Hall In and Boeheim’s Army Face Off In Game One of TBT 2026

Published: Monday, July 20, 2026

by Lauren Reese

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Team Hall In will take on Boeheim’s Army in a first-round best-of-three series, on Tuesday night in Walsh Gymnasium. Led by 2016 graduate Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall will look to start the series off right against Buddy Boeheim’s team, who graduated from Syracuse in 2022.

In this winner-take-all tournament of a $2 million prize, the entire TBT 2026 bracket features 16 teams, including eight alumni teams and eight non-alumni teams. Seton Hall will face Syracuse on Tuesday at home, but will then head up to The Oncenter War Memorial in Syracuse on Thursday. If a Game 3 is necessary, it will be played at the same location.

After the best-of-three series for the first round, the journey will then consist of single-elimination games, in which five total wins will be needed to capture the winning cash prize. 

Numerous other notable former Pirates round out the Hall In roster. Joining Whitehead are fellow guards Al-Amir Dawes and Anthony Nelson. Turning to the frontcourt, KC Ndefo, Darnell Brodie, Philip Carr, Quatarrius Wilson, and Romaro Gill complete the roster.  

Plenty of winning experience is featured on this roster. Dawes, the most recent graduate on this Seton Hall alumni roster (2024), had a dynamic final year with the Pirates, and will look to get back to his previous level of performance.

Named the 2024 NIT’s Most Outstanding Player after averaging 21.0 points per game, 5.6 rebounds and shooting 46% from behind the arc in five games, the former Clemson transfer finished with the 14th most three-point field goals in Seton Hall history (169).  

But it’s not just the guards who have cemented themselves confidently into Pirates history. Power forward KC Ndefo came to Seton Hall from Saint Peter’s, alongside head coach Shaheeen Holloway, and made a tremendous impact on the court in his lone 2022-23 season with the Pirates.

Ndefo also finished second in the BIG EAST and 28th nationally with 62 total blocks, averaging two a game, all while anchoring one of the top defensive teams in both the conference and country.  

Of course, when talking about blocks and defense, it’s impossible to forget the impact 2020 graduate Romaro Gill had with the unstoppable 2019-20 Pirates team. Both the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player, Gill finished third in the nation in blocks per game. The 7’2” center has cemented himself as a menace in the frontcourt, for any opponent facing off against him.

Isaiah Whitehead, though, the captain of this alumni roster, and the man who, 10 years ago, led the Pirates to their first BIG EAST title since 1993, is the team’s true anchor. This anchor is a 2016 NBA Second Round draft selection, an AP All-America honorable mention selection, and a shooting guard who previously averaged 1.4 blocks per game, the highest average of any student-athlete listed as a guard in the country.

Whitehead’s impact and legacy on the Seton Hall men’s basketball program will forever be synonymous with growth, dominance, and positive leadership.  

Whitehead will carry his team into a sold-out Walsh Gymnasium crowd of 1,316 fans, happily awaiting Hall In, and hoping to disrupt the rhythm of Boeheim’s Army. You can hear the game on 89.5 FM WSOU and wsou.net at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday where Ryder Nuesell and Chris Heite will call the action.

Lauren Reese can be reached at lauren.reese@student.shu.edu

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