Shaheen Holloway hasn’t forgotten about the school he put on the map last March, just because he left for Seton Hall. The former Saint Peter’s coach attended the school’s Elite Eight parade and its regular-season opener, and he coached his new team against the Peacocks on Saturday.
Success at Saint Peter’s is how Holloway landed what he has called his dream job at Seton Hall, his alma mater. But, ever the competitor, he wasn’t going to take it easy on the Peacocks, either.
In fact, Seton Hall’s dominant 80-44 victory at Prudential Center had to feel familiar to the players — Isiah Dasher, Jaylen Murray, Oumar Diahame and Latrell Reid — who stayed at Saint Peter’s following that remarkable run just a handful of months ago. A tenacious defense, deep roster and minutes-sharing philosophy that doesn’t revolve around one or two stars.
“That’s coach’s method of coaching, playing hard, playing a lot of guys,” said KC Ndefo, the former Saint Peter’s star who came to Seton Hall with Holloway. “This is just the culture he built over at Saint Peter’s, and he’s bringing the same culture to Seton Hall.”
Ten different Pirates scored, led by 13 apiece from a pair of transfers, Al-Amir Dawes (Clemson) and Dre Davis (Louisville), and 12 from holdover Tyrese Samuel.
It’s early, but Seton Hall (2-0) is playing a very similar game to Holloway’s Saint Peter’s teams — except with superior athletes. Holloway went 10-deep less than eight minutes in on Saturday. At one point later in the first half, he inserted five new players.
The Pirates forced four shot-clock violations in the opening half alone and seven for the game. Players dove for loose balls up 20. Seton Hall defended the life out of the Peacocks, holding them to 25 points by the under-12 timeout of the second half, 27.7 percent shooting and 20 turnovers altogether.
“I just feel like if you’re not scoring the basketball — which at times, we’re going to struggle just because we’re still getting to know each other — if you defend, you give yourself a chance to be in the game,” Holloway said. “So that’s kind of been my thing, and that’s going to be my thing here.”
It was a busy first offseason for Holloway at Seton Hall, one in which he had to be active on the transfer market to fill out his roster. A trying preseason littered with injuries followed. But his new team looks just fine so far, and he has started his first season in the Big East with blowouts of Monmouth and Saint Peter’s.
Still, the demanding Holloway was far from satisfied. He didn’t feel his team had played well. He didn’t like the first half, particularly the Pirates’ lack of deflections early and what he felt was a subpar effort on the glass, despite a plus-10 differential.
The schedule will grow increasingly more difficult starting on Wednesday, when Iowa of the Big Ten comes to Newark.
“I have high expectations for my team — I just think that we’re not where I want to be, and that’s a good thing,” Holloway said. “It’s not a bad thing, right? You want to start gelling when Big East play comes.”
