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  • Bonnies Host Dayton Tuesday Night in Reilly Center



    By: Scott Eddy, Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Communications

    ST. BONAVENTURE (15-6, 3-5 A-10) vs. DAYTON (14-6, 4-3 A-10)

    Tuesday, Jan. 28 – 8:00 p.m.

    Reilly Center

    TV: YES Network / ESPN+

    Radio: Bonnies Online Network / 100.1 FM The Hero

    OPENING TIP

    The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team returns home to the Reilly Center to face off against Dayton on Tuesday night. The Bonnies are seeking to bounce back from a three-game losing skid against a trio of the A-10’s front-runners in VCU, George Mason and Duquesne while welcoming in a Dayton squad that responded from a three-game skid of its own earlier this month with wins in their last three.

    STARTING FIVE

    • St. Bonaventure is looking to snap what is just its second three-game losing skid in Atlantic 10 play since 2020.

    • Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt enters Tuesday’s game with 399 career victories as a

      Division I head coach. He has scored 317 of those wins leading Bona’s program.

    • Senior Chance Moore returned to the Bonnies lineup Friday night at VCU and responded with a game-high 21 points along with eight rebounds. Moore played all but one minute of action after missing the game last Tuesday vs. George Mason due to a toe injury suffered Jan. 18 at Duquesne.

    • Fifth-year captain Noel Brown had his second double-double in the last three games with 10 points and 10 rebounds Friday night. Prior to the game at Duquesne, Brown had never recorded double-digit rebounds in a game.

    • Bona is trying to snap a rare two-game losing skid in A-10 play at home. The Bonnies are 60-19 at home in Atlantic 10 play since 2015-16.

    BROADCAST COVERAGE
    Tuesday’s game will be the fifth of five Bonnies men’s games broadcast live on YES Network this season. St. Bonaventure Athletics and YES announced a partnership earlier this fall to air both men’s and women’s games on the network in 2024-25. The YES broadcasts will also be streamed on The Gotham Sports App. YES has ranked as the most-watched regional sports network in the country in 18 of the last 21 years and owns the exclusive regional media rights of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets. Click here to read more about the agreement. 

    All Bonnies basketball games broadcast on YES will also still stream through ESPN+ as well for fans with a subscription to that service. 

    Fans can also listen to the audio broadcast as always for free anywhere online through the Bonnies Online Network or locally on terrestrial radio at 100.1 FM The Hero.

    TRENDING NUMBERS

    1:13 – Melvin Council Jr. has played all but 1:13 in Bona’s last eight games.

    2 – Noel Brown has two double-doubles in the past three games after not recording one in his first 119 career games.

    16 – Duane Thompson posted his first career double-figure scoring effort vs. George Mason with 16 points off the bench. That is more than the Bonnies have scored as a team off the bench in all but three games this year.

    43 – Melvin Council Jr. has scored double figures 43 of 54 career D-I games.

    75-14 – The Bonnies fell to 75-14 when leading at the half since the start of the 2019-20 season with Friday’s loss at VCU.

    ABOUT DAYTON

    • Dayton was picked to finish second in the A-10 preseason poll, receiving six first-place votes to slot behind preseason favorite VCU.

    • Senior forward Nate Santos was named to the A-10’s preseason first team. Santos finished last year as the second leading scorer (11.7) and rebounder (6.3) for Dayton. He was also fourth in the A-10 in three-point shooting. This season, Santos paces the squad at 14.6 ppg while Enoch Cheeks checks in at 13.1 ppg.

    • Dayton has two ranked wins on the season, scoring impressive non-conference triumphs over then-No. 2 UConn and then-No. 6 Marquette.

    • Dayton comes into the game 22th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (1.57). Malachi Smith is the A-10’s leader in assists at six per game.

    • Dayton is second in the A-10 in field goal percentage at over 47 percent and first in 3-point field goal percentage at better than 36 percent.

    SERIES HISTORY
    This marks the 41st meeting all-time between the Bonnies and Flyers with Dayton owning a 29-11advantage.

