Game Info: Saturday, March 7, 2026 - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Hagan Arena - Philadelphia, Pa.
TV: ESPN+ / NBC Sports Philadelphia | Listen: sjuhawks.com | Live Stats: sjuhawks.com | Saint Joseph's Game Notes | La Salle Game Notes

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

Opening Tip
Saint Joseph's looks to lock down the No. 3 seed in the A-10 tournament as it hosts La Salle on Saturday, March 7. Tipoff from Hagan Arena is at 1:00 p.m. with the game airing on ESPN+ and NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Here's What We Know    
By defeating Davidson on Wednesday, the Hawks secured a double bye in the Atlantic 10 championship and will play their first game on Friday, March 13. SJU will either be the No. 3 or No. 4 seed as Saint Louis and VCU are locked into the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively. Currently tied with Dayton for third, St. Joe's controls its own destiny for the No. 3 seed thanks to the 81-74 win against the Flyers that Saint Joseph's earned on January 24. The Hawks will secure the No. 3 seed with either a VCU win at Dayton on Friday night or a victory against La Salle at home on Saturday.

Winning The Close Ones    
Wednesday night 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. Even 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.

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.

20-20-20     
Wednesday's win was not only significant for this season, but also from a historical perspective for the Hawks. It was the 20th victory of the season for St. Joe's, marking 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.

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 less than 67 points and three have been kept to 60 or fewer. 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.

Scouting Report    

• La Salle enters play 9-21 overall with a 5-12 mark in the A-10 following an 87-84 win against Fordham on Wednesday. Injuries have hit the Explorers hard as six players were listed as out on their latest A-10 Player Availability Report
• Leading the offense for La Salle is Jaeden Marshall at 12.0 points per game, but he has not played since February 18 against Duquesne. Rob Dockery has been an emerging force for the Explorers, averaging 11.4 points an outing and leads the team in rebounding at 6.0 boards a night. In conference play, Dockery has upped his numbers to 14.8 PPG and 7.1 RPG. Ashton Walker tops the team with 91 assists.
• One area that has helped the Explorers is keeping teams off the free throw line. They are in the 77th percentile nationally in fewest fouls per game at 16.2 and have seen their opponents go to the line 508 times, the fourth best mark in the A-10. They also get contributions up and down their roster, averaging 21.1 bench points a contest.
• While the scoring is balanced for La Salle, finding it on a consistent basis can be difficult as they are last in the conference and in the bottom-15 in NCAA D1 at 66.4 points per game. They also struggle to protect the rim with 2.6 blocks per game, 12th out of 14 Atlantic 10 teams as well as defending the perimeter, giving up 35.5 percent from beyond the arc.
• Darris Nichols is in his first season as the head coach of the Explorers and his fifth season as a lead mentor overall. He spent the past four seasons at Radford, winning 20+ games twice and led the Highlanders to the semifinals of the 2023 CBI.

All-Time Series    
Saturday is the 147th meeting between Saint Joseph's and La Salle with the Hawks holding an 82-64 series edge. SJU has won six of seven against the Explorers. St. Joe's holds a 26-18 advantage against La Salle at home, including a 9-4 mark at Hagan Arena. 74 of the matchups between the schools have been neutral site games, including 45 at The Palestra, 22 at Convention Hall and two at Philadelphia Arena. The remaining five were in various A-10 Tournaments.

Last Time Against La Salle    
Dasear Haskins was lights out in the first half, connecting on six three-pointers as Saint Joseph's ground out a 67-58 win at Glazer Arena on January 31, 2026. Haskins had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Jaiden Glover-Toscano netted 16. Derek Simpson scored 13 with six rebounds and seven assists. The Hawks built a 20-9 lead before a La Salle run pulled the game to 22-20 midway through the first half. SJU closed the opening stanza well and went into the locker room with a 36-20 lead. St. Joe's extended the advantage to 63-47 with 4:06 to go. La Salle battled back, chopping the lead to five, but the Hawks sealed the contest at the free throw line.

Special Delivery    
Derek Simpson was a distribution specialist once again with 10 assists against Loyola Chicago on February 21. It was his third game this year with double-digit dimes. In all three, he has posted a double-double. The three such games are the most in a season for a St. Joe's player since 2004-05 and are tied for the second most overall. There have been seven games where a player has 10+ assists in a contest in the A-10 this season. No one else has more than two. In 17 conference games, he leads the Atlantic 10 with 6.2 helpers an outing. His 5.0 overall APG is second in the A-10. He is also third overall with a 2.4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Next Up    
St. Joe's begins play at the Atlantic 10 Championship with a quarterfinal matchup on Friday, March 13. If the Hawks are the No. 3 seed, they will play at 7:30 p.m. with the game airing on CNBC. If they are the No. 4 seed, they will play at 2:00 p.m. with the game airing on USA.