Pirates Set to Battle Top-Seeded St. John's in BIG EAST Semifinals

SETON HALL PIRATES (21-11, 10-10) vs. ST. JOHN'S RED STORM (26-6, 18-2)

Date/Time: Friday, March 13 • 5:30 p.m. Eastern
Site: New York, N.Y. • Madison Square Garden
TV: FOX • Gus Johnson, Jim Jackson & Allison Williams
Online: Fox Sports App
Radio: SHU Pirates Mobile App • Gary Cohen & Dave Popkin
SHUPirates.com • Varsity Network App
Seton Hall All-Time vs. St. John's: 50-67

NOTES YOU NEED TO KNOW

The Pirates are in the BIG EAST Semifinals for the 13th time and the first since 2021. The Hall is seeking its first trip to the BIG EAST Championship since 2019.
Seton Hall and St. John's have met five previous times in the BIG EAST Tournament. Seton Hall is 2-3. The Pirates and Red Storm have never met in the semifinal round.
The Hall advanced after a 72-61 win over Creighton on Thursday, highlighted by a sensation performance off the bench from Jacob Dar.
Dar, who sat on the bench the entire first half, scored 16 points and hit a pair of threes while playing the final 14:54 of the game.
Dar is the first player in tournament history to score at least 15 points in fewer than 15 minutes and while taking six or fewer shots.
Budd Clark shined as well with 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, becoming the fourth Pirate to achieve those numbers in a BIG EAST Tournament game (Isaiah Whitehead, Adrian Griffin, Shaheen Holloway).
Seton Hall is 34-41 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament and is 4-1 as the No. 4 seed.
Seton Hall has been the No. 4 seed twice: 1991 and 2024. The Pirates went the distance as the No. 4 seed in 1991, winning the BIG EAST title behind heroics from Most Outstanding Player Oliver Taylor.
Head Coach Shaheen Holloway became the fourth Seton Hall coach to be named BIG EAST Coach of the Year. joining Kevin Willard (2016, Co-Coach), Louis Orr (2003) and P.J. Carlesimo (1988, 1989).
Holloway, who earned the award unanimously, is the fourth former-BIG EAST player to win Coach of the Year. Ironically enough, all four have Seton Hall ties: Dan Hurley (2023), Willard and Orr.
Junior guard Budd Clark was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team and All-Defensive Team on Sunday.
Clark led Seton Hall with 12.4 ppg during the regular season and his 2.0 steals per game slots third in the conference.
Seton Hall is 15-1 this season when scoring 70 or more points.
The Pirates have held 23 of their 31 opponents this season to under 70 points and are 17-6 in those games.
Furthermore, they've held 14 foes to 65 or less points and are 12-2 in such games.
The Pirates have now won 20 games in eight of the past 11 seasons.
Seton Hall's eight 20+ win campaigns since 2013-14 is tied for the third-most in the BIG EAST.
The Pirates' +13 win improvement from last season matches a program record (1990-91, 1950-51).
Seton Hall currently is tied with Stephen F. Austin for the third-largest win improvement in the nation this season, only trailing Green Bay (+14) Miami (+17).
The Pirates also improved by eight wins in BIG EAST play alone, tied for the third-best turnaround in league history.
Shaheen Holloway, now in his eighth season as a head coach, has exceeded his team's conference preseason poll selection seven times.
The Pirates program as a whole has met or finished higher in the standings than their preseason projection in nine of the last 11 years, including this season.
Seton Hall is one of two teams in the nation to rank inside the top-11 in both steals and blocks average (Utah Valley).
The Pirates lead all Power 5 schools in combined steals and blocks.
Najai Hines ranks 22nd in the nation and second among all freshmen in blocks per game (2.2).
Hines is looking to become the first freshman to lead the BIG EAST in blocks since St. John's Kassoum Yakwe in 2015-16. Hines currently ranks second with 2.2 blocks per game overall.
The Pirates are 12th in the nation in scoring defense (65.1), 11th in steals per game (9.3) and seventh in blocks per game (5.7).
The Pirates lead Power 5 teams with eight wins this season after trailing at halftime.
Clark had one of the best games by a college player on Feb. 11 vs. Providence, scoring 31 points to go with eight assists and five steals.
Clark is the first BIG EAST player since at least 1996-97 to compile such a stat line in a regulation game. He is the first BIG EAST player to do it in any game since Jonny Flynn (34 pts, 11 ast, 6 stl) in the six-overtime classic against UConn in the 2009 BIG EAST Tournament.
It was the first 30-point performance by a Pirate since Jared Rhoden, who scored 30 against Xavier on Feb. 26, 2022.
Tajuan Simpkins has been essential to the Pirates' success this season, averaging 11.8 points and shooting 47% FG in Seton Hall's 21 wins this season.
Shaheen Holloway is one of 51 coaches in the nation to be coaching at his alma mater.