February 28, 2026; Storage, Connecticut, USA; Seton Hall Pirates head coach Shaheen Holloway watched from the sidelines as they took on the UConn Huskies at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images Seton Hall can see the big picture.
The Pirates are not in the NCAA Tournament bubble, are not in the NET 55, and have only one Quad 1 win. To make the dance, they’ll have to make the table as a No. 4 seed in the Big East tournament, starting with a quarterfinal game against No. 5 seed Creighton on Thursday in New York.
Seton Hall (20-11) rode a bumpy finish after starting the season 14-2. It was still an impressive result for a team picked last in the coaches’ preseason poll, and on Wednesday the Pirates’ Shaheen Holloway was named Big East Coach of the Year.
Big East champion St. Louis Two close losses to St. John’s and two more losses to second-place UConn weren’t enough to brighten the Pirates’ resume. Seton Hall plays at home to St. Louis in Friday’s regular season finale. Lost to St. John’s 72-65.
“I thought we showed on this team that we can play with anybody, right? We just have to finish the game or do the little things,” Holloway said. “But it’s funny because this team doesn’t like to do easy things. They like to do difficult things, so now it’s time to go to New York and make some money and take it.”
Seton Hall and Creighton (15-16) played a pair of thrillers in the regular season.
On January 4, Seton Hall overcame a 16-point deficit to win 56-54 at home on a last-second throwback by Najai Hines. The Blue Jays got their revenge in Omaha on February 7th. The Pirates blew a 63-53 lead over the final four minutes before Nik Graves hit a 30-footer with 3 seconds left to make it 69-68.
Creighton coach Greg McDermott said of Seton Hall, “They try to disrupt you with their physicality and full-court pressure. And we did everything really well at their position, but we couldn’t get the win. We turned it around, gave up some offensive rebounds (at home) and found a way to win that game.”
“Both games were really closely decided so I expect a very similar result.”
Creighton has not played since a 76-59 win over Butler on March 4. Without a championship in New York, the Bluejays are destined to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. There are also rumors that McDermott may retire after the season.
Creighton is led this year by Josh Dix (12.7 points per game) and Austin Swartz (10.9 ppg, four 20-point games in the conference). Adam “Budd” Clark leads Seton Hall with 12.4 points, 4.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
–Field level media
