In 1901, St. Joseph’s College (now St. Joseph’s University) fielded its first basketball team. The team played its first game on February 5, 1901, against the University of Pennsylvania. The game was played at the Philadelphia YMCA and St. Joseph’s lost by a score of 22-4. The team played only one other game that season, against the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy, which they won 12-10.

Basketball quickly became a popular sport at St. Joseph’s, and the school continued to field teams in the coming years. The early teams played against local opponents and other colleges in the region, such as Villanova and Temple. The program began to gain more recognition in the 1920s, and by the 1930s St. Joseph’s was regularly competing in the Middle Atlantic Conference.

Over the years, St. Joseph’s basketball program has produced many notable players, including Hall of Famers Jack Ramsay and Cliff Anderson, as well as current NBA players such as Jameer Nelson, Langston Galloway, and DeAndre’ Bembry. The program has won numerous conference championships and has made more than 20 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2004.