Seton Hall basketball suffers another late game meltdown vs. Hofstra

On By Littum

UNIONDALE – After Seton Hall basketball’s shocking loss to Fordham, head coach Shaheen Holloway said he was curious how this group would respond.

The answer came on Wednesday, and it wasn’t good.

The Pirates suffered another late-game meltdown in a 49-48 loss to Hofstra at a nearly empty Nassau Coliseum.

To add insult to injury, it was Jaquan Sanders — who transferred from the Hall to Hofstra in the offseason — who buried the dagger’s 3-pointer when the Pirates inexplicably left him exposed in transition. The junior guard was named the game’s MVP and finished with 12 points and four rebounds.

Afterwards, Holloway bristled when asked, for the second straight post-match, about his message to the fans.

“Already that question? I’m not sure how you guys want me to answer that question right now.” Holloway said. “Three games to go and you’re worried about the fans. Why should the fans be worried right now?”

He continued, “We had two tough games. Fordham is an Atlantic 10 school, it’s a good opponent. Hofstra is a quality opponent. Should we have lost this game? I don’t think so. But those are the games you’ve played .must have early so that we can be successful later, what I want to say to the fans is step by step, we have to take it together and figure it out.

Seton Hall is now 1-2 to start a regular season for the first time since 1998-99 (they were also 1-2 in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign with losses at Louisville and Rhode Island). It’s mid-November, the Pirates’ resume is already in tatters, and they’ve failed to reach the 60-point mark against three mid-majors.

Hofstra (3-0), which beat a Big East opponent for the first time since 2006 and topped the Hall for the first time since 1966, was the composite team. As Pride coach Speedy Claxton said, “The toughest team won tonight.”

His team was aided by Hallen’s atrocious shooting — 35 percent from the field and 8-of-17 from the free throw line. The Pirates’ only reliable shooter, graduate guard Chaunce Jenkins, scored 18 points but was benched for a key stretch of the second half when he had a hot hand.

The final sequence was fitting. With the Pirates down one time out of a timeout, they ended up taking a low-percentage, fadeaway shot from the corner by Isaiah Coleman, and it clipped the side of the backboard. The play Holloway made was for post-grad guard Dylan Addae-Wusu (11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists) to “get downhill,” he said.

“I thought that’s where Dyan could have put his head down and gone to the basket and tried to get a foul,” Holloway said.

Instead, Addae-Wusu, who isn’t really a point guard, handed the ball off and the Pirates never got a clean look.

FIVE takeaways

1. Point guard mess

Looking for a spark, Holloway pulled sophomore point guard Garwey Dual from the starting lineup and inserted sophomore wing Isaiah Coleman, who is fully recovered from a muscle strain.

Dual checked in at the U16 timeout but gave up an open 3-pointer right in front of a very displeased Holloway, then got beat on a 50-50 rebound and back to the bench he went. He ended up stateless – zeroes across the board – and afterwards Holloway said his shoulder was injured.

In Dual’s place, junior point guard Zion Harmon got his first real run of the young season, but never reentered the game after six first-half minutes. Asked if Harmon was hurt, Holloway replied, “yeah, I don’t know, to tell you the truth. I don’t know what’s going on right now.”

2. Yacine Toumi’s bad problem

The 6-foot-10 post grad from Evansville is the Pirates’ most skilled big man, but he can’t stay on the field. After fouling out in 18 minutes against Fordham, Toumi picked up two fouls in five minutes of play in the first half against Hofstra. And both were easy to avoid – the first was an over-the-back when he had no shot at the ball and the second was a feeble challenge as he had already been beaten in transition.

A natural stretch four, Toumi doesn’t seem comfortable defending the post. It’s worth wondering if Holloway should consider playing him with a center, which hasn’t been the case so far. There is a candidate on the way…

3. Hope at the center?

During the summer, not much was expected of freshman center Godswill Erheriene. But the 6-foot-9 Nigerian was thrust into a starting role when Louisville transfer Manny Okorafor — the presumed starter inside — had to take an extended layoff following a severe dehydration incident. And he has responded well.

After averaging 3.5 points and 2.5 boards over the first two games, Erheriene tallied 6 points and 5 boards (including 3 offensive) against Hofstra. He shot 3-of-4 from the field and blocked at least two shots, though he was only credited with one. He also hit the floor several times for loose balls.

The raw material seems to be there. The boy looks like he belongs.

4. The return of Jaquan Sanders

There is a familiar face in Hofstra’s starting lineup: Jaquan Sanders, who has played the last two seasons in the Hall. The junior guard and native New Yorker averaged 19.5 points in his first two games with the Pride, connecting on 12 of 24 3-pointers.

Last season, Sanders averaged 2.7 points as the Pirates’ eighth man and shot 37 percent from deep. Originally recruited by Kevin Willard, he gave it a shot with Holloway, but defensive struggles limited his role.

5. Dead surroundings

The Coliseum, a fading, barely used edifice reminiscent of the late Meadowlands Arena, was more of a mausoleum this evening. Perhaps 500 fans attended, most of them Hofstra faithful, though Seton Hall’s pep band was there—and were crammed into a corner of the arena.

Twice the loudspeaker had to admonish the DJ to stop playing music (which was at full blast) while the ball was in play.

This was Seton Hall’s first meeting with Hofstra since 1970 and first contest in Nassau Coliseum since an ECAC tournament under Bill Raftery in 1979.

Holloway is good friends with Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton, which is a big reason why this was planned. It was part of a doubleheader in which Louisiana Tech beat UMass in the early tilt.

“I don’t have a lot of good things to say about this event right now,” Holloway said.

Bottom line: There was more juice at the concession stands.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at [email protected].