Pirates Set Sail on New Season, Host Saint Peter's on Monday Night

SETON HALL PIRATES (21-12, 10-10 LAST SEASON) vs. SAINT PETER'S PEACOCKS (17-12, 14-6 LAST SEASON)

Date/Time: Monday, Nov. 1 • 7:30 p.m. Eastern
Site: Newark, N.J. • Prudential Center (11,153)
TV: ESPN+ • Jonathan Yardley & Zendon Hamilton
Online: ESPN App
Radio: SHU Pirates Mobile App • Gary Cohen & Dave Popkin
SHUPirates.com • Varsity Network App
Seton Hall All-Time vs. Saint Peter's: 68-24

NOTES YOU NEED TO KNOW

Seton Hall begins Year 5 of the Shaheen Holloway era on Monday night as it hosts Saint Peter's at Prudential Center.
The Pirates are hosting Saint Peter's in their season opener for the fourth consecutive season.
Head Coach Shaheen Holloway is 5-2 all-time in season openers and 6-1 in home openers.
Seton Hall has won its last 17 home openers.
Holloway is 22-12 in his career against fellow Garden State foes.
Holloway was unanimously named BIG EAST Coach of the Year at the conclusion of last season, guiding the Pirates to a 21-12 mark and one of the best turnarounds in college basketball.
Those 21 wins came just one year after the Pirates won only seven contests in the 2024-25 season. That +14 win improvement was good enough to be the third-best turnaround in the nation last season. It also set a new program standard as the biggest single-season turnaround in Seton Hall history.
The Pirates also won 10 BIG EAST games in 2025-26 compared to just two the year before, the third-best win improvement in BIG EAST conference play history.
Holloway became the fourth Seton Hall coach to earn BIG EAST Coach of the Year honors, joining Kevin Willard (2016, Co-Coach), Louis Orr (2003) and P.J. Carlesimo (1988, 1989).
Holloway was also the fourth former-BIG EAST player to earn the league's Coach of the Year honor. All four have Seton Hall ties: Dan Hurley (2023), Willard and Orr.
Holloway was also recognized as the 2026 Lou Carnesecca Met Writers Co-Coach of the Year, an honor he shared with Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton.

A NEW BAND OF PIRATES

Many new faces will don the Blue & White this season for Seton Hall, 13 to be exact.
Of those 13 newcomers, 10 come to South Orange via the transfer portal while three embark on their first year of college basketball.
Two transfers are no stranger to the BIG EAST Conference in guards Roddie Anderson III and Simeon Wilcher. Anderson spent the last two seasons with Xavier while Wilcher played his first two seasons at St. John's.
Guard Del Jones averaged 17.2 ppg at Radford last season, the highest scoring average from a year ago on the team.
Shooting looks to be an improved aspect of this 2026-27 edition of the Pirates, highlighted by three-point marksmen Rodney Brown (Loyola Marymount) and Kareem Thomas (Dartmouth).
Down low, Devin Williams (FAU) was one of the best shot blockers in the nation last season, bringing another elite rim protector to the table for Seton Hall. Alongside him is Terry Copeland Jr., who was named NJCAA D1 Men's Player of the Year for Howard College in the JUCO ranks.

DEFENSIVE-MINDED

Shaheen Holloway describes commitment to the defensive end of the floor as a "non-negotiable" for his players. Year after year, his team's have won games because of their play in that area.
Last season, Holloway's Pirates ranked among the nation's elite in numerous categories.

Stat                                       Value                 Nat'l Rank/BE Rank
Blocks/Gm                                 5.7                 7th/1st
Scoring Defense                        65.3                 11th/2nd
Steals/Gm                                   9.2                 13th/2nd
Turnover Margin                      +3.2                 25th/2nd
FG% Defense                          .404                 21st/2nd

Holloway's teams, even dating back to his Saint Peter's days, have consistently been one of the most stout units in college basketball.
In his first eight seasons as a head coach, his teams have ranked in the top-50 nationally in scoring defense five times and in the top-20 on three occassions.
Ironically enough for a former point guard, Holloway's teams have always had elite shot blocking. Only once has a Holloway-led team finished outside the top-50 nationally in blocks per game.

   Year                Opp. PPG (Nat'l Rank)             BPG (Nat'l Rank)
   2025-26                      65.3 (11th)                 5.7 (7th)
   2024-25                    80.2 (118th)                 3.4 (164th)
   2023-24                    69.9 (107th)                 4.8 (27th)
   2022-23                     65.1 (43rd)                 4.3 (44th)
   2021-22                      62.5 (20th)                 5.0 (21st)
   2020-21                        61.5 (9th)                 5.3 (5th)
   2019-20                      64.1 (36th)                 4.6 (31st)
   2018-19                  68.6 (T-94th)                 5.5 (3rd)

Holloway once again has an elite rim protector at his disposal in FAU transfer Devin Williams.
The 6-10 junior swatted 85 shots last season for the Owls, and his 2.6 blocks per contest ranked fifth in the nation.