St. Joe’s defied expectations in Year 1 of the Steve Donahue era. Can it build off that?

For most of the season, St. Joseph’s had the same motto: “A to B.”

The phrase means to move on quickly, and it’s safe to say the Hawks had to do that before the season even started.

Head coach Billy Lange left the program for a job with the New York Knicks and Steve Donahue was promoted to take over after joining the staff as an associate head coach.

The former Penn coach led the Hawks (24-12) to a third-place finish in the Atlantic 10. After losing its first two conference games and its leading scorer Deuce Jones, St. Joe’s won 13 of its final 16 regular-season matchups.

Donahue won the conference’s coach of the year award and St. Joe’s was the No. 3 seed in the A-10 tournament, its highest seeding since the 2004-05 season.

“If it was two months ago, even before the season, we fold,” Donahue said after a win against La Salle on March 7. “So I wasn’t fazed by it anymore.”

The Hawks won their first National Invitation Tournament game in 20 years, but their season ended against New Mexico in the NIT quarterfinals on March 24.

St. Joe’s turnaround created optimism for what’s ahead.

» READ MORE: Steve Donahue thought he’d never be a head coach again. Then he won Atlantic 10 coach of the year.

Guard Derek Simpson, who called a midseason meeting to air out the team’s frustrations, averaged 13.8 points and led the Atlantic 10 with 5.2 assists. He was the main facilitator alongside guards Dasear Haskins, Austin Williford, and Jaiden Glover-Toscano, the team’s leading scorer at 15.7 points per game.

“It’s just those connections and those questions we have to ask each other that we’ve been doing,” Simpson said. “When those things get on the money, we hit the shot. It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we already talked about that.’ So it turns into, ‘We’re good now.’ Then all the fun starts to happen. Then we get the backdoor cuts, we get the dunks. If you’re not having fun, why are you playing the game?”

However, St. Joe’s struggled with cold stretches this season.

The Hawks led Virginia Commonwealth by seven on Jan. 19 before going without a field goal for five minutes, which propelled the Rams to a 79-72 win.

The same thing happened on Feb. 10 when Fordham stormed back from a 15-point deficit. Following the 68-64 loss, Donahue said that the best teams find momentum in March.

» READ MORE: St Joes Gift Share St. Joe’s can’t build on promising first half, falls at New Mexico in NIT to end season

“This is A to B. This is the stuff we talked about. Now we’ve got to live it,” Donahue said then. “We were uncharacteristic [against Fordham] in some ways. In particular, on the offensive end.”

The Hawks didn’t lose for a month and a seven-game win streak ensued until the semifinals of the conference tournament, when St. Joe’s fell, 77-64, to VCU. While the team still had some offensive lapses, the defense stifled nearly every opponent.

It helped the Hawks beat California in the second round of the NIT on March 22. The Golden Bears led by 19 points before St. Joe’s crawled back and held them scoreless for 2½ minutes. St. Joe’s took the lead on a Simpson three-pointer and won, 76-75.

“I’m not fazed that there’s times that we’re not very good on offense,” Donahue said. “Rarely are there times where I think we’re not good on defense. … So when they go on those runs, I feel strongly that we’re going to figure this out. We’re going to get stops, we’re going to get in transition. Derek’s going to get the ball. We’re going to make plays.”

St. Joe’s enters the offseason with Simpson and center Justice Ajogbor departing after exhausting their eligibility.

The Hawks could return Haskins, Glover-Toscano, Williford, Khaafiq Myers, and center Jalen Smith as they look to build off Donahue’s first season.