Was St. Joe’s losing to Princeton at home bad? Yes, but it might not be in March.

At the start of the season, Tuesday’s Princeton-St. Joseph’s game looked like one worth circling for local college hoop heads.

By the time tipoff arrived, the visit of the Ivy League’s preseason favorite to Hagan Arena was indeed worth watching, but not only for the expected reasons.

Thanks to some unsightly early-season losses by the Tigers, the matchup was not quite a must-win game for the Hawks, but certainly a you-shouldn’t-lose one. Especially with a you-really-shouldn’t-lose game coming Saturday in the Big 5 tournament final against La Salle.

Yet the team across the floor still had last season’s Ivy League Player of the Year in Caden Pierce, and a fellow first-teamer in sharpshooting guard Xaivian Lee. When many of the league’s top players transferred out to earn name, image, and likeness money elsewhere in the offseason — as Penn knows too well — it became headline news when the Princeton duo stayed.

St. Joe’s learned the hard way in a 77-69 loss that showed what the Tigers are supposed to be. The visitors hit 11 threes, including seven in a first half that they led by as many as 12 points, and 41-36 at the break.

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That half came with a caveat: Erik Reynolds II played just seven minutes and made one basket because of foul trouble. So it was easy to believe the second half might go differently.

It did for a while: St. Joe’s took a 53-52 lead just before the midpoint of the second half, and was up 58-56 with 7 minutes, 28 seconds to go. But Princeton kept hitting threes, the Hawks didn’t, and while Rasheer Fleming had 25 points, Reynolds ended up with just seven. He, Xzayvier Brown, and Derek Simpson shot a combined 10-for-40 from the field, and the crowd was on its way out before the final buzzer.

“I didn’t think we kept enough pressure on them with shot-making,” St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange said. “You try to attack the paint because you realize they don’t have shot-blocking, but they collapse on the ball, so you’re going to have to kick it out. And we got some really good looks that we will take again.”

Lee, meanwhile, authored a triple-double of 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists, including a big three with just over four minutes to go and a tough driving layup two possessions later.

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“You can’t stop those,” Lange said. “But then there’s the not [helping] on a back screen, over-help to get [Princeton’s Philip Byriel] an open shot. Those are the mistakes that at that portion of the game, you can’t make, and that’s what will be addressed.”

It wasn’t just one open shot: Byriel matched Lee’s 18 points by shooting 6-for-8 from beyond the arc.

Believe it or not, Lee recorded the first triple-double in Princeton men’s basketball history, and Philly teams have seen plenty of that history from across the floor.

“Having stood on the sideline against Lee, you’re like, we need to be up six, seven, eight — not one, not two,” Lange said. “I’m serious when I say this — you guys are going to think this is hyperbolic, but — he’s got the moxie of, like, Devin Booker. There’s just not many guys I’ve ever gone against that are like him.”

When Lee was asked what he thought of the compliment, he said it was a first.

“I love Devin Booker’s game, so that’s definitely cool,” he said. “He’s a good coach, so that definitely means a lot coming from him.”

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So was it a bad loss? Yes, for now. But ask again in March once we’ve seen if the 7-3 Tigers reach their potential.

And keep one other thing in mind, even if it’s as sentimental as it is analytical. Atlantic 10 and Ivy League teams perennially have trouble scheduling good games unless they’re willing to go on the road or to neutral-site tournaments. This was a good game between two high-level mid-majors an easy bus ride apart, and the second straight year St. Joe’s hosted Princeton after a 74-70 Hawks win last season. That ought to be praised, even with all its statistical risks.

“This isn’t a home-and-home, and we’re not getting any money, and there’s no return [game], and we’ve done that twice,” Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said. “Thanks to Billy for bringing us down here. It’s been really hard for us to find games, so I’m psyched about this one, and we get to be in our own beds in two hours.”

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He added that he “would love” to host the Hawks up at Jadwin Gym, which despite all its oddities has a larger capacity than Hagan Arena.

“I’m not sure they’ll pick up the phone, but I would hope,” Henderson said, and he shouldn’t be alone.

Is it better to fill the non-Big 5, non-neutral tournament part of a nonconference schedule with easier opponents? It makes the record look better — at least as long as you don’t lose to lowly Central Connecticut State. But St. Joe’s wanted more challenges, and it’s getting them. So give Lange credit for scheduling Princeton again, and for hosting Charleston of the Colonial Athletic Association next Tuesday.

The NCAA Tournament selection committee might not do that, but the rest of us can.