Holy War (Villanova vs. St. Joe's)
| Sport | NCAA Division 1 Basketball |
|---|---|
| Teams | |
| First meeting | January 15, 1921 Saint Joseph's Victory |
| Latest meeting | December 3, 2016 Villanova, 88-57 |
| Trophy | None |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 73 |
| All-time series | Villanova leads, 48–25 |
| Longest win streak | Saint Joseph's, 6 |
| Current win streak | Villanova, 5 |
The Holy War is a basketball rivalry game in the Philadelphia Big 5 between Saint Joseph's University and Villanova University, which is considered the most intense of all the Big 5 games. It's called the "Holy War" because both universities have Roman Catholic religious affiliations: Villanova University is Augustinian, and Saint Joseph's University is run by the Jesuit order. Recent games between the two schools have been played either at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania when Saint Joseph's hosts the game, or at The Pavilion when Villanova is the host. However, the Hawks hosted the Wildcats at the newly expanded Hagan Arena on Saint Joseph's campus on December 17, 2011 and will continue to do so in future years.
Villanova leads the all-time series, 48–25 and 37–25 as members of the Big 5. Don DiJulia, athletic director at Saint Joseph's has called the rivalry the "Army-Navy of basketball".
Villanova played SJU (then St. Joseph's College) twice, during the Wildcats' first ever season on the hardwood, which took place during the 1920–21 school year. The first contest took place on January 15, 1921, on the Main Line, with 'Nova winning 31–22. In the return game, Villanova completed the sweep by prevailing 24–14. The teams clashed often during the 1920s, but after the 1930 game, the series lay dormant for a long time. In the ensuing quarter-century, the only meeting was in 1939. Villanova had won eleven of the twelve meetings since the first game took place in 1921, until the formation of the Big Five in the 1955–56 season.
When the Big Five got rolling, it was SJU's turn to dominate the series for the next decade before Villanova turned the tide. The Hawks won the first six City Series games and ten of the first twelve. The two schools had the honor of clashing in the first-ever Big Five contest at the Palestra, on December 14, 1955– St. Joe's won, 83–70. Starting with the 1958 game, every single VU/SJU game attracted a sellout or near-sellout crowd at the Palestra, with the high attendance continuous for all games since then, regardless of venue. The attendance for the 1957 game climbed to 5,659, but since then the Palestra was packed to the rafters for Villanova/St. Joe's.Villanova now leads the series 37–25 since both schools became members of the Big Five.
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