    In the last meeting at the Reilly Center back in February 2023, St. Bonaventure snapped what was a seven-game losing streak vs. Dayton dating to 2016 which had been far and away the longest skid for the Bonnies vs. an A-10 opponent in recent memory.

    Last year, the Bonnies lost their fifth in a row at UD Arena against a nationally-ranked Flyers squad. The Bonnies have not won in Dayton against the Flyers since 2016, but in years since, though, the Bonnies have picked up two big wins otherwise in Dayton: St. Bonaventure defeated VCU in the 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship Game at UD Arena and also won at the venue in 2018, knocking off UCLA in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament that year.

     



    The Bonnies are gearing up to host the Dayton Flyers in a highly anticipated matchup this Tuesday night at the Reilly Center. With both teams vying for a crucial conference win, fans can expect an intense and electrifying game.

    The Bonnies are coming off a tough loss against VCU and will be looking to bounce back with a strong performance on their home court. Led by standout players like Kyle Lofton and Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure has shown they have the talent and resilience to compete with some of the best teams in the conference.

    On the other hand, the Dayton Flyers have been on a hot streak, winning their last three games in a row. Led by standout guard Jalen Crutcher, Dayton will be a tough opponent for the Bonnies to face. With both teams hungry for a win, this matchup is sure to be a thrilling and competitive game.

    So mark your calendars and make sure to tune in as the Bonnies take on Dayton this Tuesday night at the Reilly Center. It’s bound to be a game you won’t want to miss!

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    Bonnies vs Dayton, Reilly Center matchup, college basketball game, Tuesday night game, Bonnies basketball, Dayton Flyers, NCAA basketball, Atlantic 10 matchup, St. Bonaventure vs Dayton.

    #Bonnies #Host #Dayton #Tuesday #Night #Reilly #Center

  • Can Bonnies get back on track at vaunted Siegel Center? | Sports


    Coming off back-to-back losses, the challenge doesn’t let up Friday night for a shorthanded St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team.

    The Bonnies will make another trip to the Siegel Center in Richmond, Va., to take on VCU, playing on national television for a late tipoff (9 p.m., ESPNU). Chance Moore, the team’s leading scorer at the time of his injury, missed Tuesday’s home game against George Mason after exiting in the first half Saturday at Duquesne with a foot injury, joining starting point guard Dasonte Bowen and bench wing Jaxon Edwards on the sidelines.

    Bona coach Mark Schmidt called Moore a “game-time decision” for Friday night, perhaps an encouraging update after none had been given following the Mason game.

    “We’ll see how his foot’s feeling in warm-ups, I guess, and then we’ll go from there,” Schmidt said.

    Bowen, out since playing Dec. 7 against Buffalo, is still “further behind” Moore in returning, Schmidt noted.

    Whoever is on the court, Bona needs to avoid another slow start. The Bonnies trailed Duquesne by as many as 14 points in the first half and Mason by as many as 18 in the first. The start on Tuesday was compounded by foul trouble for Noel Brown and Lajae Jones needing medical attention after taking an elbow to the mouth.

    “It’s experience,” Schmidt said of the slow starts. “When Noel got in foul trouble and Lajae got hurt and we didn’t have Chance, we’ve got three first-year guys out there and sometimes it’s a learning experience and you’ve got to be put through the fire to figure it out and the only way you learn is to experience it, and hopefully those guys have learned. Duquesne played well, George Mason is a really good team. It’s not like we’ve lost or got behind against bad teams. They’re very good teams and some way, somehow we’ve got to get off to a good start. Especially on the road and especially against a team like VCU.”

    Schmidt’s teams have enjoyed a rare run of success against VCU, one of the A-10’s premier programs, winning four straight, including their last two at the Siegel Center, dating back to before coach Ryan Odom took over the Rams in 2023. Of course, many of those wins featured vastly different rosters, especially for Bona.

    For Bona, beating VCU, especially on the road, needs to start with good offensive possessions.

