AMHERST - The University of Massachusetts men's basketball team's list of injured players continues to grow.

Versatile junior Javorn Farrell missed Friday's practice with a foot injury. His status is in doubt for the Minutemen's 4 p.m. game against Saint Joseph's Saturday at the Mullins Center.

Farrell suffered the injury in Wednesday's win over Charlotte. He played through it and made two key free throws.

"He's questionable," UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. "We'll see in shoot-around (Saturday) if he has some mobility. The X-rays were negative. I give him credit, he came in at the end of the game the other night and wasn't moving around real well and still helped us win that game. I'm hoping he can play because we're a little banged up as it is."

If he can't play, Farrell would join Sampson Carter, who is out for the season after hip surgery Thursday, and freshman Cady Lalanne, who'll miss at least three more weeks with a foot injury, among the sidelined Minutemen.

If Farrell's minutes are limited it could affect several players. Kellogg said Matt Hill is ready to contribute after coming off a knee injury. The senior would likely play minutes inside, allowing freshman Maxie Esho, who's been playing inside in Lalanne's absence, to take some of Farrell's minutes on the perimeter.

Freddie Riley would also likely play more minutes on the wing for UMass (13-4, 2-1 Atlantic 10).

At 12-5, St. Joe's already has more wins than it did in last year's 11-22 campaign. The Hawks barely made the Atlantic 10 tournament a year ago at 4-12 in the conference, but showed the roots of this season's promise in the tournament, upsetting George Washington and Duquesne, before being narrowly edged by Dayton.

St. Joe's boasts wins this season over then No. 17 Creighton, Georgia Tech and Villanova. The Hawks are one of six Atlantic 10 teams to open conference play at 2-1. They beat Duquesne in overtime before falling to Charlotte at home Saturday. The Hawks beat Fordham Wednesday at home.

Their roster has no seniors and only one contributing junior - Carl Jones - setting St. Joe's up to be good for the foreseeable future.

"I'm not surprised at how well they've done," Kellogg said. "I thought last year that their kids were super athletic with huge upside."

Jones leads the Atlantic 10 with 18.0 points per game. Backcourt mate Langston Galloway, who had 25 points in the Hawks' win over the Minutemen in Philadelphia last season, is third in the conference with 16.4 points per game. UMass and St. Joe's split their two games last year.

Sophomore C.J. Aiken is the nation's No. 2 shot blocker at 4.5 per game. The Hawks lead the A-10 in field-goal percentage defense as opponents shoot just .378 against them.

"I'm not sure you want to change how you play, but you have to realize that those blocked shots can lead to break out plays on the other end, so you have to be conscious of where he is," said Kellogg, who was curious who Aiken would guard. "Is he going to stay inside on Sean (Carter) or is he going to venture out to the perimeter on (Raphiael) Putney or Terrell (Vinson). We'll see where he's going to be and make some adjustments from that point."

If the Minutemen are hot from the outside they could have an opening. The Hawks' 3-point defense is 12th in the league at .358 percent.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.