BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 13, 2026

Shaheen Holloway

Adam Clark

Madison Square Garden

Seton Hall Pirates

Postgame Media Conference

St. John's - 78, Seton Hall - 68

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started.

Q. You played St. John's three times. What makes them such a tough matchup for you and for everybody?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Physical. They're very physical. Very physical. Obviously well coached. Got experience. They got a couple guys that, when they need a bucket, you can go to 'em.

Q. Can you talk about how this group performed this year and how they lived up to your three D's?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I thought we did. I thought -- for the most part. I thought that this group was really fun to coach. For me as a coach they did give me everything I asked for, that you could ask for, nothing more than that. They definitely lived up to the three D's. They carried themselves well on and off the court.

So I tell these guys, this stings because we didn't play well tonight at all. We didn't play well tonight. I thought if we played well, we had a chance. But to be honest with you, the game wasn't as close as the score. They dominated us in the sense of because they came out and they swung first and we didn't swing back and that's not -- normally that's not us and that's what's disappointing about it.

Q. Budd, just wondering, how would you assess your whole season and just what did you think of the overall performance of the team tonight?

ADAM CLARK: Yeah, it was a very fun season, which I don't think it's over yet, but we had our ups, we had our downs. I'm just proud of how we just fought game-in and game-out. So I'm not happy with the outcome today, but it is what it is.

Q. To follow up, are you hoping to play in a post-season tournament? You mentioned you want to keep playing. Are you looking forward to maybe continuing this next year at Seton Hall and see what else you guys could do?

ADAM CLARK: Yeah, I'm definitely hoping to keep continuing playing, and I'm definitely looking to keep playing at Seton Hall and whatever happens happens.

Q. A lot of bracketologists right now have you guys on the bubble. What would be your pitch to the committee for you guys to be in the tournament?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I'll be honest with you, I told these guys in the locker room, I think if the committee really sits down and has, you know, good minds in there like I know they do, if they look at our resume and look at what we did, and our body of work is really good, it's way better than a lot of people -- when he says on the bubble, I'm not sure why our league's not getting the recognition that we deserve.

But when you look at it and you look at a team that has 17 wins and don't have -- is not following in their league, I don't understand it. I think if they look at our body of work. I thought we went out, I thought we challenged ourself. I thought we did well in our league. Obviously it didn't end well today, but I thought we did enough. But like I said, that's not up to me.

Q. What was your view of what happened with the official late in the first half there as things got a little tense?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I don't know. I don't know. Just fighting for my team. I'm fighting for my team. That's it. All year long I've been fighting for my team. Do I like us having 9, 12-something free-throw line for number 30? No. Do I like it? No, I don't like it. But this has been going on all year. So we just dealt with it. We didn't complain, we just dealt with it and then we just move on.

Q. For either of you, you guys both talked about how you guys still want to play more basketball after today. What is the biggest thing you guys want to take in from the season and from this tough loss in a tough environment? What is the most important thing you guys can take from a loss like this to keep you guys motivated, keep you guys in a positive stretch heading into more post-season basketball which you guys hope to play?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Can't come out the way we came out. Can't spot a good team 10 points early. Today I thought we spotted them 10 points early and then we was playing catch up from there.

Q. Considering the results of last season and the results of this season, would you consider it a job well done, an improvement, or is it just a building block towards something bigger?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: I don't know. I don't look at that. Last year is last year. I know that's something that you guys got to bring up, but last year is last year. This is a complete different team. There's two guys from that team that was last year. Is it a building block? I mean, this is why I brought these guys here. I thought that we could have this kind of season, and a little better. I thought that we let some games slip away. But no, it's just, it's continuing to keep building and getting better and better.

Q. You have experience picking this team up for the post-season two years ago. What in fact will you, how will you handle a three-week gap if you're playing in the College Basketball Crown in April?

SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Right now we're not even looking at that. Right now we're just concerned about hopefully hearing our name called on Sunday and then take it from there.