NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT: SETON HALL VS INDIANA STATE

April 4, 2024

Al-Amir Dawes

Shaheen Holloway

Kadary Richmond

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Seton Hall Pirates

Finals Postgame Press Conference

Seton Hall 79, Indiana State 77

Q. Can you take us through the game-winning shot, the whole sequence, what happened, what was that like for you as an Indianapolis in a?

DRE DAVIS: I think it was just a broken play. Coach created an angle for me to get downhill and just put me in possession for me to be able to get a good look at the rim.

So yeah, it's a credit to coach to be able to create that for me. I am blessed, man, pleased beyond measure to be able to do this at the home crib. Happy for my guys. Proud of my team to fight tooth-and-nail to the very end. I'm just proud of my guys and try and enjoy this moment.

Q. What was it like to go out like that in your final game with Seton Hall after such an up-and-down season, to hit that huge three to start that run and watch you and your guys go out and come back with three minutes left to win the Championship, what was that like?

AL-AMIR DAWES: We just gutted it out the whole way. We knew it was going to be a fight coming in. Indiana State is a hell of a team and we knew what we were going up against. We just play with a lot of passion. We had to stay locked in the whole 40. They was going to make runs. We were going to make runs. We just, you know, we knew that. We wanted it more. S everything happened and we came out on top.

Q. What was it like for you to climb up and cut down that net as 300 Seton Hall fans are "chanting one more year"? What do you want to say to all those fans who came all this way to support the team?

KADARY RICHMOND: I appreciate them for coming and my maybe focus tonight was winning a championships with guys in the locker room and been here since June and fighting day-in and day-out. So we appreciate them for traveling. Some flew. Some were telling me the amount of miles they drove, and we highly appreciate it.

Q. What has this week been like for you being back home and playing in Indianapolis?

DRE DAVIS: Indy was great for me. To be able to come home and win two big games, compete for a National Championship which is our goal and ultimately win, it was a great week. Extremely blessed like I said, and extremely happy for my guys and our steam and Seton Hall University as a whole.

Q. This your first time playing as Hinkle Fieldhouse?

DRE DAVIS: No, it's not my first time.

Q. When was the first time you played here and what memories do you have of playing here?

DRE DAVIS: I played here a lot just playing basketball in Indy growing up. Obviously with Butler in the BIG EAST, I played here over the past two years against them. But it's a historical gym, and blessed to be able to finish this year here out with that.

Q. Going back to Creighton and UConn on the road, the resilience after that game, even to get to this point tonight to win the NIT Tournament. Talk about what happened with you guys after that fact and what made you resilient enough to say, okay, we are better than that?

KADARY RICHMOND: I mean, there was a few games in between those games where we fought and battled and stick to our mantra. We felt like if you roll the ball out against us, we just going to stick to our game plan and do what we do and try hard to play Seton Hall basketball.

AL-AMIR DAWES: Yeah, kind of like what he said. We just focused on -- we got ahead of ourselves in between games. We stuck to who we were. We stuck to who we do. We ended up here.

DRE DAVIS: Understanding who we are as a team, our core, our identity, staying true to who we are and being confident in who we are.

Q. You guys played in some raucous places, Madison Square Garden; you guys played all over the place. This crowd was definitely Indiana State tonight, but it looked like it did not affect you at all in your game. Talk a little about that, about playing in front of big crowds like that and then raucous crowds?

DRE DAVIS: Like you said, we played in a lot of big games like this. I think we can just credit the league, the BIG EAST to that. I feel like our league really prepared us for this moment. I feel like we didn't waiver as a team. Even going down seven points in the last few minutes, we stayed together as a team and we believed and we got the job done.

KADARY RICHMOND: Like Dre said, our conference prepared us for this, but it seems as if you were paying attention to schedule. So that neutral game against Missou, I think that also prepared us for this.

Q. You've been together two years, what are kind of stamp or what kind of legacy do you hope as a trio that you've left on the program, laying the foundation for Shaheen Holloway?

DRE DAVIS: Could I get the question one more time?

Q. The three of you have been together two years, as a trio, what kind of stamp or legacy do you hope to have left in helping Shaheen Holloway get his regime off the ground?

DRE DAVIS: I feel like we did something special here. Obviously we wanted to win a championship, and at the end of the day that's what we did. But like he put us in the best position to do.

So we know we have to sacrifice a lot. Been through a lot. It's been a long season, but I think this is a good -- obviously he's had a great career as a coach, going to Elite 8 but this is something else he can add to his resumé as well.

