2025-26 Season Recap:
- 21-12 record, 10-10 in conference play
- Finished in 4th place in the Big East
- Lost to St. John’s in the Big East Tournament (Quarterfinals)
Head Coach: Shaheen Holloway for his fifth season at the helm.
Departing players:
The whole roster, minus Trey Parker (and potentially Elijah Fisher). Below are some notables.
Adam Clark – Ole Miss (12.7 PPG)
AJ Staton-McCray – Graduation (11.8 PPG)
Tajuan Simpkins – Mississippi State (9.7 PPG)
Mike Williams – Tulsa (7 PPG)
Najai Hines – Connecticut (6.5 PPG)
Stephon Payne – New Mexico State (5.9 PPG)
Josh Rivera – Tennessee State (3.3 PPG)
Jacob Dar – Rice (3.2 PPG)
Returning Players:
Elijah Fisher – 6’6” graduate who averaged 6.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Fisher is seeking a fifth-year of eligibility.
Trey Parker – 6’ junior who averaged 4.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
New Players:
Rodney Brown Jr. – 6’6” senior transfer from Loyola Marymount who averaged 14 points and 2.4 rebounds per game on 38.2% from three. Brown Jr. previously played for Cal and Virginia Tech.
Roddie Anderson III – 6’3” graduate transfer from Xavier who averaged 10.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Anderson is a career 29.6% three-point shooter.
Simeon Wilcher – 6’4” senior transfer from Texas who averaged 5.6 points per game on 33.7% from three. Villanova fans should be familiar with Wilcher, as he played his first two seasons at St. John’s.
Devin Williams – 6’10” junior transfer from Florida Atlantic who averaged 7.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. Williams can make the occasional three pointer at a 30.6% clip. The big man previously played at UCLA.
Del Jones – 6’3” junior transfer from Radford who averaged 17.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game on 41.6% from the floor. Jones previously played for Clemson.
Kareem Thomas – 6’5” junior transfer from Dartmouth who averaged 15.9 points and 3 rebounds per game on 44.7% from three.
Mihailo Petrovic – 6’2” junior transfer from Illinois who averaged 1.6 points per game. The 23-year-old Serbian was expected to be an immediate contributor for the Illini.
Mayar Wol – 6’8” senior transfer from Bowling Green who averaged 10.5 points and 1 steal per game on 39.1% from three.
Darien Moore – 6’2” freshman who is ranked as a four-star recruit on 247Sports (141st nationally).
Terry Copeland Jr. – 6’9” junior transfer from Howard College (JUCO). Copeland was named NJCAA Division 1 Men’s Player of the Year after averaging 19.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
Abdulai Fanta Kabba – 7’ junior transfer from Western Carolina who averaged 4.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game on 67.4% from the field.
Theo Airhienbuwa – 6’8” freshman from Verona, Italy who averaged 14 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in the Italy U20 European Championship. Airhienbuwa is 20-years old.
Ilay Dolinski – 6’9” freshman from Tel Aviv, Israel who averaged 7.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Dolinski is 21-years old.
Overall thoughts:
After making notable progress from 7-25 in the 2024-25 season to 21-12 in 2025-26, Shaheen Holloway must once again start from square one with a (mostly) new roster. The combination is the most unique in the conference, featuring players from power conferences who underachieved, lower conference producers who are stepping up in competition, international players, a junior-college transfer, a true freshman and an intra-conference transfer. It’s just hard to see them being any better than a year ago, while a number of other teams within the conference improved noticeably. The Big East coaches agree, voting Seton Hall as ninth in the preseason poll (only ahead of Georgetown and Butler). In particular, the losses of Adam Clark and Najai Hines highlight the resources that Holloway has to work with in comparison to other programs.
The Pirates will likely be led by Devin Williams, Simeon Wilcher and Roddie Anderson III if they are to have another successful season. If Elijah Fisher is ruled eligible at the end of the day, that would go a long way to adding some stability to the roster. And a season like a year ago would likely get them into the NCAA tournament with the expansion to 76 teams. All of the preseason rankings and questions aside, Holloway is a great coach who gets the most out of his players, so they could surprise once more. Regardless, there are two things that you can count on with this team: they will play hard and the games against them will not be aesthetically-pleasing.
