Seton Hall’s Undefeated Season Comes to an End in Nail-Biting Loss to USC

Published: Tuesday, November 25, 2025

by Caitlin Barrar

LAHAINA, H.I. – The Seton Hall Pirates (6-1) undefeated season came to an end as they fell to the USC Trojans (6-0) Tuesday in the semifinals at the Maui Invitational 83-81. 

The Pirates came out in the first half just as energetic as last game and swarmed the basketball starting with an AJ Staton-McCray circus shot to open the scoring. Staton-McCray continued to build off his incredible performance Monday and be one of the most consistent players for the Hall with 17 points and three triples. 

Seton Hall has come out firing in this tournament, as prior to arriving in Maui, the Pirates were shooting 42%. Since they’ve touched down in the Aloha state, their field goal percentage has increased to 54% with the quality of their shots getting better. Today was no exception as Seton Hall shot 56% from the floor. 

Mike Williams has been part of this spark for the Hall. He had a massive three following an Elijah Fisher block that helped the Pirates build their lead and made USC take their first timeout. Williams’ shooting splits in Maui continue to show why he’s a big piece to the Pirates rotation. 

While they had four players go into the locker room with two fouls, the Pirates were able to force the Trojans to turn the ball over ten times in the first half. Early on the Pirates controlled the pace, outscoring the Trojans 14-4 in the fast break. 

But with two of the top three blocking teams in the nation going against each other, easy layups were a lot more difficult to come by for both teams. 

That didn’t stop Najai Hines from having his way in the paint. Hines, who contributed six points and five rebounds, showed off his passing ability with a crafty play to get Budd Clark the ball to put the Pirates up double digits. 

Clark had possibly his best game so far in a Pirates uniform. He seemed much more confident in his shooting and made quick decisions which propelled the Seton Hall offense to their lead. Clark led the Pirates in scoring with 18 points, seven assists, three steals on 8-14 shooting from the floor. 

But that was one of the last bright spots for the Pirates as they couldn’t find an answer to the Trojans run going into halftime which sparked their comeback for the rest of the game. The otherwise solid Pirates defense let junior guard Rodney Rice get hot where he scored 13 straight points for the Trojans as they went into the break. Rice’s night would be cut short early in the second half due to injury. 

But the story of this one was how USC was able to pull away in the second half due to the Pirates foul troubles. Seton Hall finished the game committing 28 fouls paving the way to 38 opportunities from the stripe for USC. At one point in the final half, the Trojans were 17-19 from the charity stripe while the Pirates had yet to get to the line once. 

However, Seton Hall was able to keep it close throughout most of the final twenty minutes. The game came down to the wire after the Pirates stole the ball and resulted in a three from Staton-McCray, which tied the game with thirty seconds left. Ultimately though, Seton Hall’s fouls and late turnovers cost them the victory. 

The Pirates will look to get back on track tomorrow as they will play Washington State in a fight for third place. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m., with Ryder Nuesell and Lauren Reese on call. 

Caitlin Barrar can be reached at caitlin.barrar@student.shu.edu.

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