NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT: SETON HALL VS GEORGIA

April 2, 2024

Dre Davis

Al-Amir Dawes

Shaheen Holloway

Kadary Richmond

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Seton Hall Pirates

Semi Finals Postgame Press Conference

Seton Hall 84, Georgia 67

Q. What led you guys to be so aggressive and get out to that quick start?

KADARY RICHMOND: The preparation we had going into it, knowing what we were going to do defensively and what they were going to try to do offensively. I think that's what led to the great start.

Q. What does it I feel like to win this game, and now you're going to play for an NIT Championship in two days, how exciting is that? How does that feel?

AL-AMIR DAWES: It feels very good to still be playing, and a championship, it feels real good just to put the ball in the hoop again and come out with the hardware.

KADARY RICHMOND: It feels good. Our message in the summer was we're going to playing for a championship in April and that's the position we put ourselves in now. We're just happy to be here and we're going to keep taking it day-by-day.

Q. You had it looked like about 50 family and friends out there. What was it like playing in front of them?

DRE DAVIS: It was a good experience. Blessed to be able to come back and compete for a championship in front of my family and my hometown. At the end of the day, this is a business trip, and we're coming to compete for a championship.

Q. You've been on absolute tear through this NIT run and you've hit another level. What's changed in the postseason, and how are you looking to keep it up for that championship game?

AL-AMIR DAWES: You know, just to continue playing free-minded. Having a free mind out there. Having fun with my brothers. Just competing for the Championship, for the Championship trophy. You know, obviously we didn't -- our group of guys didn't want to just be home like other teams. And to get a chance to go play and go play for something is still huge. That's got me going.

Q. Wanted to ask you what you thought of JaQuan's performance, how nice to see him contribute like that? You know how hard he's worked behind the scenes.

KADARY RICHMOND: Feels good to see him contributing and helping us get a big win, especially down the stretch in April. It's just the preparation he put in and the work that he been putting in since June, and you guys are now seeing it.

DRE DAVIS: Piggyback off that, he's been working tremendously hard and great minutes that he put in for us. Great needed it minutes, as well, so I'm very happy for him.

Q. I know you just won, but facing the Sycamores, your thoughts on that?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I haven't watched them play. I watched little things here and there. Obviously they played on TV. Tonight I'll know more about them. I'll watch them tonight. I know they are a good team, and it's pretty much a home game for home.

Q. Speaking of the home game, it's a neutral site game --

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: It's a home game for them. It's a home game for them.

Q. Just what you saw tonight, Sycamore Nation, the crowd out there.

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I thought it was good. They came out supporting their home team. You know, it's good. I'm happy that there's a crowd and there's going to be a crowd on Thursday. These guys get a chance to play in front of a big crowd.

Q. A lot of people felt that these two seems should have been in the NCAA Tournament, and part of the two first four out, what does it say that these two team are still going to play for the NCAA Tournament?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I think it's a lot to say about both teams, the coaches and the players and the character and culture of what both teams are trying to build.

I don't know their coach, but he does a great job. Team plays really hard and good stuff. They played well in this tournament. I was in my locker room when they came out. I heard how they were celebrating and how they happy to be here. So that says a lot about their program and their coach.

Q. What will you do tomorrow to prepare for Thursday?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: It's late right now. We've got to get back, get these guys back, get them something to eat, ice up. Me and the staff will be up. I'll be up all night kind of watching Indiana State, try to come up with a game plan and kind of go from there. I'll send the game plan out tomorrow to the coaches and to the players. I don't know exactly what yet. I'm sure we've got some media stuff that we have to do, so kind of work around that.

Q. What's it like as a coach to see your players seize this opportunity like this? What's it been like for you to watch?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: It's been good. It shows the maturity of the team when you have a bunch of seniors, you have five seniors. Like I said, I thought the first game was going to be a hard game and it was. From there, we started playing Seton Hall basketball. There's a lot of work to be done. Indiana State is a really good team that shoots the ball well. Happy for our guys but job is not done.

Q. Georgia is playing great basketball, a really good three-point shooting team. You held their top three-point shooter to no points in the first half, and you held the whole team to five three-pointers in the whole game. Talk about the defensive mindset on that three-point attack?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: That was a point that we made. I wanted to keep them out of transition and take away the three. I wasn't really happy with our defense down the stretch. They just started drumming the basketball on us and just getting to the basket. Guys were playing to score instead of playing together on division like we normally do.

I thought it was a good team effort. The first 1 minutes, we came out with the mindset we were going to defend from there I thought we stamped how the game was going to be played. Give them credit. They made adjustments in the second half and they went small and started driving the basketball. For the most we wanted to take away the three and keep them out of transition.

Q. Leading your team to the NIT Championship, what's the importance of bringing home a championship in year two and the future of the program?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Anytime you get a chance to play for a championship, it's super important, right. It's huge. For me, I don't really do the individual stuff. I don't really care. This is not about me. It's about our team and these guys. I wanted the five seniors to go out with a bang.

I just want to take a moment to really give those guys their flowers. It would have been so easy for us to put our heads down and hope because of what happened but these guys stuck with it. They stuck with me. I'm on them daily, and they are coming out and now we are playing. I guess we are still showing the world that Seton Hall is a really, really good team.