Seton Hall remains perfect with Top 25 upset at Maui Invitational

No one quite knew what to expect from this new-look Seton Hall team with 10 fresh players on this year’s roster.

The Pirates were picked last in the 11-team Big East Conference, a sign that head coach Shaheen Holloway’s colleagues didn’t have much faith in his team.

The Hall is now a perfect 6-0 after dominating No. 23 N.C. State, 85-74, in the first round of the Maui Invitational.

The Pirates outscored the Wolfpack 50-41 in the second half.

They now have six wins this season after winning seven all of last season.

It was the first victory this season in college basketball for an unranked team over a ranked team. Ranked teams had been 96-0 coming in.

The Hall will meet the winner between USC and Boise State on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET (ESPN), while the Wolfpack (4-1) will meet the loser.

“We just knew who we was as a team, we knew we could beat anyone on any given day,” AJ Staton-McCray, who led six Pirates in double-figures with a season-high 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting along with 7 rebounds, told Andy Katz. “So we came out with good energy.

“We just played together today.”

The Hall held N.C. State star forward Darrion Williams to just 12 points after he came in averaging 23.3 points per game.

The upset happened just shortly after Rutgers was obliterated by No. 17 Tennessee, 85-60, at the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas.

The Pirates played inspired defense, scoring 19 points off 13 forced turnovers while notching 9 blocks and 11 steals.

Mike Williams III added 14 points, Elijah Fisher 13, Tajuan Simpkins 11 and Najai Hines 10. Budd Clark had 13 points, 5 steals, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

The Hall led by as many as 16 in the first half before settling for a 35-33 halftime lead.

The Wolfpack closed to within 69-60 in the second half before the Pirates used an 8-2 run to go up 77-62 on a dunk by Stephon Payne.

A 3-pointer by Tajuan Simpkins made it 80-65.

“We know basketball is a game of runs so as long as we have our runs for a longer period of time, that’s all that matters,” Staton-McCray said.

N.C. State’s only leads in the game came at 2-0 and 4-3.

“We just gotta try how to figure out how to survive tomorrow and try to get another one,” Holloway told Katz.

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