A walk though Seton Hall basketball’s $55 million practice facility
A walk though Seton Hall basketball’s $55 million practice facility
The parade of guards from the transfer portal to South Orange continues for Seton Hall basketball with the commitment of Mike Williams, who spent the past two years at LSU.
Williams is the sixth guard and ninth guard or wing to join the program for 2025-26.
Here are three things to know about the 6-foot-3 sophomore two-guard, who has two years of eligibility left.
1. He turned in a promising freshman campaign.
A Maryland native, Williams arrived at LSU as a four-star prospect, and his freshman year of 2023-24 was promising. He made 22 starts and averaged 7.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in 19 minutes per game while shooting 37.1 percent from 3-point range and .742 from the free-throw line. The Tigers finished 17-16 overall and 9-9 in the SEC.
2. He had a rough sophomore year
After an influx of backcourt transfers shook up the Tigers’ roster last offseason, Williams came off the bench in 2024-25 and averaged 4.0 points and 1.4 rebounds in 11 minutes per game while shooting .313 from the field, .250 from 3-point range and .773 from the free-throw line.
Williams left the team for a month, from late November to late December, for what were termed personal reasons. He got more time toward the end of SEC play, posting 13 points against South Carolina and 10 against eventual national champ Florida. LSU finished 14-18 overall and 3-15 in the SEC.
3. So many guards
Shaheen Holloway has made compiling guards a point of emphasis this offseason after issues at that position in 2024-25 – Garwey Dual’s slow development, injuries to Chaunce Jenkins and Dylan Addae-Wusu, and Zion Harmon’s defection – left the Hall incapacitated.
But with two open scholarships left, there are just two traditional bigs on next season’s roster, plus second-year walk-on Assayne Mbaye. Though Holloway’s teams haven’t pressed defensively and pushed the ball as a steady diet in the past, this group seemingly has to do that as presently configured.
It’s also worth noting that proven bigs are going for well north of $1.5 million in the transfer market, something that seems to be out of the Hall’s price range for a single player.
Seton Hall’s projected 2025-26 depth chart
Guards (6): Budd Clark, TJ Simpkins, A.J. Staton-McCray, Trey Parker, Jahseem Felton, Mike Williams.
Wings (3): Elijah Fisher, Jacob Dar, Joshua Rivera
Bigs (2): Godswill Erheriene, Stephon Payne.
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.