PHILADELPHIA – Saint Joseph's men's basketball coach Billy Lange announced the roster for the 2025-26 season on Monday afternoon.
 
Included on the 15-player squad are nine returners, four transfers and two incoming freshmen.
 
Back are graduate student Justice Ajogbor and senior Derek Simpson who both enter their second seasons on Hawk Hill. Ajogbor started all 35 games last year and was a member of the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team, ranking fifth nationally with 86 blocks on the season, a total that is eighth on the St. Joe's single-season list. He had five games with at least five blocks and 15 contests with three or more. Ajogbor also shot 57.5 percent from the floor and scored in double figures twice, at Duquesne on January 8 and at Davidson on January 21.
 
Simpson appeared in all 35 games, starting 22, averaging 8.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists a contest. He posted personal bests at SJU with 19 points and six rebounds against Loyola Chicago and had a career-high nine assists against Delaware State. Simpson also stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, five boards, five assists, a block and two steals vs. American.
 
Rising junior Anthony Finkley started the final 13 games of the season, netting 9.8 points and pulling down 4.8 rebounds per game in a starting role. He scored in double figures nine times last season, including six of the last seven games. The Roman Catholic product dropped a career-high 18 against Rhode Island on March 5. Another returning rising junior, Will Lange played in nine games off the bench last season for the Hawks, pulling in a pair of rebounds against Coppin State.
 
Sophomores Dasear Haskins, Mekai Johnson and Steven Solano come back for SJU. Haskins was a member of the A-10 All-Rookie Team last season, appearing in all 35 games with five starts, averaging 5.7 points and 3.3 rebounds. He had six games with 10 or more points and scored 7.7 points during the Atlantic 10 Championship. Johnson played in 14 games with career highs of five points and five rebounds against American. Solano appeared in six games, scoring 11 at Penn, also pulling in five rebounds in back-to-back games against No. 24 Texas Tech and Texas in the Legends Classic.
 
Kevin Kearney and Khaafiq Myers return as redshirt freshmen after not seeing game action last season.
 
Bolstering the roster are four transfers. Al Amadou is a redshirt sophomore who comes to the Hawks from Maqruette. Prior to a redshirt season last year, appearing in 14 games for the Golden Eagles in 2023-24, scoring 17 points and was 8-for-12 from the floor. He was the No. 3 recruit in Pennsylvania from Chestnut Hill Academy, graduating as the program's all-time leader in blocked shots (235). An All-Inter Academic League First Team as a senior, Amadou averaged 10.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks per game in 2022-23 and helped the team to a 17-8 overall record.
 
Jaiden Glover-Toscano is one of the top-rated recruits during Billy Lange's tenure with St. Joe's. He played in 22 games last season for a St. John's team that won 30 games while the Red Storm reached as high as No. 6 in the national polls. He averaged 2.2 points per contest, scoring a personal best 11, along with three made three-pointers against Harvard on November 30. A consensus four-star recruit coming out of The Patrick School, Glover-Toscano was ranked as the 58th best recruit nationally and the No. 19 small forward according to On3.
 
Deuce Jones II is the reigning Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Year and appeared in all 33 games for La Salle, making 20 starts. He averaged 12.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game, improving his numbers in conference play, scoring 14.3 a contest. Jones was in double figure scoring in 20 contests during the year and topped the 20-point mark seven times with a career-best 27 points against the Hawks in the regular season finale on March 8. A three-star recruit out of St. Thomas Aquinas, Jones was a First Team All-State honoree as a senior and the No. 7 prospect in the state of New Jersey.
 
Jaden Smith joins the Hawks from Atlantic 10 rival Fordham. He played 11 games for Fordham, averaging 2.9 points and 2.5 rebounds. Smith posted a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds against Georgian Court and also netted seven against the University of Sam Francisco in the Sunshine Slam. A four-star recruit according to ESPN, Smith averaged 8.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.0 blocks as a senior at Kenwood Academy. He was the No. 8 recruit in the state of Illinois according to 247Sports and On3 and was the No. 23 center nationally per ESPN.
 
Owen Verna and Austin Williford come to the Hawks as freshmen. Verna comes from Dana Point, Calif. and Mater Dei High School where he was a top-40 recruit from the state of California. Second Team All-CIF as a junior, Verna was also two-time All Trinity League and the MVP of the City of Palms Sunshine Series. Hailing from Charlottesville, Va., Williford was Second Team All-State as a sophomore and senior at St. Anne's Belfield School, averaging 16.8 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.0 APG, 2.6 SPG, 1.1 BPG as a senior. The No. 13 recruit out of Virginia, he was a three-time First Team All-Conference honoree.