Game Info: Tuesday, March 24, 2026 - 9:00 p.m. EDT
Location: The Pit - Albuquerque
TV: ESPN2 | Listen: sjuhawks.com | Live Stats: sjuhawks.com | Saint Joseph's Game Notes | New Mexico Game Notes 

Social Media
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Opening Tip
Saint Joseph's continues on in the NIT with a quarterfinal matchup at New Mexico on Tuesday, March 24. Tipoff from The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. EDT with the game airing on ESPN2.

A Wild Finish    
The Hawks advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT with one of the most improbable comebacks in recent memory. SJU outscored Cal 34-14 during the final 13+ minutes of action to come away with a 76-75 win in the Second Round on Sunday night. St. Joe's was 2-17 coming into the game when trailing at the half. Cal was 17-1. Prior to Sunday, the largest deficit Saint Joseph's overcame this season to win a game was nine on two occasions, against Princeton on Nov. 30 and at Davidson on March 4. It is also the second 19-point rally for an Atlantic 10 school against an ACC opponent in this postseason, matching the effort of VCU against North Carolina.

By A Feather    
While it may make fans sweat it out until the final whistle, the 2025-26 Hawks have shown they know how to win the tight ones. With the win at Cal, Saint Joseph's is now 6-0 this season in games decided by one possession (three points or less). What makes the stat even more impressive is that five of the six games have come either on the road or at neutral sites. St. Joe's won in back-to-back neutral site games against Princeton and Temple. It picked up its first road win of the season at Richmond by a 70-69 final. SJU also won at Davidson by three and by one on Sunday. The only home game in the group was a 76-73 victory against George Washington on February 4.

Been A While...Again    
It had been more than 20 years between meetings for Saint Joseph's and Cal. It's been even longer since the Hawks and Lobos matched up. The last time Saint Joseph's and New Mexico played in men's basketball was two days before Y2K, on December 30, 1999. SJU won the game 81-76.

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.

Rewriting The Record Book    
Several St. Joe's players have already moved into or are on the verge of cracking single-season and career marks on Hawk Hill. Justice Ajogbor enters Sunday with 160 blocks at Saint Joseph's in just two seasons, already sixth on the SJU all-time list. His 86 blocks last season are the eighth highest total in a year and his 74 this year are 10th. Derek Simpson has an opportunity to move into the top-3 all-time in single season assists. He enters Tuesday night with 184 dimes, just four behind Jameer Nelson and Rap Curry for second on the list. Simpson is also shooting at an 85.4 percent clip at the line in his career with the Hawks, the third highest total in program history. His rate of 91.3 percent this year currently stands as the top mark. Jaiden Glover-Toscano has 90 three-pointers made this year and moved into a tie for seventh place on the St. Joe's single-season list on Sunday, matching Langston Galloway's number from 2011-12.

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 27.2 defensive boards a contest, 28th in NCAA D1 and second in the A-10. Overall, SJU is 37th nationally at 38.8 caroms an outing.

Miles And Smiles    
Since earning its first road victory of the season at Richmond on January 11, the Hawks have not been intimidated wherever they play. Saint Joseph's is 9-3 in its last 12 road and neutral site games. Its only losses coming at the hands of VCU twice and at George Mason, which was 14-1 at EagleBank Arena heading into the game. They are 8-2 in true road games during the span. The team has lived up to the philosophy that defense travels, holding its opponents to 65.6 points per game and 38.5 percent shooting. Going deeper into the numbers, the perimeter defense has been exceptionally impressive with teams connecting on 29.8 percent from three-point range. Most recently, the Hawks held Colorado State, a team that came into the game ninth nationally in   three-point percentage at 39.1, to just 7-for-30 from beyond the arc. The Hawks have also outrebounded teams by 4.4 boards an outing. Individually, Derek Simpson is scoring 14.9 points in those games and is hitting 36.8 percent from distance. Justice Ajogbor is tallying 8.9 per game with 6.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks a night, while connecting at 67.1 percent clip from the floor.

Gotta Guard The Post    
In his time at St. Joe's, Justice Ajogbor has been known almost exclusively for his defense. In the last several games, however, he has become an offensive force in the low post. In his last seven games, he is averaging 11.7 points per game on an eye-popping 36-for-48 (75.0 percent) shooting. Included in that stretch are a career-high 20 points against La Salle on March 7 and 18 against Davidson in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals. In 63 games in an SJU uniform prior to this most recent stretch, he had averaged 4.9 points per game. Its not only Ajogbor that has been strong on the low blocks. In the NIT, Jaden Smith is averaging 5.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in just 12minutes per game.

Scouting Report    

• New Mexico enters play 25-10 and is coming off an 86-61 win against George Washington on Sunday night. The Lobos went 13-5 in the Mountain West Conference and advanced to the MWC semifinals.
• Four players average double figures for New Mexico, led by Jake Hall at 16.0 points per game. Tomislav Buljan is netting 12.8 with Deyton Albury at 11.8. Uriah Tenette rounds out the quartet, tallying 10.8 an outing. Buljan averages a double-double, also pulling in 10.4 boards a contest. Luke Haupt, Albury and Tenette each have between 99 and 105 assists.
• One area in which the Lobos excel is forcing opponent miscues. UNM is 28th nationally in turnover margin at +3.1. It is also one of the top teams in NCAA D1 in defending the perimeter, holding the opposition to 30.1 percent. They also like to get out and run, ranking inside the top-70 in fastbreak points.
• There aren't a lot of things New Mexico doesn't do well, but they do struggle at times in grabbing their own misses, ranking in the bottom half of Division I in offensive rebounds. The team doesn't block too many shots at just 3.0 per game.
• Eric Olen is in his first season as the head coach of the Lobos after 12 seasons at UC San Diego. He helped to see the Tritons' ascent to Division I, taking them to a 30-5 record last year and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

All-Time Series    
Tuesday is just the third all-time meeting between the Hawks and Lobos with the schools having split the previous two. St. Joe's won the most recent matchup, 81-76 on December 30, 1999. New Mexico took the first contest, 78-77 on December 19, 1969.

20-20-20     
St. Joe's enters the quarterfinals of the NIT with a 24-11 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 the men's basketball program 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 19 games, however, have seen a resounding turning of the tide. Beginning with the game at Richmond on January 11, the Hawks are surrendering just 66.6 points a night, the best in the A-10 since January 10 and 23rd nationally. They have held 13 opponents to 68 points or fewer and kept three four below 60. The 38.7 percent field goal percentage defense in the last two months is second in the nation. They are also surrendering just 30.4 percent from beyond the arc. Not surprisingly, the defensive effort has fueled Saint Joseph's rise in the standings, going 15-4 in the two-month stretch.

Up Next    
The winner of the Saint Joseph's-New Mexico game advances to the NIT semifinals on Thursday, April 2. The game will be played at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.