Column: Humble Holloway can finally move forward with Seton Hall after reunion
It’s a mighty good thing that this Saint Peter’s game was scheduled so early in the season. Now our personal questions for Shaheen Holloway can cease.
NEWARK – There was a great moment at Big East media day when Shaheen Holloway was asked if anyone on Seton Hall’s roster reminded him of himself as a player.
“I wish,” he quipped, but more importantly he went on to say, “I don’t ever talk about myself to the guys because it’s not about me.”
We in the media will continue to bill this Seton Hall season as the commencement of a new era, this perfect reunion – a narrative all about Holloway and his vision for his alma mater. We have valid reasons to do so, namely because it’s the reality. It was the biggest story in the state when he was hired.
It’s not just us. Seton Hall, for its part, has talked him up plenty in press releases and marketing material. That’s what you do when everyone agrees you’ve made a home run hire. At Wednesday’s season opener, a camera followed Holloway from the tunnel all the way out to the floor in the minutes before tip-off, his every step documented on the largest in-arena, center-hung scoreboard in the world.
But it’s evident to me Holloway would rather not be taking up this much of the spotlight. He’s been asked about his emotions constantly. What does taking over at your alma mater mean to you? How are you feeling ahead of the Saint Peter’s reunion? That would tire any of us out. And in his eight-plus months on the national stage, Holloway has shown time and again that me-first personal reflection is just not his style.
The man simply wants to coach.
So it’s a mighty good thing that this Saint Peter’s game was scheduled so early in the season. Now it’s out of the way. Now the requests for Holloway to talk about himself and where his head’s at – my own included – can cease.
“I’m glad the game is over, to be honest with you,” Holloway said. “I wish them well. I hope they do good as well this year. But now I’m just worried about us.”
I picked out very few Saint Peter’s fans in the Prudential Center seats Saturday. Perhaps that’s because they had their moment in the sun the previous Monday, when they hung the biggest banner in program history, with Holloway and KC Ndefo on hand to celebrate the accomplishment.
Holloway called his return to the Run Baby Run Arena emotional. He told the Asbury Park Press he was torn on whether he should even attend, not wanting to put more weight on new Peacocks coach Bashir Mason’s shoulders, but at the end of the day decided it would be disrespectful to the program and university not to show. So in fairness to the media corps, we aren’t making up a narrative, and in fairness to Holloway, he answers what we ask.
It comes back to the old saying: “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” Monday was deserved, but when Monday ended, it was time to get back to game-planning for Monmouth, then Saint Peter’s. The game mattered to him from a schedule-making standpoint, but once it arrived, he promised it represented just another game.
Seton Hall won in a laugher, by the way. Pirates 80, Peacocks 44, with only one Peacock scoring more than six points. Holloway’s defense flew all over the court and induced 20 turnovers – including a number of shot-clock violations no one can agree on, but totaling no fewer than five.
“That’s Coach’s method of coaching. Playing hard, playing a lot of guys,” Ndefo said. “This is just the culture that he built over at Saint Peter’s and he’s bringing the same culture to Seton Hall.”
Ndefo called it a “great experience” for him and Holloway to face the Peacocks, but he didn’t quite agree there were heightened emotions that required extra tuning out.
“It’s always a priority to focus on the game plan and take care of business,” Ndefo said. “So we thrive on that and our team is gelling, and I feel like we did the right thing.”
That’s going to be the M.O. of this Pirates team and no doubt future teams. Holloway’s players, modeling Holloway himself, aren’t going to get caught looking ahead, thinking about narratives or listening to us outsiders.
Holloway has made his priorities clear as day. So I’m going to stop asking.
………
Happy Monday, and thanks for reading. I don’t write many columns and it took me a fair portion of the weekend to weave together what I was thinking in the right way.
Appreciated Seton Hall having us out. On Wednesday I’ll be back one more time, concentrating far more on the actual basketball as the Pirates’ defense gets a much taller test against Iowa, which has averaged 100.5 points a game through one week.
Time to clean the glass and get on with the weekend:
On the court, the biggest story in Newark was Al-Amir Dawes’ performance. He paired a team-high-tying 13 points with a career-best 10 rebounds. “Appreciate the fellas for backing off and letting me get ‘em,” he cracked about the boards. Holloway has said he wants Dawes to be more than just the shooter he was at Clemson, and Dawes revealed this was the first double-double he’s ever had.
Dawes, a guard, added that it’s paying dividends for him to learn from what Ndefo, a forward, can do as a passer. When he first practiced with Ndefo he said he told him it’s “crazy” how well he passes. “I try to just look at him and learn from him. I’m still learning, there’s still stuff out there for me to learn,” Dawes said.Rutgers is 3-0 with relative ease. While I was busy at the Prudential Center, the Scarlet Knights beat UMass Lowell 73-65; it was an 18-point game at one point and a 12-point lead with 20 seconds to go before the River Hawks put in a few empty baskets late.
Cliff Omoruyi: Career-high 15 rebounds, career-high-tying 22 points. He isn’t even the leading scorer on this team – Cam Spencer is at 16.7 ppg, and after three more steals Saturday he leads the Big Ten at four per game. And I can’t wait to get a better look at Derek Simpson in game action; though he shot inefficiently, he put up 16 points off the bench. There’s a tougher test ahead when the Scarlet Knights head to Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut and face Temple, which upset No. 16 Villanova on Friday night.In non-basketball news, a quick congrats to Rutgers for finally earning its first Big Ten tournament championship in any sport. Men’s soccer beat Indiana 3-1 on Sunday in the title game, and as with basketball and other sports, that earned the Scarlet Knights an auto bid into the NCAA Tournament.
In women’s hoops last Friday, Seton Hall used a big second quarter to beat Rutgers handily, 75-57. Hall star Sidney Cooks went for 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting, including three treys, plus 11 rebounds and three steals. The Pirates are 2-0 and face No. 24 Princeton on Monday – though the Tigers are likely to be knocked out of the rankings later today following their 69-59 home loss to Villanova.