    “You’ve just got to go down there and you play basketball,” said Schmidt, whose next win will mark his 400th (317 at Bona, 82 at Robert Morris). “You know what you have to do to beat a VCU team. It’s hard to do it, but if you turn the ball over, you’ve got no chance. They’ll dunk it and the crowd goes crazy and it gets louder and louder and louder. You can’t take quick shots. You’ve got to run good offense. When the crowd goes crazy, you’ve got to slow down and you’ve got to execute. That takes good players and it takes discipline and it’s hard to do.”

    Schmidt often says in the A-10, you have to win your home games and steal some on the road. This remains one of the hardest places to do that.

    “We’ve had really good teams, veteran teams that have gone down there and haven’t been successful,” Schmidt said. “You just get caught up in the environment.

    “And every team plays better at home for the most part, but they’ll have 7,800 people there and it’ll be wild, they’ll have their big band. It’s a great environment. As I told the team, it’s exciting. That’s what you work all your life for, to play in types of environments like this and at Dayton. So we’re going to have that chance at 9 o’clock tomorrow night.”

    The Rams (15-4, 5-1) have won five straight since a conference-opening loss at Bona on New Year’s Eve, when Melvin Council Jr.’s shot in the dying seconds lifted the Bonnies 77-75.

    VCU has four players averaging double-figure scoring in A-10 play, led by Joe Bamisile, at 16.0 points per game and 46.7% 3-point shooting. Phillip Russell, a UT-Arlington transfer who scored 26 points at Bona, averages 13.8 in the A-10; returning A-10 first-team selection Max Shulga is at 12.7 and Clemson transfer Jack Clark is at 10.7.

    If Moore can’t go for Bona, it should mean more playing time for freshmen Noah Bolanga and Duane Thompson. Thompson scored a career-high 16 points with a career-high seven rebounds off the bench on Tuesday.

    Bolanga started as the small forward, next to Jones, scoring eight points before fouling out after 20:40 on the court.

    “Be productive,” Schmidt said of what he needs to see from the Frenchman. “Make some shots. Make that open shot, defend. I thought he was defending a little bit better. He made a shot the other day and hopefully that opens up the rim for him. Just being productive. You don’t have to score all the time. You’ve got to hit that open shot, you’ve got to defend, you’ve got to rebound. He didn’t have a rebound in the game in 20 minutes. That physicality, and being able to guard your position and rebound your position and when you have an open shot, knock it down.”



    The St. Bonaventure Bonnies are looking to get back on track as they face off against the VCU Rams at the Siegel Center. After suffering a tough loss in their last game, the Bonnies are determined to bounce back and secure a crucial victory on the road.

    The Siegel Center is known for being a tough environment for opposing teams, with the Rams having a strong home-court advantage. However, the Bonnies are no strangers to playing in hostile environments and are ready to rise to the challenge.

    With key players stepping up and a renewed focus on execution, the Bonnies have the potential to come out on top in this matchup. Can they overcome the odds and secure a much-needed win at the vaunted Siegel Center? Tune in to find out.

    Tags:

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    2. Siegel Center
    3. NCAA basketball
    4. Atlantic 10 conference
    5. College basketball
    6. Basketball matchup
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    10. Basketball game preview

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  • Bonnies Travel To VCU For Friday Night Showcase



    By: Scott Eddy, Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Communications

    ST. BONAVENTURE (15-5, 3-4 A-10) at VCU (15-4, 5-1 A-10)
    Friday, Jan. 24 – 9:00 p.m.
    Richmond, Va.
    TV: ESPNU
    Radio: Bonnies Online Network / 100.1 FM The Hero

    OPENING TIP

    St. Bonaventure is looking to sweep the season series vs. VCU for the second consecutive season after winning the Atlantic 10 opener on Dec. 31, 77-75, at the Reilly Center. Bona took last year’s meeting at VCU with a convincing 89-78 victory on Jan. 3, 2024 for Bona’s third win all-time at the Siegel Center. 

    The Bonnies have won six of the past seven games vs. VCU dating back to the 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship victory over the Rams and seven of the last nine overall.

