Seton Hall could trigger ‘massive’ NCAA Tournament boost with win over No. 4 UConn
Seton Hall's Trey Parker reacts after his team took the lead during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Creighton, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Newark, N.J. has somehow beaten UConn four straight times at Prudential Center, and a fifth would strike a “massive” blow towards the team’s once unlikely NCAA Tournament hopes.
returns to play his alma mater with the red-hot No. 3 Huskies , winners of 12 straight . “It would be massive,” New Jersey-based bracketologist Brad Wachtel told NJ Advance Media. “Seton Hall has had an excellent season thus far, but one of the things lacking on its résumé are wins over bona fide NCAA Tournament teams. “Obviously, a win over UConn checks that box off and then some. It probably elevates the Pirates to a No. 5 or No. 6 seed and also provides some leeway in case they end up with a Q3 or Q4 loss somewhere down the line.”Nobody had the Pirates pegged as a Top 25 team - or as an NCAA Tournament squad - when they were picked last in the Big East Conference, but Shaheen Holloway works best with a chip on his shoulder. “That’s a bunch of people that never seen my team, picking other people’s teams, on what they heard, so I don’t care,” Holloway Bracketologists Joe Lunardi of ESPN and Mike DeCourcy of Fox also point out how huge Tuesday night’s game is for the Pirates. Lunardi said the Pirates would move a “full seed line up” from an 8 to a 7 with a win. DeCourcy would have the Pirates potentially up to a 5 or 6 seed. The Pirates have rattled off three straight Big East wins, including two on the road at Marquette and at Georgetown. They lead the Big East in points allowed , while UConn ranks second .“They’re quick, they’re very aggressive, very physical, on ball, off ball,” Hurley said Monday night on a call with reporters. Hurley said his team will have to take care of the basketball since The Hall is forcing 15.1 turnovers per game, tied with St. John’s for tops in the Big East. “We’re going to have to take care of the ball,” Hurley said. “Most of the teams that we’ve turned the ball over against weren’t teams that apply pressure.” Hurley, a former Seton Hall point guard, has praised Holloway, his successor at point guard, for several years. He also had good words to say about the team’s current floor general, Merrimack transfer Adam “Budd” Clark, the 5-foot-9 guard who comes in averaging 10.5 points and 5.0 assists. Clark went for 22 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in the win over Georgetown. “He’s not just a small guard that’s quick and fast,” Hurley said. He plays really physically, defensively. “They got some real guard depth, which makes it easier on all those guys.” The game doesn’t figure to be easy on anybody, but if the Pirates can come out with a fifth straight home victory against the Huskies, it would strike a massive blow towards maybe the most unlikely story in college basketball this season.Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers hoops at all levels -- NBA, College and Recruiting. For NJ.com, he has written about how projected No. 1 NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg wasn’t born a basketball...
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