A walk though Seton Hall basketball’s $55 million practice facility
A walk though Seton Hall basketball’s $55 million practice facility
SOUTH ORANGE – After the first two games, Seton Hall basketball coach Shaheen Holloway said he had to get A.J. Staton-McCray going.
Mission accomplished.
The senior shooting guard led a balanced effort in Monday’s 82-59 romp of Fairfield with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, four steals, two assists, two rebounds and a block.
“I got on him yesterday and the day before that, because we need him,” Holloway said. “He’s an older guy, an established guy. I expect a lot from him. I thought the first two games he let not making shots affect everything. Today he did a better job of, even when his shot wasn’t going, he did other things for us.”
Notably, the transfer from Miami hit three of his four 3-point attempts. Staton-McCray has a sweet stroke and shot 41 percent from deep two seasons ago while helping Samford reach the NCAA Tournament. If he regains something close to that form it opens things up for the Pirates, who are 3-0 and looking much improved from last season as Holloway continues to figure out roles for 10 newcomers.
It takes some leadership among the players to sort that out, too, and Staton-McCray did something over the weekend to that end.
“I texted this in the (players’) group chat the other day: ‘No matter who scores the most amount of points – any given day any of us could have double-digit points – it’s about playing with each other and having that good feeling that our brother is doing a good job on the court,'” Staton-McCray said. “That’s how we have to go into each game.”
His teammates heeded his words as eight players scored between 8-13 points. Holloway, who was seated alongside Staton-McCray in the postgame press conference and hearing about this group text for the first time, was impressed.
“That’s why he’s a captain,” the coach said. “That’s what captains are supposed to do.”
Fairfield (1-2) lost by just eight at Penn State and beat NJIT by 21 on the road. This is a reasonably competitive MAAC team. This was the first meeting between these programs since 1980, Bill Raftery’s final season as Seton Hall’s head coach.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS1. Najai Hines logs a double-double
After a smashing debut against Saint Peter’s and an off game against Wagner, the freshman center out of Plainfield High School looked like a force once again. He was the first sub into the game and finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks – his first collegiate double-double.
Hines shot 4-of-6 from the floor and six of his boards were offensive.
“I know I’m not going to score all the time, so I have to do other things like crashing the boards,” he said.
He was a man among boys at age 18, and his final exit late in the game was met with a standing ovation from a packed house of 1,300 at Walsh Gym.
“I’m going to be rude — I didn’t even notice it,” Hines said of the ovation. “I was too locked in on the game itself.”
You can see Hines’ learning curve unfolding in real time. He’s still picking up fouls of over-aggression on rebounds, but he wore Fairfield down in the battle for position as the game went on.
“They got tired, so I was able to bully them a little more,” he said. “I was still high-motor.”
When you have a 6-foot-10, 270-pound difference-maker, you’ve got to get him paint touches. The Hall did a better job of that as the game unfolded, and Hines helped his cause by staying on the court and getting deeper into the block.
“He’s learning – don’t get silly fouls early,” Holloway said. “People don’t realize he’s very unselfish. We’re trying to get him on the block and get the ball (there), and he’s trying to dribble and throw passes and I’m like, ‘Man, I need you on the block.’ But he plays hard and he defends.”
2. Budd Clark, work in progress
The junior point guard rebounded from a tough outing against Wagner Friday with a better performance: 9 points and 4 assists on 3-of-6 field goals and 3-of-3 free throws.
He came out of the gate dishing and swishing, but then sat for six straight minutes with just one foul. He wasn’t quite as sharp after finally subbing back in, committed a second foul and sat the rest of the half (in eight first-half minutes he notched seven points and two assists).
It’s notable that Clark took Holloway’s criticism from the Wagner game to heart and executed his jump-stop off the drive to free up good looks – instead of penetrating too far in the paint (which, given his size, puts him at a disadvantage in the half court).
One of Seton Hall’s biggest problems last season was that most of the key players were not receptive to Holloway’s coaching. Clark seems highly coachable, and that sets a vital tone for the rest of the group.
“Yeah, I think they’re responding well,” Holloway said when asked about the group’s coachability. “I’m on them, but I also want to let them play. It’s a give-and-take thing.”
Bottom line: Clark has to remain on the court for this team to reach its potential this season. The offense’s drop-off when he’s on the bench is enormous.
3. Tough injury for Jahseem Felton
Sophomore guard Jasheem Felton took a nasty fall in the second half and had to be helped off the court with his right knee in obvious pain. It was bad enough for Holloway to rush onto the court to check on him.
“My head is all messed up because of Jah right now; I feel awful,” Holloway said afterward. “It just didn’t look good with his knee. I’m not a doctor and I don’t know exactly what it is, but watching it on film, it didn’t look good.”
Felton is one of two returning scholarship players from last season and a nice guy who is liked by everyone.
“The whole team in the locker room, the training room, gave him a hug and told him we love him,” Holloway said. “I’m praying for him.”
If Felton is out for an extended period, it places extra onus on the development of sophomore Trey Parker. Through three games the N.C. State transfer, who is being groomed as the backup point guard, is shooting 3-of-16 from the field with four assists. He did drop a sweet second-half dime in transition to forward Jacob Dar, electrifying the crowd and providing a glimpse of his potential.
“Today was good for Trey,” Holloway said. “He’s getting his rhythm and timing back; he was out for almost two weeks (with a preseason injury). I wanted him to get back in rhythm, plus we have game Thursday and we played (this past) Friday, so I’ve got to be careful with guys’ minutes. I wanted the second group to get more minutes because we’re going to need them to help us.”
Three players continue to be sidelined by injury, though backup forward Josh Rivera (wrist) dressed, was listed as questionable and did not see action. Center Godswill Ehreriene (foot), and forward Patrick Suemnick (shoulder) remain out. Ehreriene figures to factor into the rotation whenever he returns.
Holloway said that could be a while.
“I think it’s going to be a minute,” he said of Ehreriene.
4. Pros and cons defensively
On the plus side Seton Hall brought the energy with its ball pressure, trapping less than the past two games but still forcing 17 turnovers, recording 12 steals and outscoring Fairfield 17-1 in points off turnovers. The Pirates also blocked 13 shots, with seven different players recording swats.
On the minus side, the Pirates got shredded from 3-point range again. Fairfield, which came into the night shooting just 25 percent from 3-point range, shot 9-of-23 (39.1 percent). Through three games Seton Hall’s opponents are shooting 27-of-71 from deep – an alarmingly high number (.380). If there was one red flag in an otherwise solid effort, this was it.
5. At Walsh, the refs hear it
You can debate the pros and cons of Seton Hall playing at Walsh Gym, but one thing is indisputable: When the crowd is displeased with the officiating, the folks in striped jerseys hear it.
On multiple occasions, as an overly tight whistle hit the Pirates, boos rained down with ferocity. At the Prudential Center, the officials are so far removed from fans that boos have less impact. Here, the fans do Holloway’s job for him. There’s not as much of a need to work the refs when 1,300 people are doing just that from up close.
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.