    St. Bonaventure has been playing short-handed: starting point guard Dasonte Bowen has missed the last month due to a foot injury. Chance Moore, who entered last week leading the Bonnies in both scoring and rebounding, missed Tuesday’s game vs. George Mason with a foot injury of his own. 

    STARTING LINEUP

    • Redshirt freshman Duane Thompson has turned in his two best career performances in back-to-back games. After scoring seven points with four rebounds at Duquesne last Saturday, he turned in a career-best 16 points and seven boards vs. George Mason on Tuesday in 20 minutes off the bench, another career-high.

    • Bona entered Tuesday’s game averaging under six bench points per game in Atlantic 10 play but had doubled that before halftime.

    • The Bonnies continue to rank top-20 nationally in scoring defense. By allowing 63.6 ppg for the season, St. Bonaventure stands 17th in Division I. The Atlantic 10 continues to be a defensive league – while the Bonnies stand 17th nationally, they are third in the A-10 behind George Mason and VCU. 

    • St. Bonaventure continues to rank in the nation’s top-100 squads in NET (88) and KenPom (92).

    • Bona is shooting 73.2 percent at the foul line this season, third-best among A-10 squads behind only Richmond (78.3%) and Saint Joseph’s (73.4%).

    • Miles Rose played a career-high 19 minutes off the bench in Saturday’s game while Thompson logged a then career-high 17. Rose and Thompson each were members of Bona’s squad last year as two of three scholarship players who returned for this year along with Noel Brown.

    • Melvin Council Jr. is eighth among all Atlantic 10 players during conference play in scoring, averaging 17.0 ppg in A-10 games thus far.

    • Noah Bolanga earned his first career start Tuesday vs. George Mason, posting a new career-high in points with eight after making a pair of 3-pointers for his first game of multiple field goals from beyond the arc this season.

    • Noel Brown scored his first career double-double in his 119th career Division I game (19 points, 10 rebounds) at Duquesne last weekend. The 10 boards were a new career-high.

    • Chance Moore was held scoreless first time this season after being limited to just 12 minutes vs. Duquesne due to injury. Moore then missed the George Mason game, the first game he has missed this year.

    TRENDING NUMBERS

    3 –     Melvin Council Jr. hit the game-winning layup with just over three seconds to play in the Dec. 31 win over VCU. He finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists in that game.
    1:13 – Melvin Council Jr. has played all but 1:13 in Bona’s last seven games.
    16 – Duane Thompson posted his first career double-figure scoring effort vs. George Mason with 16 points off the bench. That is more than the Bonnies have scored as a team off the bench in all but three games this year.
    26 – In the first meeting of the season, the Bonnies and VCU shared a combined 26 ties and lead changes. 
    45% – Lajae Jones is shooting over 45 percent from beyond the arc this season, a total that ranks third in the Atlantic 10.

    SERIES HISTORY

    This will be the 20th meeting all-time between St. Bonaventure and VCU. The Bonnies have won seven of the last nine contests between the two programs. 

    Last year, the Bonnies led wire-to-wire in a convincing win in Richmond over the Rams, 89-78. The 89 points posted by Bona’s in that game represents the program’s all-time high vs. VCU and gave the program back-to-back wins at VCU’s Siegel Center for the first time.  Later in the season, the Bonnies capped their first-ever season sweep of VCU with a 67-62 win at the Reilly Center.

    The rivalry has been an entertaining one in recent years. In 2022-23, the Bonnies scored a dramatic 61-58 win at VCU. The 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship Game came as the rubber match between the Bonnies and Rams after splitting two regular season meetings that year. St. Bonaventure captured its second Atlantic 10 title in program history, 74-65, over VCU in Dayton that season.

    Prior to their first matchup as A-10 foes in 2013, the Bonnies defeated VCU in back-to-back years during the late 70s – a 63-61 victory in the 1978 ECAC Championship Game to reach the NCAA Tournament as well as a victory in the following season on home court. In the 1978 ECAC Championship, Tim Waterman’s buzzer-beater sent the Bonnies to victory – and a spot in the NCAA Tournament – in Rochester’s War Memorial Stadium with one of the most memorable shots in program history. 

