Seton Hall basketball found Stephon Payne, and 'that's what he needed'

James Collins was an All-ACC guard at Florida State in the 1990s and played in the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers . As the basketball coach at Andrew Jackson High School in Jacksonville, he knew his 6-foot-9 center Stephon Payne possessed immense potential.

“I felt that if the kid put in the right kind of work, there’s no telling what could happen with him,” Collins said. “Now people are seeing what he could be.”

Collins is nodding from afar as Payne has helped Seton Hall to a 13-2 start, averaging 7.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 59 percent from the field. The senior was named Big East Player of the Week after posting 18 points and 16 rebounds in a win at Providence, and later followed up with a 14-point, 22-board explosion against Marquette.

This after transferring from Jacksonville University, where he was well under the national radar.

“He’s a really good kid, but he needs somebody to stay on him,” Collins said. “My guess is Seton Hall is pushing him like they should be. They have a culture that’s not going to let you just (B.S.) around. That’s what he needed.”

An ability to learn

Hall coach Shaheen Holloway and his staff had no real connection to Payne prior to this season. They fished him from the transfer portal after watching film and noticing his pick-and-roll defense – in particular his ability to spring out to the perimeter and trap while recovering as needed.

“The mentality of knowing when to go for the ball and when to not be aggressive,” is how Payne describes it.

“I’m extremely impressed with his ability to pick things up,” Holloway said. “Anything I ask of him, he’s doing.”

Holloway wants his bigs playing inside, and that’s where Payne likes it. He’s attempted zero 3-pointers in his career.

“I’ve never been the type to float around the 3-point line,” Payne said. “I feel like that takes away from my rebounding.”

That rebounding is turning heads. Payne’s 22 boards against Marquette tied program legend Angel Delgado for the most ever by a Pirate in a Big East contest.

“I don’t want to give away my secrets,” Payne said of his glass cleaning. “I would say just knowing when to go up, knowing who’s taking the shot and what kind of shot is going up.”

All that said, Holloway wants to see Payne become more consistent. Following the monster efforts at Providence and Marquette, Payne struggled in the ensuing games.

“He has to understand every Big East game is physical and hard,” Holloway said. “Watching film doesn’t show how physical people are.”

‘I’m trying to get him to talk more’

As the Pirates take a 3-1 conference record to Georgetown (9-6, 1-3) on Saturday (6 p.m., Fox Sports 1), an underrated aspect of their success is the camaraderie among their post players. Payne and fellow center Godswill Erheriene have been great teammates to prodigious freshman big man Najai Hines – not something that automatically happens when guys are fighting for minutes.

“Steph took on the role of helping Najai, kind of like a big brother,” Holloway said. “For him to do that, it shows you the type of person he is. He’s an unbelievable young man. He doesn’t talk a lot, but when he does people listen, so I’m trying to get him to talk more.”

That goes for all the Hall’s postmen.

“I’m trying to get our bigs to yell at the guards a little bit when they’re open – I want them to get a little meaner,” Holloway said. “It’s good that all these guys like each other, but I’ve got to be the bad cop all the time. I don’t want to be that. I tell these guys all the time: ‘This is your team. If your brother is getting on you, it means more than if it’s coming from me.’”

To Collins, whose college basketball coach at Florida State was Keyport native Pat Kennedy, a bad cop is a good thing for Payne.

“Shaheen is from the New Jersey area, where those guys are on you, they’re going to push you,” he said. “Look at the Hurley brothers – the Jersey kids have been hard-coached, and they coach the way they played the game. He needed that; he needed a coach to bring that out in him.”

Of course, a player has to be receptive for that to work. And that is Payne’s biggest piece of advice to any transfer.

“Be able to listen and take in as much as you can,” he said. “Be coachable.”

That attitude is the secret sauce in the Hall’s surprising season. A lot of these guys are being pushed harder than they’re used to, and their buy-in is yielding fruit.

“This is new for all of us,” Payne said. “We didn’t know what to expect, really. So it’s been great – it’s better than what I expected.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at  jcarino@gannettnj.com .

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Seton Hall basketball found Stephon Payne, and 'that's what he needed'