Game Info: Friday, March 13, 2026 - 7:30 p.m.
Location: PPG Paints Arena - Pittsburgh, Pa.
Tickets | TV: CNBC | Listen: sjuhawks.com | Live Stats: sjuhawks.com | Saint Joseph's Game Notes | Davidson Game Notes | Loyola Chicago Game Notes

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

Opening Tip
Saint Joseph's begins its postseason run on Friday, March 13 in the quarterfinals of the A-10 Championship. The Hawks play either Davidson or Loyola Chicago at 7:30 p.m. with the game airing on CNBC.

Bringing Awards to Hawk Hill    
Saint Joseph's was well represented in the Atlantic 10 All-Conference honors, as announced by the league office on Wednesday. Justice Ajogbor earned co-Defensive Player of the Year accolades. He was also named to the All-Defensive Team and the All-Academic Team. Derek Simpson garnered First Team recognition. Jaiden Glover-Toscano is on the Second Team. Austin Williford picked up All-Rookie honors. Steve Donahue was voted as the A-10 Coach of the Year.

The Road To Pittsburgh    
Saint Joseph's makes the trip west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to compete in the Atlantic 10 Championship, March 11-15 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Hawks are the No. 3 seed in the tournament and will not play until the quarterfinals Friday night at 7:30 p.m. against a yet to be determined opponent. The No. 3 seed is the highest for SJU since the 2005 tourney where it was the top seed in the East Division. It is the first double bye for St. Joe's since 2018.

Back To The Beginning    
As part of the 50th Anniversary of the conference, the Atlantic 10 Championship is being held in Pittsburgh for the first time since 2017 and the seventh time ever. The A-10 was founded in Pittsburgh in 1975 as the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League, comprised of eight member schools; Duquesne, George Washington, UMass, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, Villanova and West Virginia. Saint Joseph's was the third team to be added to the league in its early years, joining in 1982. Only St. Bonaventure (1979) and Rhode Island (1980) were earlier newcomers. George Washington remains as the only charter member to have been with the conference since its inception. While also a founding member, Duquesne spent the 1992-93 season as a member of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) before returning to the Atlantic 10, beginning with the 1993-94 school year. The ECBL held its first conference championship tournament in 1977 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Duquesne downed Villanova 57-54 in the title game with Norm Nixon earning MVP honors.

Third Time Is The Charm?    
Saint Joseph's enters the conference tournament as the No. 3 seed for the first time since 1996. The Hawks went 1-1 in each of their first two tournament appearances as the third seed. The No. 3 spot is the least frequent in the top six for SJU. Prior to this year, St. Joe's had been the third seed just twice, in 1985 and 1996.

Hawks In the A-10 Tournament    
SJU has an overall record of 48-38 in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, including a 2-1 mark in each of the last three years. The Hawks are looking for their fifth tournament title, winning previously in 1986, 2004, 2014 and 2016. St. Joe's is 19-16 in the quarterfinal round. Saint Joseph's has a combined record of 4-1 against its three potential Friday opponents of No. 6 Davidson (0-1), No. 11 Richmond (3-0) and Loyola Chicago (1-0). A complete history of the Hawks in the A-10 Tournament can be found, starting on page 13 of these notes.

Winning The Close Ones    
March 4 against Davidson may not have been the prettiest win of the season, but it displayed the grit down the stretch that St. Joe's has become known for this season. The Hawks are now 5-0 in contests that are decided by three points or less. Three of those games have been in A-10 play with a 67-65 win at Richmond and a 76-73 victory against George Washington. More impressive is that four of the five games have come in either road or neutral site games. In addition to Richmond and Davidson, SJU topped Princeton 60-58 at the Jersey Jam on November 30 and Temple, 70-69, at the Big 5 Classic on December 6.

No Second Chances    
Opponents tend to go one-and-done in their chances down the floor against Saint Joseph's thanks to being one of the top defensive rebounding teams in the nation.
The Hawks average 27.3 defensive boards a contest, 26th in NCAA D1 and second in the A-10.
Overall, SJU is 38th nationally at 39.8 caroms an outing.

20-20-20     
St. Joe's enters the conference championship with a 21-10 record, a historically significant number for the Hawks. It marks the third consecutive year that SJU has won 20 or more games. In the 116 years of Saint Joseph's basketball, there have only been two other times that men's basketball has won 20+ games in three straight years. St. Joe's won 21, 25 and 25 games in the seasons from 1979-80 to 1981-82 and then claimed 26, 30 and 24 victories from 2002-03 through 2004-05.

Clamping Down     
Through the first three Atlantic 10 games, St. Joe's allowed 84.7 points per game, skewing its overall numbers for the year. The last 15 games, however, have seen a resounding turning of the tide. Beginning with the game at Richmond, the Hawks are surrendering just 66.1 points a night, a mark that is tied for the best in the A-10 since January 10. The 38.0 percent field goal percentage defense in the last two months is the only one under 40 percent in the conference. SJU is also limiting teams to 30.4 percent from beyond the arc in the stretch, which would rank as the top mark in the Atlantic 10. Not surprisingly, the defensive effort has fueled Saint Joseph's rise in the standings. Its 12-3 mark and .800 winning percentage is third in the A-10 behind VCU at 13-2 and 13-3 for Saint Louis. No other team was better than 9-6.

Non-Charitable Donations    
One thing that the Hawks have done well all season on the defensive end is keep teams off the free throw line. SJU is eighth nationally in fewest fouls per game, committing just 14.2 an outing. As a result, opponents have shot 507 free throws against St. Joe's, the third lowest total in the conference.

A Special Season    
Derek Simpson has made his senior season one to remember for the Hawks, taking the court every game as a triple threat. He is the only player in the Atlantic 10 and one of just eight nationally to average 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. Simpson has four double-doubles this season, which ranks eighth in the conference. Three of those double-doubles have come with 10+ rebounds and assists. The Mount Laurel, N.J. native is the only player in the A-10 with three games of 10 or more dimes. He also tops the conference and is tied for 23rd nationally with eight games with eight or more assists.

More Than Just A Dime A Dozen    
The win at Davidson was the 12th A-10 victory of the season for Saint Joseph's. SJU has not won that many games in conference play since 2015-16, when the team went 28-8 and won the conference tournament. It is also the second most Atlantic 10 victories in the last 20 years, since the Hawks went 14-2 in 2004-05.

Business Trip    
Since earning its first road victory of the season at Richmond on January 11, the Hawks have not been intimidated heading into someone else's gym. Saint Joseph's is 6-2 in its last eight road games with its only losses coming at No. 2 seed VCU and at George Mason, which was 14-1 at EagleBank Arena heading into the game. In those eight contests, SJU has held its opponents to 64.1 points per game and 37.2 percent shooting. Going deeper into the numbers, the perimeter defense has been impressive with teams connecting on 29.4 percent from three-point range. The Hawks have also outrebounded teams by 4.4 boards an outing. All but one team has been held to fewer than 67 points and three have been kept to 60 or less.Individually, Derek Simpson is scoring 16.6 points in those games and is hitting 40.8 percent from distance. Justice Ajogbor is tallying 7.8 per game with 7.0 rebounds and 3.1 blocks a night. The six road victories this year are the most since SJU went 10-2 in 2015-16.

Next Up    
The winner of the quarterfinal involving Saint Joseph's will play a semifinal game Saturday, March 14 at 3:30 p.m. The contest will air on CBS Sports Network.