Pirates Take On Hofstra As Part Of Icons Of The Game - Seton Hall University Athletics
The Seton Hall men's basketball team will go up against Hofstra for the first time since 1970 in a special Icons of the Game matchup at Nassau Coliseum on We...
SETON HALL PIRATES (1-1) vs. HOFSTRA PRIDE (2-0)
Date/Time: Wednesday, Nov. 13 • 8 p.m. Eastern
Site: Uniondale, N.Y. • Nassau Coliseum (14,500)
TV: MSG Networks • Andy Katz & Tykera Carter
Online: The Gotham Sports App
Radio: SHU Pirates Mobile App • Gary Cohen & Dave Popkin
SHUPirates.com • Varsity Network App
Seton Hall All-Time vs. Hofstra: 4-1
NOTES YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The Seton Hall men's basketball team will go up against Hofstra for the first time since 1970 in a special Icons of the Game matchup at Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday evening.
- This will be Seton Hall's first appearance at Nassau Coliseum since the 1978-79 season where the Pirates, led by head coach Bill Raftery, lost to Iona, 80-73, in the first round of the ECAC Tournament on March 1.
- The Hall's first and only other game at Nassau Coliseum came the season before in 1977-78, a narrow loss in the ECAC Tournament to a Mike Krzyzewski-led Army squad, 81-79, on March 2.
- Despite their fairly reasonable proximity in the Metropolitan Area, Hofstra and Seton Hall have only played five times in their histories and they all occurred between 1965 and 1970.
- Head coach Shaheen Holloway and Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton have crossed paths many times, especially on the local AAU circuit with Holloway growing up in Queens before playing high school basketball at St. Patrick in Elizabeth, N.J. and Claxton growing up on Long Island before attending high school in Queens at Christ The King.
- Later, ironically enough, Claxton and Hofstra were eliminated by the same Oklahoma State team that ended Holloway and Seton Hall's run in the Sweet 16 in the 2000 NCAA Tournament.
- With the Pirates entering Wednesday's game at 1-1, Holloway has preached patience with his group, stating that his team's get better as the season goes along and the numbers back that up:
November: 11-11
December: 11-13
January: 22-11
February: 19-12
March: 18-4
Nov.-Dec.: 22-24 (.478) Jan.-March: 59-27 (.686)
- Prince Aligbe has scored in double-figures in his first two games in a Seton Hall uniform, scoring 10 points and grabbing three rebounds in the win over Saint Peter's and dropping 10 points with seven rebounds against Fordham.
- Chaunce Jenkins led all scorers in the season-opening victory over the Peacocks with 19 points and six rebounds in 33 minutes.
- Jenkins currently sits at 984 career points entering Wednesday night.
- Wednesday's game will be a homecoming of sorts for freshman Godswill Erheriene, who played high school basketball at prep powerhouse Long Island Lutheran in Brookville, 13 miles from Nassau Coliseum.
- Similar to last season where the Pirates were picked to finish ninth in the BIG EAST preseason coaches poll but went on to finish fourth, Seton Hall was picked to finish 10th in the 11-team BIG EAST in this year's poll.
- Seton Hall's 25 wins last season tied for the fourth-most victories in program history and were the most wins for the Pirates since 2015-16 when they also won 25 games.
- Seton Hall's 13 BIG EAST wins tied for the second-most conference victories in program history with the 2019-20 squad and was one victory shy from tying the 1992-93 team's 14 BIG EAST wins.
- After finishing with 13 BIG EAST victories last season, Seton Hall has won 10 or more BIG EAST games eight times since the league realigned in 2013-14, which is tied for the third most in the conference.
- The Pirates last season were the first BIG EAST team to ever finish at least five games over .500 in conference play and not make the NCAA Tournament.
- Holloway's teams have finished below .500 in conference play just once in six seasons when his first Saint Peter's team went 6-12.
