BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2025

Shaheen Holloway

Madison Square Garden

Seton Hall Pirates

Postgame Media Conference

Villanova 67, Seton Hall 55

THE MODERATOR: We have Coach Shaheen Holloway. Questions, please.

Q. Sha, what did you learn from this season, the biggest thing you learned that you think will help you down the road?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I already told you that today, Jerry. Come on.

No, a lot, Jerry. You know, this league is extremely tough. Great coaches, great players. The last home game I learned a lot what not to do, but I did learn a lot what to do, as well. Just make sure you get the right plays that fit you and kind of fit what you want to do.

I still feel like this team, we didn't reach our potential because a lot of different reasons. I don't want to make no excuse, but just a disappointing season. Disappointing season.

Q. Is there any word on how Isaiah is doing? Is he okay?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: He's fine. He just cut his hand and his back a little bit. I think he'll be fine.

Q. Do you expect he'll be back next season?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I want him back. I want him back. Obviously, I told these guys we're going to take a couple of days and get back into the mode of school. That needs to be the most important thing to these young men. I don't know if it still is. Get back to school. You know, we're going to have some meetings and kind of go from there.

Obviously, I want him back. We're going to do what we can to try to keep him.

Q. Jerry Walker, a former player of Seton Hall, received a Big East Legends award tonight. What do you have to say about him and about him as a player?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Jerry is like the big bro. He was a great player. He was a warrior. That's why he is very well-respected around the Big East and old-school people and new-school people. He's been a very good supporter of mine. I got a lot of respect for him. Like I say, he's like a big brother. Super happy that he got that award. Very well-deserved.

Q. What do you want to say about what Dylan gave you over two years? It seemed like he got a nice hand from fans as you checked out the last time?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Dylan gave his all. Obviously, I don't share a lot about guys' injuries for a lot of reasons, but Dylan was dealing with a bunch of injuries this whole year. He couldn't really even practice. Couldn't really walk. For him to go out there and give it his all like he did every single night for me, I'm very appreciative. He played a big part, obviously, last year with the team we had, and this year, as well. His body just didn't allow him to do some things he wanted to do.

Q. You returned from halftime with more energy and started to close the gap in scoring. What was it that pushed the players a little?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Disappointed in the way we came out. Obviously, the last two games, three games. Disappointed in the way we came out. We made some adjustments at halftime. We got back in there, and got a chance to get it down to maybe ten, I think. Then we had some bad, bad shots. We took some bad shots. Then they kind of got back out. It was an uphill battle from there again.

Q. You said you're not going to make excuses for the season. Did injuries play a role?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I thought it did. I thought it did. When you got one of your key players, one of your key scorers -- at one time, Chaunce was our leading scorer. I don't know how many Big East games he played. Maybe two or three. So you take that away, that's somebody that can give you 13 to 15 points a night.

Dylan missed a bunch of games. Scotty missed some games. A missed some games. We never got a rhythm. We never got gelled. Then that's the season you have because of it.

Q. Not necessarily looking forward, but looking back on what's already happened, are there any lessons that you can take away from the season that you've had?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Didn't I just answer that? Yeah, a lot. A lot of things.

I think the main thing is making sure these guys understand what it feels like to play in this league. It's a physical league. It's a big boy league, and I think some of the guys that came from other programs didn't understand this league until we got into it. That's on me to make sure they understand stuff like that.

You know, just get guys that kind of fit what you're trying to do.

Q. After the UConn post game, you told Gary and Pop that our resources are trending in the right direction.

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I knew that was coming up.

Q. Can you elaborate on that? What would you like to say to the fan base that's apprehensive about that situation?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: It's something that I don't like talking about because until I see it, right -- now, obviously, I believe it, because, no, my administration is not going to tell us, but in this climate of NIL and stuff like that, you know, it's important. You have to have it. You have to have it, or you can't be successful.

Like I said, we're trending in the right direction, but I think that we got to make sure we understand, and I got to make sure the fan base understands. Alumni don't understand how important it is because no one wants to go through something like this again. I know I don't. I know they don't either.

I got the word that people are stepping up, and they think it's going to be there, but I want to make sure it's there and more, to tell you the truth, because I think we need more.

Q. After a season like this, how much does this motivate you more regardless of resources or the portal to get back to where this program was?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: You got to be careful with that because you can't say regardless of resources and that. You have to have that because if you don't have it, you can't be in the game, period. No matter how good of a coach I think I am -- I think I'm a decent coach -- if you don't have those resources, it's a different ball game.

But, yeah, I'm definitely motivated. Disappointed too, though, right? Like I said, I thought this team definitely was better than our record, but definitely going to look myself in the mirror and make some adjustments and kind of go from there.

Q. The good thing about the portal, you know, you can go in and get players that can help your team. How optimistic are you? What positions will you be targeting?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: The portal is tricky. It's really tricky, right? You know, you have all of maybe a week to recruit somebody, and you are recruiting somebody that maybe played good on another team or maybe played good in another league. You don't know if that stuff transfers to your team or this league.

So obviously you can't go too young. Not in this day and age, but you have to get a mix of both. You have to get some high school kids. You have to get maybe some JUCO, some transfers, and you got to try and gel it together in a short period of time.

I think the only thing that helps this year is last year we made a deep run, and we got done in April. By then a lot of guys was kind of going other places, but I think it's also important that you get the right people. Not just names and not just like a number to say he averaged X amount of points at this place, I think he could average X amount of points here.

You really have to do your research, and you have to take some chances, and you have to trust your gut. I think all that kind of plays into it.

Q. Do you expect some of these guys to transfer out?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: We're going to have a conversation the next couple of days. I don't know the answer to that. I don't know the answer to that right now. I don't want to speculate. I don't want to do that.

We're going to have a conversation the next couple of days, and from there, I'm going to take it from there.