N.J. big man wants to lead Seton Hall to NCAA Tournament in homecoming

When he decided to enter the transfer portal in March, Elijah Hutchins-Everett garnered interest from a variety of high-major programs, including Vanderbilt, Virginia and Loyola Chicago.

But one school and one coach stood out.

Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway kept it real when recruiting the 6-foot-11 Orange native to return home after two seasons at Austin Peay University in Tennessee.

“Seton Hall was always on my mind,” Hutchins-Everett recalled last week during an interview at the school.

“It really was based on how it’s a family-home environment and Sha kept it 100 with me. He was like, ‘We’re holding people off for you’ and that’s just the one thing I never heard from other schools, is, ‘Hey, we’re holding people off for you.’”

Hutchins-Everett, who committed in late April, is one of four new transfers on the roster, three of whom are big men. The other bigs are 6-10 Jaden Bediako (Santa Clara) and 6-10 Sadraque NgaNga (Boise State).

Yet while Bediako is Canadian and NgaNga is from Angola, Hutchins-Everett is about as local as it gets.

“I live right down the street from the school, it feels good to be back home, especially in front of my family and friends,” he said.

“I played basketball here, started from here in Jersey so it means a lot. So why not finish it here?”

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Hutchins-Everett played two seasons at Montclair Immaculate Conception before spending his final two seasons at Putnam Science Academy (CT). He initially committed to Penn State but decommitted in 2020 after Patrick Chambers resigned as head coach.

He landed at Austin Peay where he averaged 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds as a freshman and 11.5 and 5.5 last year.

His mother, Sakina Hutchins, came to “all my games” at Austin Peay, but now she and his other family members will have the shortest commute possible to games in Newark and South Orange.

“Just overall it’ll be a good chance for them to come and see me play,” he said. “I know some of them haven’t seen me play since I was really young.”

As part of his recruiting pitch, Holloway told Hutchins-Everett he would have to lose weight, commit to defense and work hard in order to earn playing time.

So far, so good.

He’s down to about 255 pounds from more than 270 since arriving.

“[Holloway] kept it honest with me, he said, ‘You gotta come here and work, I’m not gonna just give it to you,’” Hutchins-Everett said.

“That was the one thing that I really liked about coming here with Sha because Sha’s going to care about you 100% and he’s not going to sugarcoat anything. He’s going to tell you the hard, cold truth....He said he’s going to care about us, he’s going to put us in position to be better.”

During practices ahead of the season-opener against Saint Peter’s Nov. 6, Holloway is getting a feel for how he will work his new bigs into the rotation.

“I’m hoping they can bring like a three-headed monster, right,” Holloway told NJ Advance Media earlier this summer. “Jaden is an experienced post from a really good Santa Clara team the last couple years, very well-coached, so I’m excited about him. He’s got good size, he’s more of a power guy.

“Elijah can shoot the basketball from the outside, and Sada is more of a glue guy, a skilled big man. So they’re different. I’m excited about that.”

Asked how he’ll fit in with the other bigs, Hutchins-Everett said: “Me and Jaden, we’ve been going back and forth. It’s really been competitive. These are the most physical practices I’ve ever been in, so it’s been really helping me out, also helping him out because I know Big East basketball is nothing to play with.

“It’s just physicality every day so that’s one thing [Bediako] has been helping me get used to, is just being physical because I always used to be the bigger guy that was more physical than everybody else, but now I’m playing against people that are my height and bigger so right now me and Jaden are going at it.

“And Sada is a really skilled perimeter guy, athletic, lanky and can help us out big time.”

Hutchins-Everett made 20 3-pointers last season while shooting 32%, up from 12 on 31% the year before.

“I feel really comfortable shooting the 3,” he said. “I think over the years, my touch got better with me knowing my shot.”

The ultimate goal, of course, is to get The Hall back to the NCAA Tournament where Holloway made a run to the Elite Eight with Saint Peter’s two years ago.

“That would mean a lot,” Hutchins-Everett said. “Also history for Sha, too, being an alumni here at Seton Hall and him coming back...from Saint Peter’s, so it would mean a lot.

“Basically all of us are from New York and New Jersey from the area, so it would mean a lot for the state and for the people that’s watching us and cheering us on, especially for the fan base and the history of Seton Hall. It would mean a lot to go back to March Madness.”