KADARY RICHMOND: I feel like we left a lot of people who had -- the naysayers, we left them with something to remember, and the people at Seton Hall, the history with winning and stuff like that, and playing in April, I feel like we left our mark in there in that aspect, too.

We also opened the doors for the underdog players that's being recruited by Seton Hall, and don't feel as if anybody else is giving them a chance. This is a great place to come, and be able to play a game and be who you are.

AL-AMIR DAWES: What he said. I mean, he said everything. I think it's important that, you know, just like he said, the recruiting players, underdogs coming in, you know, give them a chance to believe in their selves so they can do something special.

Q. What can you say about the resilience your players showed?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: First I want to apologize for coming so late. These guys, they disrespected me -- no. They threw all this water on me, so I had to change my clothes. Excuse me for coming late. The guys, it was an unbelievable moment in the locker room. A great moment, though. A really, really great moment, so happy about it. But it to change up a little bit because I was really wet.

Sorry, what's the question?

Q. What have these guys shown you coming back from seven down in a hostile environment?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Well, you know, you've been around this program for a long time. You've been around us all year. This is what we've been doing all year. This group, you know, they haven't wavered. We got in a huddle. There was no panicking. It was, all right, all right, let's do what we do. Get a score, get a stop. Score, get a stop, stop, and kind of be right back in it, and that's what happened.

Obviously I thought we had moments in the game that we had control of the game, and you give those guys credit, man. They made some big plays. But this is what this team has been made of all year long. We've been fighting, coming back. Like Kadary said or Dre or Al, we credit our league. We play in a bunch of hostile environments, so this was nothing new.

Q. Can you take me through the last play, Jaden goes up and blocks that shot to save the game. Can you tell me about his impact on the team and ending his college career with a such a bang?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: It's a full circle moment. I remember NJIT game, after the game, and then all the questions about our bigs: Are your bigs going to be good enough to play in league and this and that.

So for him to end this like that on a block, all right, to me, is a stamp of what he done all year long for us. He gave us everything he had every time he played on the court. These last two days, he's sick. He's out there playing. He don't care. Just playing. Not saying, I'm sitting down. Not anything. He's playing. Those type of guys are the guys you want, and those are the type of guys who do well with me.

Q. Staying on Bediako, got into foul trouble early. You put him in with four fouls with a couple minutes left in the game. What kind of confidence did you have in Bediako and did you talk to him --

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I ride with my guys, man. I ride with my guys. Man, you know, been riding with those five guys all year long. Kadary and Dylan cramping up, you guys want to come out? No, we ain't coming out. The training staff did an unbelievable job of trying to get him hydrated and all these gadgets that they have to try to get them back. Those guys was cramping the last seven minutes of the game.

And of course, at the end of the day, you know, those guys in that locker room played their heart and soul out, man. Super proud of them.

Q. Can you talk about how your team has been sick all week, Sanders stepped up with Coleman being out. Can you talk about the play Sanders --

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Yeah, he's big. He played very good in Georgia. They came out, first half, gave us four quick points. Played good defense. You know, those are all great signs, right. It's great signs of a championship team.

Everybody who played, even DT, he came in the game, and you know, it's tough, right. He has not played for a while and throw him out there in that type of environment, I thought he handled himself well. Proud of everybody who stepped on the court and everybody who was ready. Because I don't forget the walk-ons and the guys who don't play. They prepare the guys on the court for games like this.

Q. You've been tied to the school for a long time, obviously as a player --

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Very long time.

Q. You've been chasing banners and chasing championships. What does it I feel like to have the opportunity to raise one now as a coach?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: To be honest, it haven't hit me yet. I'm still in the moment. I'm in the moment. I'm just so happy for those guys to -- I don't know how long it's been, two Sundays ago, or three Sundays ago. If you guys seen the look on these guys' face when we didn't make the tournament, and as their leader, right, having -- not knowing what to say to them, it was the worst feeling in the world. Like the worst feeling in the world.

Like my two sons, my daughter, they do something, I don't know -- they ask me a question, I don't know what to say. That's how I felt with all 16 of those guys in the locker room that day. Everybody looking to me like, Coach, what happened? I thought this -- and I'm looking like, fellas, I don't have an answer for you.

From that, to going in that game, drenched by those guy, it's the best feeling in the world.

Q. There was a moment where you went over to Robbie Avila after the game and literally picked his head up. What did you say to him and what compelled to you do that?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Because those guys, he's a good player. Those guys are good players. I told them, there's no need to have your head down. You guys played a heck of a game. You guys got a great team. You guys battled. This was a championship game. A bunch of punches going back and forth, and just told him to pick his head up. He's a great player and he's got a lot of basketball to be played.

Thank you guys so much, appreciate it.