The 1996–97 Saint Joseph's Hawks men's basketball team represented Saint Joseph's University as a member of the Atlantic-10 Conference during the 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.
Led by 2nd year head coach Phil Martelli, the Hawks finished with an overall record of 26–7 (13–3 in A-10 play).
Saint Joseph's won both regular season and A-10 Tournament titles, and received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as No.
The team defeated Pacific[1] and Boston College[2] to advance to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to No.
1 seed Kentucky in the regional semifinal.