Ari Woodard: Ready When Needed

It may be "coach speak" but being ready when your number is finally called is easier said than done. That's what makes the case of Ari Woodard's freshman season so remarkable. There may be no better example of rising to the occasion when the opportunity arises. In eight days, she went from a rotation afterthought to running the Seton Hall offense as an essential starter.

Before we dive in too deeply, let's get some background on Seton Hall's new point guard and how she got here. Ari is from Oviedo, Fla. and is one of 13 total siblings. You read that correctly. Ari has six full siblings from her parents and six half siblings. When people say a basketball team is a family, no one understands that better than Ari considering she's had a full roster at home most of her life. She played her basketball at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, and those who know Seton Hall's roster know that Jada Eads, only one year older than Ari, went to the same school. Eads went on to have a breakout freshman campaign at Seton Hall last year, becoming the first freshman in program history to be named to the All-BIG EAST First Team.

"Jada and I are really close," Woodard said. "Our moms are really close. She's always been there to give me a lot of advice and help my transition to Seton Hall… what I needed to do to prepare. She's been like a big sister throughout this process."

An outsider may say that Seton Hall did Eads a favor by bringing in a friend for her sophomore year. Undoubtedly, the reunion thrilled the two players, but Seton Hall long coveted Woodard for as long as it was recruiting Eads. Woodard was a team captain at Lake Highland and showed flashes of brilliance in her sophomore and junior years. She was an All-Orlando Sentinel guard, but was limited to only a handful of games during her senior season due to injury. It may have scared away some schools, but not the Pirates who knew her potential.

Ari Woodard

"I saw and a competitor on both ends of the floor from an early age," said Assistant Coach and Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Famer Ka-Deidre Simmons. "We recruited her early and offered her a scholarship the summer of her sophomore year. I knew that with continued development, she'd be ready for the BIG EAST."

Woodard knew that coming to South Orange with a limited senior year resume, and her close friend owning a vice grip on the starting point guard role, would mean playing time would be tough to come by. She'd have to be patient and be ready to act if needed.

Fast-forward to January 17 at DePaul's Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Jada Eads suffered a torn ACL just 2:42 into the contest and was ultimately lost for the remainder of the season. Seton Hall went on to win the game, but the framework for the season had changed dramatically. Senior Shailyn Pinkney, a dynamic and athletic guard/forward in her own right, proved to be competent at running the point, but it certainly wasn't her primary position. Still her veteran savvy made her the natural back up answer. Woodard again had to be patient… the type of patience only truly developed when sharing a home with 12 siblings.

"Being a good teammate means a lot to me," Woodard said. "If Shay or Nat (Hall-Rosa) are playing well, it means our team is playing well. That's all that really matters. I was being prepared and waiting my turn. I wasn't going to jump the gun."

On February 7, Seton Hall was mired in a defensive, back-and-forth battle at St. John's in Queens, N.Y. The Pirates' offense had been stagnant late, and looking for a spark, Head Coach Tony Bozzella subbed in Woodard with 4:39 left in the third quarter. She played the rest of the game. Woodard handled St. John's pressure like a veteran and scored a career-high 11 points with two steals and no turnovers. Entering the St. John's game, she had averaged 3.5 minutes per game. She played the final 14:39 at St. John's and that number ballooned to 27 minutes in The Hall's next game, a victory at Marquette on Feb. 11.

"When I got in, I wasn't going to try to play hero or any of that," Woodard said. "I was just trying to play good defense, get stops and move the ball on offense. The longer I was in there, the more my confidence grew."

Three days later, with Pinkney now battling her own injury setback, Woodard was called upon to make her first career start. The Pirates were again facing DePaul, the same team that Eads suffered her injury against. With the keys to the Seton Hall offense, Woodard played over 34 minutes, scored five points and dished out a career-high 11 assists, the highest single-game total all season for a Pirate.

"Ari has always been ready to play," Bozzella said. "She battled some injuries early on, but has always worked hard in practice always stayed ready and prepared. She's one of the most intelligent players we have on the team so that's allowed her, even though she hasn't participated in the games, to be ready to play because she understands what's going on.

Ari Woodard

Woodard went on to average 38 minutes a game over the next two starts, and The Hall seemingly found its answer at the point.

Late in a game on Feb. 22, Woodard suffered her own injury, which caused her to miss the last two games, but she'll be returning when The Hall needs her most, the postseason. Look for her when Seton Hall begins play at the 2026 BIG EAST Tournament on Saturday, March 7 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

"Her mother Jisel has instilled a tremendous work ethic with a no excuses mindset into her," Bozzella said. It's been really a joy and a thrill to see Ari do well because she has never stopped working hard to help the team be successful."

Morale of the story, always be prepared! It took only two weeks for Woodard to go from a DNP (did not play) to a start with 34 minutes on the floor. It's proof that great opportunity can arise at the blink of an eye when you put in the work.

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