STANDISH, Maine – #9 Saint Joseph's College (9-17, 7-10 GNAC) will play at top-seeded University of Saint Joseph (23-1, 18-0 GNAC) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Quarterfinal on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.

OVERVIEW

Tonight's victor advances to the semifinal and will face the winner of another quarterfinal matchup between #5 Emmanuel College and #4 Anna Maria College – on Friday, time TBD. The higher seed serves as host throughout tourney play.

The winner of the GNAC Championship game earns an automatic berth into the 2022 NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Championship, which begins on March 4th.

BRACKETOLOGY:

First Round - Tuesday, February 22

#9 Saint Joseph's Maine 89, #8 JWU 81
#5 Emmanuel 99, #12 Dean 69
#6 Norwich 65, #11 Rivier 63
#7 Regis 66, #10 Colby-Sawyer 59

Quarterfinals - Wednesday, February 23

#9 Saint Joseph's Maine at #1 Saint Joseph CT - 7PM
#5 Emmanuel at #4 Anna Maria - 7PM
#6 Norwich at #3 Lasell - 7PM
#7 Regis at #2 Albertus Magnus - 7:30 PM

Semifinals - Friday, February 25

1/9 winner vs 4/5 winner
3/6 winner vs 2/7 winner

Championship - Sunday, February 27

Final at highest remaining seed

SEASON AT A GLANCE:

Saint Joseph's:

• The Monks lead the conference in three pointers made (10.8) and attempted (32.7) per game and rank second in the GNAC in points (2,000) and assists average (16.5)
• Six different SJC players are averaging at least 5.0 points per game
• Saint Joseph's has made 10 or more three-pointers in 17 different games this winter
• The Monks are 6-8 and average 77.1 PPG in road games this season

University of Saint Joseph:

• The Blue Jays, ranked fifth nationally in the most recent D3Hoops.com weekly poll, lead the conference in 13 different statistical categories, including points (2,038), points per game (84.9), FG made per game (32.5), FG% (49.7%), 3FG% (34.9%), blocked shots per game (6.1), fewest PPG allowed (61.5), and opponents' FG% (36.2%)
• Six USJ players are averaging at least 7.0 PPG, including four who contribute between 11.8 and 12.8 points per contest
• The Blue Jays saw their 22-game winning streak end with an 87-76 loss at #25 Yeshiva University last Thursday
• In 13 home contests, USJ averages 86.5 points while allowing 59.9 points

ATTITUDE REFLECTS LEADERSHIP:

Saint Joseph's: Tyler Ackley – 1st collegiate season

It was announced in mid-September 2021 that Tyler Ackley was named as the fifth head coach in the history of the Monks Men's Basketball program.

Ackley comes to Saint Joseph's from Colby College, where he served as The John "Swisher" Mitchell Assistant Coach for four years and, in 2020, helped lead the Mules to their first-ever NESCAC Championship game appearance, as well as their first NCAA Tournament berth in 23 years.

Prior to his time at Colby, Coach Ackley was a three-year assistant coach at Nebraska Wesleyan University, where he recruited and coached seven players who combined to earn 14 all-conference honors, including a Jostens Award winner, three D3hoops.com All-Americans and the Conference's Most Valuable Player and NCAA Division III Final Four MVP.

Though he left following the 2016-17 season, Ackley's recruiting efforts helped Nebraska Wesleyan win the 2018 NCAA DIII National Championship with a 30-3 record.

University of Saint Joseph: Glen Miller (18th Season, 1st as Head Coach at USJ)

Glen Miller – former Associate Head Men's Basketball Coach at the University of Connecticut – is in his first season as Head Coach at USJ in 2021-22 after three seasons as full-time Associate Head Coach.

Joining the Saint Joseph staff in October 2017, Miller began working immediately alongside hall of famer Jim Calhoun on building USJ's first-ever men's basketball program, a program that reached the 2019 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship with an all-freshman starting five. They followed it up with their first GNAC Title in 2020, and played in the NCAA Div. III Tournament in Springfield, Mass.

Miller brings an extensive and highly successful coaching background to the Blue Jays. He spent 14 years on staff at the University of Connecticut, including the previous seven since returning to UConn in 2010-11, after head coaching stints at Connecticut College, Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania.

THE LAST TIME WE MET (USJ 84, SJC 72, Standish 1/20/22):

In a game featuring 18 lead changes and six tie scores, the upset-minded Monks either led or maintained a two-possession shortfall for all but the final two minutes, when the Blue Jays went 8-for-8 from the free throw line to cap the contest with a game-high 12-point advantage.

For the Blue Jays – ranked eighth nationally at the time – the winning margin was the smallest of the season. USJ entered the contest with an average winning margin of 29.2 points per game (32.7 versus GNAC foes) and their previous closest score was a 13-point win (75-62) over #11 Tufts University on November 20th.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

Saint Joseph's is 1-3 in the history of the series with University of Saint Joseph.

GNAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY:

The Monks have not missed the GNAC Tournament in 14 seasons as a member of the conference and have won at least one postseason contest in nine of the last 11 trips. Saint Joseph's is 12-11 in GNAC tourney play with a GNAC Championship in 2009 and appearances in the title game in 2011 and 2014.

University of Saint Joseph has played in each of the last two GNAC Championship games, as the Blue Jays fell to Albertus Magnus in 2019 and claimed their first conference crown with an 88-84 title bout triumph over the Falcons in 2020.