    ABOUT VCU

     • The Rams were picked as the A-10 preseason favorite after returning a conference-high 65 percent of its scoring from last year’s team that finished 24-14 overall. Preseason First Team selection Max Shulga and Second Team honorees Zeb Jackson and Joe Bamisile lead the way. Bamisile posts 17.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg while Shulga (16.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and Jackson (11.3, 3.1 rpg) are scoring threats in any contest. Jackson was also selected to the league’s preseason All-Defensive Team. 

    • VCU has won five straight games since losing at Bonaventure to begin Atlantic 10 play on Dec. 31. VCU has since scored road wins at Loyola Chicago (84-65), Saint Joseph’s (78-69) and Rhode Island (81-57) and at home vs. Saint Louis (78-62) and Fordham (73-61). 

    • VCU ranks 12th nationally in defense, holding opponents to just 62.5 points per game as well stand 35th in the country in turnover margin (+3.3).

     



    The Bonnies are hitting the road and heading to VCU for a Friday night showcase! Get ready for an exciting matchup as these two teams battle it out on the court. Stay tuned for all the action and highlights from this highly anticipated game. Let’s go Bonnies! #BonniesBasketball #VCUShowcase #FridayNightHoops

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  • Bonnies Open Atlantic 10 Play With Marquee Home Game vs. VCU



    By: Scott Eddy, Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Communications

    ST. BONAVENTURE (12-1) vs. VCU (10-3)
    Tuesday, Dec. 31 – 2:00 p.m.
    Reilly Center
    TV: ESPN+
    Radio: Bonnies Online Network / 100.1 FM The Hero
     
    OPENING TIP
    St. Bonaventure opens Atlantic 10 play on New Year’s Eve afternoon by welcoming preseason A-10 favorite VCU to the Reilly Center after the best non-conference slate for the program during Bona’s A-10 era.

    The Bonnies have their best start to a season since the 1969-70 Final Four team also opened that campaign at 12-1.

    The hot start for the Bonnies this season has put this year’s team in the conversation with some of the best in program history. Bona has a 12-1 record through 13 games for the fifth time – in the previous instances, SBU made a national postseason tournament: 1969-70 (opened 12-1, reached NCAA Final Four); 1960-61 (opened 21-1, reached the first NCAA Tournament in school history); 1958-59 (opened 15-1, finished 20-3 and reached NIT); 1950-51 (opened 12-1, finished 19-6 and reached NIT). Bona has only had two better starts through 13 games all-time: 1967-68 (23-0, NCAA) and ’51-52 (16-0, NIT).

    The Bonnies have won nine of their last 11 Atlantic 10 openers, including an 89-78 win at VCU last January.

     

    STARTING FIVE

    • By winning 12 of 13 games to begin the year, the Bonnies have had their best stretch of a baker’s dozen games during a season since 2018 when the team went on a 13-game winning streak on the way to a 26-win season and NCAA First Four win over UCLA that year.

    • Melvin Council Jr. filled the stat sheet in the non-conference finale victory over Niagara on Dec. 21, doing everything in the victory with 14 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

    • St. Bonaventure scored a season sweep of Big 4 rivals Buffalo, Canisius and Niagara for the first time since 2015-16 – the Bonnies did not play Niagara between 2020-22, however.

    • The Bonnies have produced a winning record in Atlantic 10 play in eight of the past 10 years as well as last year’s .500 mark in league play of 9-9.

    • St. Bonaventure has nearly made as many free throws (176) as its opponents have attempted (177).

    RECEIVING VOTES
    St. Bonaventure was named in the AP Top 25 poll released Dec. 16, receiving votes for the first time this season. The Bonnies garnered four voter points in the Dec. 23 poll.

    It is the first time that the Bonnies have garnered AP Top 25 votes since November 2021. St. Bonaventure was last ranked in the AP Top 25 during the 2021-22 season as well, opening the year ranked No. 23 before rising as high as No. 16 in the national poll following a title victory in the 2021 Charleston Classic.

