"It was a five-minute game," said guard Chris Gardler, one of three Hawks with the flu. "We had as many turnovers as they had field goals. I'm mostly to blame for that. I didn't step up to play."
Gardler, who made no mention of his illness, played 21 minutes and totaled five points and five turnovers.
"That was the most sluggish performance we've had all year," Boyle said, pointing to the flu, which also slowed Craig Amos and Richard Stewart, as the reason.
Amos and Stewart scored 14 points each.
Boyle said that if Gardler is not 100 percent for the Hawks' Atlantic Ten tournament opener at the Palestra on Saturday, he will not start. St. Joe's, which finished in ninth place in the league at 5-13, will meet Duquesne at 3 p.m.
Massachusetts, which finished the regular season 15-12 overall and 10-8 in the A-10, went on an 11-2 spree just after the midway point of the first half. That yielded a 31-17 lead, and St. Joe's never got back in the game.
"They had a good press," Boyle said, "and we cooperated with the press, obviously."
The Minutemen's lead peaked at 60-28 when William Herndon made an alley-oop dunk with 13 minutes, 36 seconds left. UMass coach John Calipari emptied his bench moments later.
Guard Jim McCoy, who had struggled in a 7-for-24 outing at St. Joe's earlier this season, led UMass with 20 points, and Herndon added 19. All 13 Minutemen scored.
Mike Shaak tallied 11 points for St. Joe's, including three three-pointers. The Hawks shot only 26 percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game at 35 percent.
Boyle said playing Duquesne would provide plenty of incentive for his team, which fell to the Dukes, 82-71, on Saturday. And he doesn't mind getting another shot at them so soon at the Palestra.
"It's a neutral court," Boyle said. "We only played two games there. But it's better than away."
St. Joe's was 1-11 on the road this season.
