The NIT punished St. Joseph's by sending the Hawks cross-country for a super-late 11 p.m. (ET) opener. The Rams take the air out of the ball on offense, having ranked 361st in possessions per game, which takes unfamiliar opponents some gettng used to. The home side recently ran off eight straight wins outright before stumbling in two of the last three, but the opponents were Mountain West upper-crust members Boise State and San Dego State. While common opponent scores can be misleading, this one is not: Virginia Tech beat the Rams by two points and the Hawks by 35.