(Photo courtesy of Hunter Hensel)

BROOKLYN, NY – No. 9 seed Saint Joseph’s was able to pull off the upset of the tournament so far, erasing a 10-point second half deficit and beating No. 1 Richmond 66-61.

The Hawks are the lowest seed to advance to the semifinals since 2017, when No. 9 Davidson lost to eventual conference champion No. 4 Rhode Island. They’ll play No. 5 VCU in the semifinals at 1:00 pm on Saturday, where they’ll look to become the lowest seed to advance to the finals since No. 9 Dayton lost the championship to No. 3 Richmond in 2011 and could become the lowest seed to win the conference tournament since No. 10 Xavier in 2006.

Earlier in the season, Saint Joseph’s showed that when things are clicking, they’re not only able to play with the best in the A-10, but the best in the country.

They arguably had the best single-game performance of any A-10 team this season when the took then-No. 17 Kentucky to overtime at Rupp Arena. Later in non-conference play, Saint Joseph’s won the Big 5 Classic, beating then-No. 18 Villanova 78-65 on the road to begin the tournament and then taking down Temple 74-65 at the Wells Fargo Center in the title game. The Hawks also beat likely-Ivy League champ Princeton 74-70 at home.

Despite these impressive non-conference wins, there were also some very low moments. They lost 57-54 at home to Texas A&M Commerce, who is currently ranked 333 in the NET and lost in the second round of the Southland Tournament. During A-10 play, they lost to first-round participants Saint Louis and Rhode Island.

It’s clear that through their first two games of the A-10 Tournament, Saint Joseph’s is looking like the team that took Kentucky to the wire and beat Villanova.

Junior guard Erik Reynolds II is one of the biggest reasons why Saint Joseph’s was able to take down top seeded and co-regular season champion Richmond.

Reynolds had an excellent regular season, averaging 16.6 points per

Despite Reynolds dealing with a right elbow injury after hitting the court hard at the end of their second-round matchup against George Mason and his availability being “uncertain” until game time, he had one of the best games of his career.

“I took a pretty hard fall yesterday, but the resources we have, I’m extremely thankful and blessed,” said Reynolds. “They got me ready for the game, so pretty thankful for that.”

He had 30 points, three rebounds and two steals while shooting 11-19 from the field, 3-8 from three and a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. For long stretches during the game, the Hawks’ offense ran almost entirely through Reynolds.

“It felt great, all my confidence that I have making those kinds of plays comes from my teammates,” said Reynolds. “They believe in me and they believe in every shot that I take.”

Perhaps most impressively from Reynolds, he was able to play 38 minutes of elite-level basketball despite injuring his right elbow yesterday and picking up multiple other knocks during the game. At different points, he appeared to roll his ankle, get hit in the head and re-aggravate his elbow injury, yet he continued to fearlessly draw contact at the rim and play aggressively.

On the defensive end, head coach Billy Lange’s approach to defending graduate center Neal Quinn was the driving force behind them limiting Richmond to just 61 points, their lowest since they beat Loyola Chicago 58-56 on Jan. 9 and second-lowest all season.

Quinn, who made All-Conference second team, averaged 12.4 points per game, 5.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists as the lynchpin of Richmond’s signature Princeton offense. Quinn often operates outside the paint as Richmond’s primary facilitator, whipping passes down low and hitting his teammates on backdoor cuts near the basket.

Even though Quinn isn’t often asked to put the ball in the basket and be the main source of scoring, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a capable shot-maker. Lange decided that he was comfortable giving Quinn more of an opportunity to score, instead focusing his defense on eliminating his passing lanes.

Quinn ended up scoring 21 points, two shy of his season high and three shy of his career high. He was also hyper-efficient from the field, converting 10-13 shots from the field and making a rare three pointer, only his fifth of the season. But, Richmond’s offense was noticeably off.

After the game, Lange was asked about his defensive strategy against Quinn.

“That dude is ridiculous. Let me tell you something, he’s like the A-10 version of [Nikola] Jokic,” said Lange. “You’re picking your poison.”

Lange continued, “They put so much pressure on you with their cutting. They’re an elite three-point shooting team that is very selective. They don’t take a lot of bad ones. And so you have to be willing to get on a bus and go home and know why you won and why you lost. So we were trying to do both best, but the main thing was the pass.”

Richmond excels at holding on to the ball and preventing turnovers. The Spiders only average 8.7 turnovers per game, and are second in the country (behind Princeton, funnily enough) in turnover percentage at 12.8%. This game was no exception, as they only gave the ball up eight times, just under their season average.

Even though Saint Joseph’s wasn’t able to force turnovers at a high rate, they were able to dominate the glass, out-rebounding Richmond 40-29 only surrendering up five offensive rebounds and five second-chance points.

Perhaps the most important way the Hawks have been able to succeed not just against Richmond, but also against George Mason in their second round matchup, has been their ability to execute in the final minutes with the game on the line.

Saint Joseph’s was within one possession of their opponent in the final 10 seconds in both of their A-10 Tournament games.

They’ve been able to convert in-bound plays, advance the ball and make free throws when they matter most.

“We’ve played in a lot of close games, and when you walk that fine line, you live and die sometimes with the decision,” said Lange. “And Erik [Reynolds] has been in a lot of close games, and Cam [Brown], since they’ve been here. A few years ago, Erik’s freshman year, we won 11 games. I think the month of February, maybe four or five of them in a row that we lost came down to the end. So they’re experienced in that setting.”

Lange continued, “Justin Scott, our associate head coach, his preparation in these special teams situation areas–we have a saying, it doesn’t matter until it matters. So it better matter before it matters. His film studies witht he guys, the way he’s just focused at the end of practice, the stuff that he does to get them prepared, he really deserves a lot of the credit, in addition to the guys.”

The high-level execution was exemplified in the final moments against Richmond. Up just three points with 12 seconds left, Lange ran a play made famous by Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang last March. Called “Mahomes” by Tang after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, while inbounding from the baseline, the inbounder acts as the “quarterback” and the four other players line up on the baseline as if it’s the line of scrimmage. When the whistle blows, they act as if they are wide receivers running routes to get open.

It worked, and with Richmond defenders swarming the ball, Lange and the Hawks on the floor elected to concede the jump ball instead of using his final timeout in that situation knowing that the possession arrow favored them.

Moments like that are what win you games.

Saint Joseph’s narrowly lost 69-73 on the road on Feb. 25 to their semifinal opponent, VCU. If they continue to play the way they did against Richmond, there’s no reason why the Hawks can’t pull off another upset and advance to the finals on Sunday.

https://www.a10talk.com/2024/03/how-no-9-seed-saint-josephs-was-able-to-stun-no-1-richmond/

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