UConn men’s basketball is in Newark looking to reverse a startling trend when they tip off against No. 25 Seton Hall at the Prudential Center, where they have lost four times in a row.
Despite all of the success of Hurley’s tenure, UConn (16-1, 6-0 Big East) is 6-5 against Seton Hall in its five seasons as a Big East member, splitting the regular-season meetings each year and beating them once in the BET. The Huskies lost to the Pirates at home in 2021 and in Newark each of the last four seasons.
“I don’t think anyone on this team is thinking about that,” Hurley stated in a pre-game interview. “Teams are so different on a year-to-year basis, I have so few players that played in last year’s game, never mind were on the national championship teams that lost there.”
In 2022, UConn faced a ranked Seton Hall team after missing two games due to COVID cancellations. In 2023, the Huskies collapsed in the second half as they let a 17-point lead slip away. In 2024, Donovan Clingan got hurt during the game and it fell apart. Kadary Richmond was a menace in three of those games.
Last year, they simply had a meltdown, as Hurley called it.
This year, a different UConn team will take the floor in the Prudential Center, one that’s deep, experienced, and much stronger defensively than last season. They’ve moved up to no. 3 in the AP Poll, making this their first ranked matchup of Big East play.
Hurley is still looking for his guys to show more of a “killer instinct” to put teams away and play to their ceiling. He said it was the source of most of his frustration with the group.
“We’ve won a bunch of games in a row. We’re ranked high, but what we’re not doing is playing as hard as we need to play,” Hurley said. “We see that on film, I’m sure Shaheen sees that on film, I’m sure our future opponents see that.”
It’s a trait he sees on Shaheen Holloway’s Pirates in spades.
“They’re the hardest-playing team in the country… For us to be successful tomorrow, at least match how hard they play,” he said, adding that it’s a “huge reason why they’re so successful.”
Hurley also pointed to the roster additions Seton Hall made, saying they “maximized their resources.” After going 7-25 last year, the Pirates only returned one player from that roster, and he’s ninth on the team in minutes per game.
This year’s Pirates (14-2, 4-1 Big East) are led by an experienced crew of guards, getting 8 to 12 points per game from AJ Staton-McCray, TJ Simpkins, Bud Clark, Elijah Fisher, and Mike Williams. All of them are upperclassmen, while McCray and Simpkins offer good size on the perimeter and are shooting over 37 percent from three. Williams is also a solid shooter at 35 percent from deep.
“They impact you in a pretty diverse way,” Hurley said. “They’ve got great depth at guard.”
Down low, Stephon Payne (7.2 PPG, 7. 4 RPG) and Najai Hines (6.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG) combine to form a formidable duo, though they don’t have much size behind those two aside from a couple of wings averaging fewer than 3.3 points per game.
Payne and Hines appear to split time in a four-guard lineup, with Payne starting and in their most-used lineup with Clark, Williams, McCray, and Fisher. Those five were, respectively, playing at Jacksonville, Merrimack, LSU, Miami, and Pacific (by way of DePaul) last season, while their second-leading scorer Simpkins was at Elon.
The Pirates’ 14-2 start has included wins over NC State, Kansas State, Providence, and Creighton. They just beat Georgetown, 76-67, in DC this past Saturday. Storrs Central’s Brian Kervick has an in-depth scouting report on the team.
Holloway’s squad is ranked 43rd in KenPom with the 133rd offense and the 9th-best defense. They’re 45th in eFG% allowed and ninth in turnover rate.
“It’s a heck of a defense,” Hurley said. “We’re gonna have to take care of the ball, and we haven’t done a great job with that this year…they’re quick, they’re very aggressive, very physical, on-ball, off-ball…we’re gonna have to work hard to get open.”
Tip-off is at 8 p.m. on TruTV.
