Seton Hall revamps its roster with total makeover in hopes of erasing last year's 25 loss season

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Only Mississippi Valley State averaged fewer points in Division I last season than the Pirates. Seton Hall’s anemic offense (61.6 ppg) should get a boost from an influx of six guards coach Shaheen Holloway brought in via transfer among 10 new faces overall. Leading scorer Isaiah Coleman is now at Oklahoma State as 10 players left in the portal. The offense will likely run through transfer Adam Clark, a 5-10 junior guard who finished in the top 25 in scoring and assists last season at Merrimack. It will be an adjustment going from the Northeast Conference to the Big East.

Clark turned in some high-profile performances for Merrimack last season. He scored 22 points against Rutgers, 32 points against Stanford and recorded 19 points and five steals against VCU. However, he shot under 30% from 3-point range.

Sophomore center Godswill Erheriene (6-9, 2.8 ppg, .562 FG%) played in all 32 games last season, highlighted by a double-double performance in an upset of UConn. He’s joined in the frontcourt by Jacksonville transfer Stephon Payne (6-9). Freshman center Najai Hines (6-9) is considered Seton Hall’s highest-rated recruit in 10 years. He averaged 18.8 points and 16.9 rebounds in leading Plainfield (N.J.) to a state championship.

In addition to losing Coleman, the Pirates will be without their next two leading scorers from last season, Chaunce Jenkins (11.4 ppg) and Dylan Addae-Wusu (9.7 ppg). Senior Elijah Fisher (6-6) is a multi-positional wing who averaged 15.7 points last year at Pacific. He started his collegiate career at Texas Tech, played a season at DePaul before heading west. Fisher provides flexibility in a depleted frontcourt of just five forwards.

The Pirates play No. 4 UConn, No. 5 St. John’s and No. 23 Creighton all within a 16-day span in January. They host in-state rival Rutgers on Dec. 13th. Former Pirate coach Kevin Willard, now at Villanova, returns to the Prudential Center for the first time on Dec. 23d.

Seton Hall was picked to finish last in the Big East pre-season poll conducted by the coaches. … The Pirates were one of the worst 3-point shooting schools in the nation last year, ranking 315th (31.2%) while attempting just 5.25 shots from long range. … Holloway is 49-53 in his three years coaching at his alma mater. … The 25 losses last year were the most in program history.

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