level they played at, just played a lot of basketball and had an impact on their teams.”
Of the whopping 10 transfers that Seton Hall signed, nine are upperclassmen. The program has the 17th most experienced roster in the sport, per KenPom. It all started with the signing of Clark, an All-MAAC First Team selection last season at Merrimack. Holloway knew he needed a true point guard after the 2024-25 team averaged just 61.6 points and ranked 255th nationally in turnovers per game. The Pirates brought in several more veteran guards, including Staton-McCray (7.3 point per game at Miami), 6-foot-4 junior Tajuan Simpkins (14.6 points at Elon), 6-foot-3 junior Mike Williams (4.0 points at LSU) and 6-foot-6 senior Elijah Fisher (15.7 points at Pacific).
“You try to do as much background as you can,” says Holloway. “For example, with Budd, I know a lot of coaches in the MAAC. I called almost every coach in the MAAC and asked their thoughts on him from a toughness standpoint and whether they thought he could convert his game from the MAAC to the Big East. (And then) I just went back to looking at games that he played against high-level teams and how he held his own.”
To boost the interior, Holloway secured the commitment of 6-foot-9 senior forward Stephon Payne, who started 48 games and averaged 7.8 points and 6.2 rebounds over two years at Jacksonville. The last piece of the puzzle was 6-foot-10 freshman center Najai Hines, the Pirates’ only high school signee. A four-star prospect aptly nicknamed “Baby Shaq,” Hines reclassified and committed to SHU in July, shortly after dominating the Nike EYBL Peach Jam. While he brings down the average age of the team, the 265-pound former tight end is as strong and imposing as any big man in college basketball.
Holloway was clear with every recruit about the demands of his program. “He told us from the jump, ‘If this is not who you are, don’t come,’” says Staton-McCray, who has been Seton Hall’s leading scorer at 12.2 points per game. As a result, Holloway was left with a team that meshed perfectly with his style. But in the absence of big names, the Pirates were picked to finish last in the Big East during the preseason. No one expected a collection of primarily mid-major transfers to find any success at the high-major level.
Seton Hall made those projections look foolish right away, winning 11 of its first 12 games. At the Maui Invitational in late November, it beat NC State and Washington State to claim third place. What the group lacks in talent, it more than makes up for in maturity, grit and resiliency. The Pirates have the country’s No. 9-ranked defense — one that relies on constant ball pressure, even 94 feet from the basket — and are relentless on the offensive glass. Those qualities have allowed them to remain competitive in every game this season, despite having a poor offense (291st in Division I) susceptible to big scoring droughts.
With their hard-nosed approach, the Pirates have staged a number of dramatic comebacks. They erased double-digit second-half deficits against Marquette, Creighton and Georgetown, winning all three games. While they’ve dropped their last three outings, two of those losses came to UConn and St. John’s — Nos. 1 and 2 in the league, respectively — and they had a chance in all of them. They trailed the Huskies by one with 45 seconds left, eventually losing 69-64, and got a taste of their own medicine on Tuesday against the Johnnies, blowing a 15-point lead. Both Dan Hurley and Rick Pitino spoke glowingly about Holloway’s squad. “This is the hardest playing team in the country,” Hurley told Andy Katz.
That is the identity of the Pirates, and it has stayed consistent since November. Seton Hall continues to play and practice like a team with a lot to prove, not one that has already blown past its preseason projections. In other words, the push-up rule remains in full effect. “I came here for an uncomfortable situation,” says Clark, who’s averaging 10.1 points and 4.6 assists. “I knew it was going to be tough. (Holloway) has just been pushing us to be our best every day. That’s what I’ve been looking forward to, honestly.”
The Pirates have their sights set on not just making the NCAA Tournament, but going on a deep run. In his latest installment of bracketology, Hoops HQ’s Brad Wachtel designated Seton Hall as a No. 10 seed. The program has a long way to go, but just as Holloway does, it is keeping the same energy.
“Coach Sha is the same day in and day out, on the court and off the court,” adds Clark. “He has the same energy about him, the same enthusiasm, the same ‘oomph.’ And we all just follow him.”
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