    IN THE METRICS

    Bona’s enters the Atlantic 10 schedule ranking high in several national metrics.

    In the NCAA NET rankings, the Bonnies stand 52 as of Dec. 29, second in the Atlantic 10 behind only Dayton (41). SBU stands at No. 76 in KenPom and No 58 in the Torvik T-Rank system.

    RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR

    St. Bonaventure last played on New Year’s Eve two years ago, starting Atlantic 10 play with a dominant home win over UMass, 83-64. Since 2000, the Bonnies have played on New Year’s Eve just four times, going 1-3, though only the 2022 matchup was a conference game.

    WINS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

    St. Bonaventure is 5-0 in the month of December thus far and will try to close out a perfect month on the calendar. A win Tuesday would give the Bonnies their first perfect month since going 7-0 in January 2021.

    DOMINANT DEFENSE

    Strong defense has always been a staple under head coach Mark Schmidt. The Bonnies have allowed on average under 69 points per game in each of the past six seasons. Bona’s defense has been one of the nation’s best thus far this season, holding opponents to 59.6 points per game. Bona opponents have failed to reach 60 points in eight of 13 contests so far.

    At the end of non-conference, the Bonnies ranked 10th in the country in scoring defense. According to KenPom, SBU ranks 36th nationally in defensive efficiency. Since KenPom began tracking in 1997, the Bonnies have ranked higher in defensive efficiency just once: the 2020-21 Atlantic 10 Championship season (20th). 

    In the Dec. 4 win at Bucknell, Bona held the Bison to 47 points on their home court. It was the lowest scoring output by a Bonnies opponent since SBU limited Cleveland State to 42 points in a win at home Dec. 7, 2022. It was the first time that the Bonnies have held an opponent under 50 points on the road since holding George Mason to 49 in a win on the Patriots home court Jan. 8, 2020. St. Bonaventure would quickly hold another team under 50 on its home floor as the Bonnies locked Siena down to 48 points in their home arena Dec. 17.

    How SBU ranks defensively among all Division I teams (as of Dec. 28):

    Scoring defense – 10th (59.6 ppg)

    Field goal percentage defense – 25th (38.7%)

    Turnover margin: 51st (+3.0)

    Steals per game – 53rd (8.9)

    Three-point percentage defense – 72nd (30.3%)

    Blocks per game – 83rd (4.2)

    Rebound margin: 91st (+4.8)

    Turnovers forced per game: 92nd (14.1)

    The Bonnies have been strong defensively without fouling – Bona is committing only 13 fouls per game, ranking eighth nationally in fewest fouls per contest.

     

    BONA BALANCE

    St. Bonaventure hasn’t had just one or two stars in its strong start. Prior to point guard Dasonte Bowen suffering a foot injury which has cost him the past three games, four of Bona’s five starters were averaging in double figures while all five were posting 9.0+ ppg.

    COUNCIL AT THE POINT

    Melvin Council Jr. has shined since taking over the point guard duties during Dasonte Bowen’s absence. The Rochester native has been a do-it-all dynamo for the Bonnies, averaging 17.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 4.3 steals with a 3.5 assist-to-turnover ratio in the past three contests. He logged a season-high 24 points to key the win over Providence Dec. 14, then had the most steals by a Bona player (7) in two decades Dec. 17 at Siena. Against Niagara last time out, he had 14 points and a season-best seven assists along with eight rebounds and three steals.

     

    TRENDING NUMBERS

    11 –     St. Bonaventure sank a season-best 11 3-pointers in the win over Niagara Dec. 21 to finish non-conference play. Bona’s previous high in a game was eight, set three times.

    28 – Chance Moore’s 28 offensive rebounds on the year are tied for fourth among all Atlantic 10 players and the most by any A-10 guard.

    32 – Melvin Council Jr. has swiped 32 steals this season, the most by any player in the Atlantic 10 thus far.

    47% – Lajae Jones drained four 3-pointers in the win over Niagara. For the season, he has hit on over 47 percent of his 3-point tries (17-36), best on the team.

    115 – Noel Brown will suit up for his 115th career collegiate game vs. VCU.

