Monmouth University of West Long Branch, NJ is a newly promoted member of the Colonial Athletic Association…the same as Hofstra, who defeated the Seton Hall Pirates a few weeks back for their first win over the Pirates since 1966. The Pirates were feeling optimistic after a 2-1 road trip in the Charleston Classic before Thanksgiving. However, Isaiah Coleman admitted after the game that the practices this week after returning from Charleston were “low energy.” It showed on Saturday afternoon at Prudential Center in only the second Newark home game for the Pirates this season. The Hawks took advantage, spurred on by a 28 point outburst from Abdi Bashir Jr. and took down the Pirates 63-51. This was Monmouth’s (1-8) first win of the season after a gauntlet schedule of all road games which Monmouth coach King Rice admitted was his fault for scheduling way too hard for his team. The Pirates took it on the chin and fell to 4-4 on the season as the Hawks notched their first ever win over their “on and off” North Jersey rivals.
Seton Hall started with early ugly jitters resulting in two shot clock violations in the first five minutes but still bounced back to a 12-8 lead at the 12 minute mark from an Isaiah Coleman three-point play. The Pirates returned from the under 12 media timeout and failed to hit a shot for about six minutes as Bashir Jr nailed two three-point shots in a 13-2 Hawks run to give Monmouth a 21-14 lead with 7 minutes to go in the first half. The Pirates returned to life with a 9-0 run capped off by a Garwey Dual steal and layup to give Seton Hall a 27-26 lead. Bashir Jr. countered with another three to snuff out the Pirates’ momentum and give Monmouth a 29-27 lead at halftime. Abdi Bashir Jr. had 18 of the Hawks points at the break.
The Hawks started the second half with a 10-2 run to take a 10 point lead 39-29 when Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway called timeout at 17:18 to stop the bleeding. Things appeared to work when a Coleman layup kicked off a 9-3 run to bring the Pirates within 4. Cornelius Robinson III and Jack Collins answered back with a 7-0 burst for the Hawks to bring the Monmouth lead back up to 11 at 49-38 with just under 11 minutes left. The Seton Hall offense was brutal enough in the second half that some of the loudest cheers of the second half from the Pirates faithful was a sarcastic one when Manny Okorofor hit a free three with 5:10 remaining to end a streak of four straight bricks from the line by Okorofor and Dual. Despite Coleman’s 20 points, the Pirates stumbled to a humbling 63-51 defeat as the Hawks claimed their first victory over Seton Hall in program history.
The postgame press conferences with Coleman and Holloway, in addition to Monmouth coach King Rice and Abdi Bashir Jr, were quite the journey. Coleman and Holloway discussed the sub-par practices since returning home from Charleston. Rice went on a long-winded rant praising Holloway, the “little brother who kept beating me (until now) and kept inviting me back” before talking about the nomadic schedule in which the Hawks will not play a game at their home arena, OceanFirst Bank Center, until December 21 vs Fairfield. After apologizing to his team and supporters for making this brutal schedule which the team wasn’t ready for, Rice talked like he was a genuine wholesome father figure to Abdi sitting next to him, guiding him through the wild west of the post-NIL college basketball universe.
News and Notes:
- Monmouth University moved up to NCAA Division 1 from Division 2 in 1983. Their first D-1 season featured a 62-45 loss to the Pirates in Walsh Gym on December 17, 1983.
- The closest game before this one in the 15 Seton Hall victories was the first Pirates game in the brand new Prudential Center on November 11, 2007. The Pirates needed overtime to defeat the Hawks 89-81 that afternoon.
- Next up for Seton Hall is NJIT at Prudential Center on Wednesday evening at 8:30pm. NJIT is coached by former Pirate Grant Billmeier.
- Sunday, December 8 is the Big East-Big 12 challenge match-up against Oklahoma State at noon. That afternoon, Seton Hall will be honoring 1982 Big East player of the year Dan Callandrillo in the Pirates Legend series.
JD Walker is one of the co-founders of Stream Punk Entertainment and has covered the Philadelphia Union since 2022. He has a wide-spanning career with experience in a variety of roles inside and outside the world of sports including basketball operations, gameday entertainment, promotions, broadcasting, and finance. He’s a Jersey Shore native sprung from a cage on Highway 9, and loves to geek out on the business and legal side of the games we all love.