Seton Hall Head Coach Shaheen Holloway
On team’s defense against Rutgers
“First off, I want to give Coach Pikell and Rutgers credit. Team played hard and competed. Very well-coached. I told my guys I thought this would be something like this. I thought it would be a slug fest. We start to understand who we are on the defensive end. Getting everybody back was key for us. Good win for us, we’re closer to where we want to be and where we want to go.”
On If this was his team’s best defensive performance
“I think you know I thought we played with a sense of urgency the whole game. I thought we had a couple of mental lapses in the first half. Last, I think 10 minutes. For the most part. We had two solid days of practice with the whole team finally. We’re old, got a bunch of juniors and seniors. So I think these guys came in and I’m still married to the game. I think I tend to keep up with our defense and I think offense. Our offense was a work in progress. I hope we get there quicker sooner than later. Keep defending and it will give us a chance to get a win.”
On the meaning of this game
“It’s not about me, it’s about these guys. My team, they came out with a sense of urgency, some pride. And I thought you know, KC (Ndefo) was a guy who stepped up and practiced the last few days and also stepped up today. You know, there’s no way for him to play his game when he never played in it before. You know to play the way he played, to play with that sense of urgency.”
On the physicality of the game
“I mean, we’re a physical team. I mean, I got a bunch of older guys. Like we have a physical team. I thought both teams play physical. It was a hard fought game. And I thought I’d give both teams a lot of credit. They fought, we just happened to come up with a win.”
On the teams progress over the first month
“We got a long way to go. This is a good win. It’s a good compliment. It’s a good thing when we compete and continue to keep fighting and keep growing and keep playing together. We got a long way to go. This was a big one. I don’t want to get too carried away. You got to get ready for Drexel. We just got to take this game, enjoy tonight and get ready for tomorrow.”
