Richmond vs St. Joe's: 2024 Atlantic 10 Tournament game preview, TV schedule

The Richmond Spiders come into the Atlantic 10 Tournament as the 1 seed but could they be on upset alert against the St. Joe's Hawks?

TV schedule: Thursday, 11:30 am ET, USA Network
Arena: Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York

The start of the Atlantic 10 Tournament has been nothing but thrilling, with the first set of games all coming down to the wire. One of them was the 8 vs 9 matchup between George Mason and St. Joe's. Although, the game was looking like a blowout early on, with the Hawks having a double-digit lead and up by as much as 18 in the second half.

Despite a George Mason run to make it a one-possession game in the final minute, St. Joe's held on for the 64-57 win, led by 16 points from Cameron Brown. Erik Reynolds, who leads the team in scoring on the season with 16.8 ppg, suffered an arm injury at the end of the game and will be questionable for Thursday's matchup.

They'll need him, taking on the co-regular season champions, Richmond. After being picked 11th in the A-10 standings, the Spiders earned a 1 seed, including a 73-66 home win over St. Joe's in the final week of the regular season. Here are three keys to the game.

1. Defending Jordan King

The big reason for Richmond's rise this season is the play of star transfer, Jordan King. The Co-Atlantic 10 Player of the Year leads the team with 18.5 ppg on 43% shooting from deep. He has six games of at least 27 points this season but St. Joe's did a good job on him a week ago, holding him to eight points on 1/9 FG. With no one else averaging more than 12.5 ppg on the season, slowing him down is a big key for the Hawks.

2. Fleming or Essandoko?

One change St. Joe's has made recently was playing four games more, using all four double-digit scorers. Rasheer Fleming, one of the top defensive bigs in the A-10, has played at the 5, playing 34 minutes in the win over St. Joe's. Christ Essandoko was limited to just 11 minutes but could he be a better matchup against Neal Quinn, a 7'0 center and key piece for Richmond? How well Fleming handles him could be huge, especially since the Spiders have the pieces to deal with a 4-guard lineup.

3. St. Joe's defense

Besides King, Richmond's strength is its defense, ranking second in points allowed in league play. St. Joe's is more inconsistent, ranking 12th. But when they lock down defensively, they're very difficult to stop. If this ends up being a low-scoring and defensive game, it could benefit the Hawks since they have more guys who can get a bucket when needed.

Prediction: If Reynolds isn't going to play, then Richmond will advance to the semifinals. But if he does play, I have a feeling that the Hawks will finalize realize their potential and find a way to get the upset.

St. Joe's 65, Richmond 62