St. Joseph's vs. Massachusetts preview

First round, Atlantic 10 tournament

Wednesday, 6 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh

Records: St. Joe's, 13th seed, 11-19, 4-14; UMass, 12th seed, 14-17, 4-14.

TV/radio: Comcast SportsNet/WKND-AM (800).

Coaches: St. Joe's, Phil Martelli (414-292, 22nd season); UMass, Derek Kellogg (168-153, 10th season).

Series: UMass leads, 36-34.

Last meeting: The Minutemen won on Hawk Hill on Feb. 11, 87-76. That was the game in which St. Joe's Lamarr Kimble broke his foot midway through second half. . . . They also won in Amherst on Jan. 18, 62-57.

What to watch: The defending champion Hawks have been decimated by injuries. . . . They had lost nine straight, their longest such streak in six seasons, before rallying from a double-digit second-half deficit to take the regular-season finale at Duquesne. . . . James Demery is averaging 14.2 points in A-10 games, Charlie Brown 13.8. . . . Brown on Tuesday was named to the league's all-rookie team as voted by the head coaches. . . . Chris Clover is averaging 14.5 in his last six games. . . . Foul shooting and turnovers have been issues for the Hawks. . . . UMass has five guys averaging between 8.8 and 13 points per game. . . . UMass has lost 10 of its last 12 games. The wins were against St. Joe's and La Salle. . . . This is first meeting between the teams in the A-10 tourney since 2001. . . . The winner gets fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure in Wednesday afternoon's second round.

- Mike Kern