     

    SERIES HISTORY

    St. Bonaventure leads, 10-8

    This will be the 19th meeting all-time between St. Bonaventure and VCU. The Bonnies have won six of the last eight contests between the two programs. This will mark the second consecutive year that the Bonnies and Rams have opened up A-10 play against each other, though it is the first time that the Bonnies have begun conference action by hosting VCU.

    Last year, the Bonnies led wire-to-wire in a convincing win in Richmond over the Rams, 89-78. The 89 points posted by Bona’s in that game represents the program’s all-time high vs. VCU and gave the program back-to-back wins at VCU’s Siegel Center for the first time.  Later in the season, the Bonnies capped their first-ever season sweep of VCU with a 67-62 win at the Reilly Center.

    The rivalry has been an entertaining one in recent years. In 2022-23, the Bonnies scored a dramatic 61-58 win at VCU. The 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship Game came as the rubber match between the Bonnies and Rams after splitting two regular season meetings that year. St. Bonaventure captured its second Atlantic 10 title in program history, 74-65, over VCU in Dayton that season.

    Prior to their first matchup as A-10 foes in 2013, the Bonnies defeated VCU in back-to-back years during the late 70s – a 63-61 victory in the 1978 ECAC Championship Game to reach the NCAA Tournament as well as a victory in the following season on home court. In the 1978 ECAC Championship, Tim Waterman’s buzzer-beater sent the Bonnies to victory – and a spot in the NCAA Tournament – in Rochester’s War Memorial Stadium with one of the most memorable shots in program history. 

     

    ABOUT VCU

    • The Rams were picked as the A-10 preseason favorite after returning a conference-high 65 percent of its scoring from last year’s team that finished 24-14 overall. Preseason First Team selection Max Shulga and Second Team honorees Zeb Jackson and Joe Bamisile lead the way. Bamisile posts 17.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg while Shulga (16.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and Jackson (11.3, 3.1 rpg) are scoring threats in any contest. Jackson was also selected to the league’s preseason All-Defensive Team.

    • The contest should be a low-scoring one, featuring two of the nation’s top-15 defenses: While the Bonnies finished non-conference play 10th nationally in points allowed per game (59.6), VCU checked in at 14th by surrendering only 61.3 ppg and limiting opponents to 38.6 shooting from the floor on average, a total that stands 25th nationally.

    • VCU went 10-3 in non-conference but played just one true road game – a loss at New Mexico, 78-71, on Dec. 18. The Rams scored two power conference wins in non-conference play – at home over Boston College (80-55) and on a neutral floor vis Miami (77-70) in the Charleston Classic.

    • The Rams have made 122 3-pointers, more than any other A-10 team except Saint Louis (123). VCU loves to shoot the 3 – their 385 attempts from long range (29 per game) are far and away the most in the A-10 and ranks 23rd nationally. Their 31.7 percent success rate stands just 13th in the A-10, however.



    The Bonnies are gearing up for their Atlantic 10 conference play, with a marquee home game against VCU on the horizon. This matchup is sure to be a must-watch for fans of both teams, as these two powerhouse programs go head-to-head in what promises to be an exciting and intense game.

    Bonnies fans are encouraged to pack the Reilly Center and show their support for the team as they take on VCU in what is sure to be a thrilling contest. With the home court advantage on their side, the Bonnies will be looking to secure a crucial victory and make a statement in the conference.

    Make sure to mark your calendars for this highly anticipated game and come out to cheer on the Bonnies as they open up Atlantic 10 play with a bang. Let’s show VCU what we’re made of and come together to support our team as they strive for success in the conference. Go Bonnies! #BonniesBasketball #Atlantic10 #VCU #HomeGame #RivalryGame.

    Tags:

    Bonnies, Atlantic 10, Marquee Game, VCU, Basketball, Home Game, College Basketball, Conference Play, St. Bonaventure, Virginia Commonwealth University, NCAA, Division 1 Basketball, Atlantic 10 Conference.

    #Bonnies #Open #Atlantic #Play #Marquee #Home #Game #VCU

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