Tag: 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 10^th in the country in scoring defense. According to KenPom, SBU ranks 36^th 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 – 10^th (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 – 72^nd (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 115^th 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 10^th nationally in points allowed per game (59.6), VCU checked in at 14^th by surrendering only 61.3 ppg and limiting opponents to 38.6 shooting from the floor on average, a total that stands 25^th 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 23^rd nationally. Their 31.7 percent success rate stands just 13^th in the A-10, however.