Men's Basketball Soars To Sixth In Latest D3hoops.com Top 25

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's basketball program moved up to sixth in the D3hoops.com Men's Basketball Week 4 Poll, announced Monday evening by site officials. USJ was previously ranked as high as fifth; a school-record ranking for any USJ team, and the highest men's basketball ranking for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) team in the history of the D3hoops.com national rankings (since 1999-00).

The Blue Jays remain a perfect 8-0 on the 2021-22 season and were the beneficiaries this week of some shuffling among the rankings. With Wheaton (Ill.) taking its second loss of the season (at Berry 78-72), that moved USJ up to sixth as Wheaton dropped to ninth. There's a change at the top as well as previously No. 1 Yeshiva's historic win streak came to an end, capping at 50 games, which was the second-longest win streak in D-III Men's Basketball history (SUNY Potsdam won 60 straight games from 1985-1987). The loss came to Illinois Wesleyan, who moves up from No. 4 to No. 3 following the highly-touted matchup, while Yeshiva drops to No. 5 and just ahead of the Blue Jays. Randolph-Macon, who was the preseason No. 1 ranked team in the land, reclaimed their spot at the top after spending the previous two weeks slotted No. 2.

The top-10 list can be found below:

Complete D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll

USJ has won 10 straight games dating back to the end of the 2020-21 season, tied for the third-longest active streak in D-III Men's Basketball. Only Clark with 11 and No. 2 UW-Plateville with 16 have longer streaks. The Blue Jays also hold a 17-game conference winning streak, also the third longest such streak in the nation (Yeshiva 29, Cairn 18).

In addition to being one of just four remaining unbeaten teams in D-III (No. 2 UW-Plateville, No. 17 Williams, and Clark), USJ has had some success individually as well. Senior forward Jordan Powell sits fourth in D-III in field goal percentage (72.1%), while senior point guard Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.) has cracked the top-five in the nation in assists per game (7.2). Martin shattered the school record and tied a D-III high this season with 18 assists in one game back on December 4 at Dean. His 18 assists are also tied for the third-most in a game this season across all three NCAA divisions, including D-I.  

From the team side, the Blue Jays are among the nation's leaders in numerous categories, including three-point field goal defense (23.9%, 1st), scoring margin (25.6, 2nd), field goal percentage defense (35.5%, 4th), blocks per game (6.0, T-5th), rebound margin (12.9, 7th), opponent points per game (60.0, 7th), and rebounds per game (46.5, 9th).

The D3hoops.com Top-25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, sports information directors, and media members from across the country and is published weekly. Points are awarded on a 25-24-23-22-etc. basis.

UP NEXT 
With the January 6 meeting versus intrastate rival Albertus Magnus postponed, the Blue Jays prepare for a battle with the Pride of Regis College, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest on Saturday, January 8 at 3:00 p.m. inside the O'Connell Center. The game is part of a GNAC doubleheader with women's basketball who also hosts the Pride, beginning at 1:00 p.m. Tickets for the day can be purchased here, or you can catch all the action for both games live on www.usjbluejays.com. 

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