Game Info: Saturday, February 15, 2025 - 12:30 p.m.
Location: EagleBank Arena - Fairfax, Va.
TV: USA Network | Listen: sjuhawks.com | Live Stats: sjuhawks.com | Saint Joseph's Game Notes | George Mason Game Notes

Social Media
Twitter/X:@sjuhawks_mbb | Instagram:@sjuhawks_mbb


Opening Tip
The Saint Joseph's men's basketball team faces a stern road test when it travels to Fairfax, Va. to face the George Mason Patriots on February 15. Tipoff from is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. with the game on USA Network.

ER II-K    
With his three-pointer 19 seconds into the second half against La Salle, Erik Reynolds II became the second player in Saint Joseph's men's basketball history to reach 2,000 career points. In the process, he also passed Langston Galloway (2011-14) for second on the Hawks' scoring list, ending the night with 2,012 points. Reynolds is the 14th active Division I player to reach the milestone. He is one of two current A-10 players (Gibson Jimerson - Saint Louis) and one of two active Big 5 players (Jamal Mashburn Jr. - Temple) to have scored 2,000 points.

Closing In    
Rrynolds' performance against the Explorers moved him closer to the top of a pair St. Joe's program records. He needs 83 points to pass former National Player of the Year Jameer Nelson (2000-04) to become the all-time leading scorer in SJU history. Nelson netted 2,094 points in his Saint Joseph's career. The Temple Hills, Md. product finished the game against La Salle with 323 three-pointers, leaving him 20 shy of Galloway's program record.

Back To Standard    
In the last eight games, Reynolds has seen a return to the numbers that got him in range of the SJU career bests, averaging 19.0 points per game. In the stretch, he is shooting 44.1 percent from the floor and has made 3.25 treys a contest, also connecting on 14-of-16 at the free throw line. Reynolds has been even better in his last five games, posting 21 points a outing with four games of 20+.

Dual Threat    
While Reynolds may be grabbing the headlines, the last eight games and, in fact, conference play overall has seen an uptick in the numbers for Xzayvier Brown. The sophomore is scoring 17.3 points per game in Atlantic 10 games with 5.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists. The 2023-24 A-10 Rookie of the Year is tallying 18.9  night in his last eight contests and has reached double figures in all 21 games he has played this season.

Leading The Way    
Several Saint Joseph's players have made their mark on the A-10 leaderboards this season Brown leads the conference in free throw percentage, making 89.5 percent of his shots from the line. Reynolds is close behind at 89.2 percent, ranking third. Anthony Finkley tops the Atlantic 10 in three-point percentage, knocking down 44.3 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. Rasheer Fleming has been part of a season-long three-way battle for the conference top spot in rebounding, heading into Saturday's game at 8.9 boards an outing. He leads the A-10 at 6.83 defensive rebounds a game. Thanks to blocking 2.91 shots a game in A-10 play, Justice Ajogbor has moved into second in the league at 2.1 blocks a game.

Block Party    
Speaking of Ajogbor, he shook off his "slow" night as a rim protector against Saint Louis, coming up with two more blocks against La Salle. The Benin City, Nigeria native has multiple blocks in 12 of his last 13 games and in 15 of 24 games overall this year. His stretch of 11 games in a row with multiple blocks from December 21 through February 1 was the longest active streak in the nation. The grad transfer has helped SJU into territory rejecting opposition shots at a clip it hasn't seen in better than a decade. The 5.5 blocks per game are the most for the Hawks since 2012-13 and are currently 10th in Division I.

Bucking The Trends    
Wednesday's game against La Salle went against several of the trends St. Joe's has had this year. The Explorers led 31-24 at halftime. It was just the fourth game this season in 12 tries SJU came back from a deficit at the break. Saint Joseph's also tied the opposition in rebounding for just the second time this season and won for the first time under those circumstances.

Scouting Report    
George Mason enters play 20-5 overall and is 11-1 in the A-10 following a 76-74 overtime win at Saint Louis on Tuesday. The Patriots have won 10 games in a row, the second longest run in program history and are receiving votes in the AP poll.

Leading the offense for GMU is Darius Maddox at 14.0 points per game. Also in double figures is Jalen Haynes at 12.5 a night with Brayden O'Connor presenting a third scoring option, tallying 9.4 a contest. Haynes tops the team at 7.0 rebounds a game. O'Connor has dished 68 assists while K.D. Johnson has 64 dimes.

A devastating defense for the Patriots has given opponents fits this season. George Mason is ninth in the country in scoring defense, surrendering just 62.3 points per game. It is third in field goal percentage defense (37.2), 10th in three-point percentage defense (29.0) and ninth in rebounding margin (+6.0).

GMU has also been stellar in winning the close games this season going 5-1 in conference play in games decided by five points or less.

One area where the Patriots have not excelled this season is holding on to the ball, ranking 11th in the A-10 and 262nd nationally at 12.8 turnovers a game.

Tony Skinn is in his second season as the head coach at his alma mater and has posted 20-win seasons in each of his campaigns.

All-Time Series    
Saturday is the 18th matchup all-time between the Hawks and Patriots with George Mason holding a 10-7 series lead. SJU has won two in a row against its Northern Virginia counterparts, including a Second Round victory in the A-10 tournament a season ago. All but one of the matchups between St. Joe's and GMU have come since the Patriots joined the Atlantic 10 for the 2013-14 season. The only other game between the schools in men's basketball was a 73-64 Saint Joseph's win in the Opening Round of the 2002 NIT.

Last Time Against George Mason    
St. Joe's used balanced scoring as the Hawks downed the Patriots 64-57 in the Second Round of the Atlantic 10 Championship on March 13, 2024. Cameron Brown led SJU with 16 points, followed by Rasheer Fleming at 14 and had seven rebounds. Xzayvier Brown chipped in 10. SJU built a nine-point halftime lead before playing even ball in the second half to secure its 20th win of the season.

Wait, since When???    
With their win on January 21, the Hawks claimed a victory more than half a century in the making. It had been an astonishing 54 years and five days since Saint Joesph's last won a game at Davidson. The Hawks most recent road victory at the Wildcats on January 16, 1971, an 85-84 victory at Johnston Gym. It was the first win at Belk Arena for the Hawks in nine tries.

Look Ma, I'm On TV!!    
Saturday is Saint Joseph's 11th of 14 appearances on national linear television this season. The Hawks appear on ESPN2 and ESPNU three times each. SJU is also on CBS Sports Network four times and USA  four times. St. Joe's is 5-5 on national TV so far this year.

Up Next    
The Hawks make the trip to Washington, D.C. to face the George Washington Revolutionaries on Wednesday, February 19. Tipoff from the Charles E. Smith Center is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.