City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Deuce Jones had a Hawks debut to forget in St. Joe’s season-opening win over Lafayette on Monday. The La Salle transfer and 2024-25 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, Jones scored just two points against the Leopards, going 1-of-10 from the floor. 

In advance of the second game of the year, the Big 5 opener against Drexel, Jones got some quality advice.

“One of the coaches told me [to] just flush my expectations and come out and play free,” he said. 

Sure seems like he listened. Jones looked much more like himself on Saturday, leading the Hawks with a career-high 29 points as St. Joe’s took the Big 5 opener, 76-65 over Drexel.

Dasear Haskins scored 15 and Anthony Finkley added 13 for the Hawks (2-0, 1-0 Big 5), who closed strong against a physical Dragons squad that was very much up for the challenge of a road atmosphere.

But there’s no doubt the Hagan Arena crowd wouldn’t have gone home happy if it wasn’t for Jones. 

The 6-foot-2 guard was aggressive with the ball in his hands, looking for his pull-up jumper early and knocking down a couple 3-pointers, before starting to attack the rim. He kept up that mentality the whole game long, using his lightning-quick first-step to keep Drexel defenders off-balance as he got to the rim or the foul line time and time again. 

Jones finished an efficient 7-of-11 from the floor (3-3 3PT) and 12-of-13 from the foul line in 22 minutes, with two assists and just one turnover. 

“Honestly he just did not play the other night like he’s been playing every day in practice, and today he did,” Donahue said. “The best thing I liked about it, everything was within our offense tonight. All the reads, all the things he’s talking about, he made decisions to go to the hole because of how he was being guarded, it wasn’t predetermined, and when he does that, he’s really good.”

In a back-and-forth second half of a game that featured eight ties and 10 lead changes, Jones’ step-back 3-pointer in front of the St. Joe’s bench was a big shot, putting the Hawks up 58-53 with under eight minutes remaining. 

But it wasn’t until inside the final five minutes, after Drexel had rallied to tie it at 60, that St. Joe’s finally took the lead for good. Finkley’s 3-pointer from the left wing made it a four-point game before Jones followed with a driving layup to put the Hawks up 67-61 with 3:45 remaining.  

Jones wasn’t done there. A driving layup late in the shot clock turned into a 3-point play, the foul shot tying his previous career best and putting the Hawks up 70-62 with 2:54 on the clock. Two free throws with 16 seconds left and the outcome well in hand finished off his evening.

“Just [adjusted] my pace, just slowing down and starting off aggressive early,” he said. “The first game I started off slow, this game I came off the bench, brought energy, and it was just contagious.”

Jones’ big game offset a quiet night from St. John’s transfer Jaiden Glover-Toscano. The Hawks’ leading scorer in their opener with 23 points against Lafayette, Glover-Toscano was scoreless in 29 minutes, missing all eight of his shots, including six from downtown. 

As a team, the Hawks shot 22-of-58 (37.9%) overall, 6-of-18 (33.3%) from the 3-point arc and 26-of-30 (86.7%) from the foul line. That effort from the line, led by Jones, was crucial on a night where the teams were nearly even in rebounds (42-39 Drexel) and turnovers (SJU 10, DU 12).

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Drexel figuring out offensive identity

After the graduation of their top three scorers from last year, it was fair to wonder who might step up and lead the way for the Drexel men. 

As it turns out, there might not be one answer. 

Saturday’s game saw eight different Dragons enter the scoring column, with four in double figures: Josh Reed and Villiam Garcia Adsten contributed 12 apiece, while Shane Blakeney and Kevon Vanderhost scored 10. Garfield Turner, who scored 14 in their season-opening win over Widener and will also be amongst their leaders this year, added six as he dealt with fouls and a minutes restriction as he returns from injury.

As a team, Drexel shot 24-of-69 (34.8%) overall, 8-of-25 (32.0%) from the 3-point arc and 9-of-14 from the foul line. The biggest culprit was Blakeney, as the junior guard was just 3-18 from the floor and 1-7 from the foul line, but Spiker isn’t counting on many outings like that from the 6-5 wing from South Carolina.

“I thought we got to the rim, maybe we can emphasize playing through contact a little bit,” Spiker said. “Maybe we didn’t finish well, we got to the line a little bit more in the second half, we couldn’t have gotten to the line any less, right? We’ve got to make those count, and then some clean looks. 

“This guy next to me [Blakeney] has worked really hard to be in this position, chose to come back and I think a lot of his looks were really good. They didn’t go down today, they will the next time, and if they don’t, they will the next time after that, I believe in what he’s capable of doing.”

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Williford impressing early for St. Joe’s

Austin Williford has contributed quality minutes in his first two games as a Hawk.

Coming off an eight-point, four-rebound performance in the opener against Lafayette, the 6-foot-4 guard from Charlottesville, Virginia followed up with five points and six rebounds in the winning effort against Drexel on Saturday in his 19 minutes of play.

Williford’s diversity is his biggest strength, as Steve Donahue noted.

“I think he’s a terrific all-around player,” Donahue said. “He’s good defensively, he makes good decisions on offense, he rebounds with two hands. He just has an incredible future ahead of him.”

The lanky freshman, whose father Jason Williford is an assistant at Georgetown, averaged 16.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.6 steals as a senior at St. Anne’s Belfield (Va.) and looks to transfer that all-around offensive and defensive dominance into the St. Joe’s system. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Williford plucked a steal in each of the first two games of the year, displaying his quick hands and high basketball IQ early in his career. 

St. Joe’s is underclassmen heavy, and with the on-and-off early-season performances out of Jaiden Glover-Toscano and Deuce Jones II, Williford will have the opportunity to see respectable time on the court. His complete skillset allows him to fill in for a multitude of different situations, from needing a bucket, rebound, or defensive stop. — Evan Hartenstein

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Familiar foe looming for Donahue

For the Hawks to guarantee a spot in their third straight Big 5 championship game, that means going 2-0 in pod play — which means beating Penn on Mon., Nov. 17. The same Quakers program that Donahue ran for the last 10 years before his removal in March, and where he spent 10 seasons as an assistant between 1990 and 2000.

“I do a very good job of separating my past experiences,” he said. “And I love Penn, I loved it, [was there] 20 years, probably coached more games than anybody in the history of that building as an assistant and head coach. 

“But [...] that building isn’t emotional to me, it isn’t, that isn’t what drives it. It’s all the people I went through the experience with. My responsibility’s to this team to be at my best that night, and I think I will be.”

Though new Penn coach Fran McCaffery did bring in several transfers, most of the roster either played for Donahue or was recruited by him to be part of the 2025-26 roster. That gives Donahue plenty of familiarity with their personnel and some tendencies, though he’s also aware that some knowledge can also be dangerous.

“You’ve got to be careful because at this age, kids get better,” He said. “Fran’s a terrific coach, they run different stuff, guys are more comfortable [...] everyone gets a little better and you just don’t want to assume you know what this kid can do and lead these guys who are guarding them down a wrong path. So I’ll use my intel on them, but I’ll make sure that I don’t overdo it, for sure.”

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Drexel injury update

The Dragons have been without two pieces of the rotation early in the season as redshirt freshman guard Moses Hipps and sophomore Clem Edomwonyin have been sidelined the first two contests. 

Spiker declined to provide an update on either of their potential return to action.

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Up Next
Saint Joseph’s (2-0) will play at Virginia Tech on Weds., Nov. 12 (7 PM)

Drexel (1-1) will play at Colgate on Tues., Nov. 11 (5 PM)