By Stretch Jenkinson

2 2 2024

GAME NOTES

https://gobonnies.com/documents/2024/2/1/Game_21_Notes_-_Dayton.pdf

ST. BONAVENTURE (13-7, 4-4 A-10) at #21/19 DAYTON (17-3, 7-1 A-10)
Friday, Feb. 2 – 7:00 p.m.
Dayton, Ohio
TV: ESPN2
Radio: Bonnies Online Network

OPENING TIP

• St. Bonaventure scored a pair of big wins at home in the past week vs. Saint Joseph’s and VCU to even its A-10 record at 4-4.
• Bona erased a 20-point first half deficit in storming back to beat VCU, 67-62, on Tuesday night. It marked the largest comeback for the Bonnies in over a decade.
• In Tuesday’s game, VCU went 10-for-15 from beyond the arc in the first half, but just 1-for-14 from distance in the second half. Bona’s has now beaten VCU in six of the last eight matchups – the Rams (117) and Bonnies (107) rank second and third respectively in Atlantic 10 conference wins since 2014-15 behind only Dayton (123).
• SBU defeated Saint Joseph’s, 91-72, in last week’s Friday Night Showcase to move to 6-2 in the A-10’s premiere timeslot since 2021 including three straight wins.
• The Bonnies are seeking what would be their 31st win over a Top 25 opponent all-time and first since defeating No. 14/16 Rhode Island on home court in February 2018. The Bonnies racked up five straight wins over Top 25 Atlantic 10 foes between 2014-18.
• Bona’s 20-point comeback vs. VCU is the third-largest deficit overcome in a victory this season in Division I. Syracuse erased a 23-point deficit to beat Colgate Nov. 14 while Wake Forest came back from 21 points down to beat Elon Nov. 6.
• St. Bonaventure hauled in 16 offensive rebounds which led to 16 second chance points in Tuesday’s win. Charles Pride led the team with six rebounds on the offensive glass and has a team-best 42 on the year. Pride’s 2.5 offensive boards per game ranks fourth in the A-10.
• Daryl Banks III is on this week’s Atlantic 10 Weekly Honor Roll after unquestionably his best game of the season last Friday vs. Saint Joseph’s. He poured in 29 points while matching a career-high of seven 3-pointers (7-11). He also added five assists in the victory.
• In last Friday’s win, the Bonnies had three players top 20 points: Banks (29), Moses Flowers (23) and Chad Venning (21). It was the first time that three Bonaventure players have topped the 20-point mark during regulation in the same game since November 2016.
• Charles Pride has just eight turnovers in over 533 minutes of game time, ranking ninth nationally in turnover rate. Point guard Mika Adams-Woods also has 65 assists against 27 turnovers.

TRENDS & NOTABLES

• Kyrell Luc has started the last three games at point guard. He started the first 63 games of his collegiate career – all 31 games of his freshman season at Holy Cross when he was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year and each of last year’s 32 games in his first season at SBU. He helped key Tuesday’s comeback vs. VCU with six points in the second half.
• Assa Essamvous has scored in double figures in two of the past three games after doing so just three times in the first 16 contests. A contender for Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year last season, he finished in double figures 14 times as a freshman.
• Friday’s game will be the second contest of the year for the Bonnies against a Top 25 opponent. Bona played #15/14 FAU in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic held in Springfield, Mass. in December and led for over 24 minutes of game time, including an 11-point first half advantage. Bona’s upset effort was thwarted in the second half due in large part to 21 turnovers on the day resulting in 24 points for FAU. Moses Flowers (12 points), Assa Essamvous (11) and Chad Venning (11) all scored in double figures that day as FAU held on, 64-54.
• Mika Adams-Woods leads the Bonnies by scoring 14.8 ppg in games away from the Reilly Center this year. Barry Evans and Charles Pride each average 6.9 rebounds per game in road/neutral contests.
• Daryl Banks III has started to come alive in his new role off the bench. Since starting a reserve role five games ago, Banks’ numbers are up across the board: he’s averaging 12.6 points and three assists per game while shooting 41% from the floor and 48% from long range (12-25).
• Charles Pride had just four points in the Tuesday win over VCU, but was crucial in the win anyway, posting 10 rebounds while matching a season-best five assists.
• The Bonnies rank top 100 nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com. In those rankings, the Bonnies rank 71st in defense and 90th in offense.
• Tuesday’s win over VCU broke an on-going trend for SBU – it marked the first time this season that the Bonnies have won when trailing at the half (1-6). Conversely, Bona is 12-1 when leading at the half – their only loss when ahead at the break came in season’s second game vs. Canisius.
• Friday’s matchup is truly a marquee A-10 pairing: Since 2014-15, only Dayton and VCU have won more Atlantic 10 conference games than St. Bonaventure.
• The night time is the right time: SBU is 8-2 in night games this season.

TRENDING NUMBERS
1:51  – SBU led for just 1:51 of game time in their 20-point comeback to win vs. VCU Jan. 30.
10 – The Bonnies are 10-0 this season when hitting 10 or more 3-pointers. In each of the last two games, SBU has tied its season-high of 12 triples.
22 – Chad Venning has at least one block in 22 straight games dating back to last year. He also has at least one swat in 31 of the last 32 contests. He had a career-high six blocks Jan. 17 vs. Rhode Island, the most by a Bonnies player since Osun Osunniyi’s seven vs. Siena in November 2021.
23 – Bona’s bench has been extremely productive so far this season. The Bonnies are averaging 23 bench points per game, a drastic increase over last year’s 11.8 bench points per game and 5.8 in 2021-22. To put it in perspective, in 33 games during the 2021-22 season when the Bonnies reached the NIT semifinals, they registered 190 bench points for the entire year. This year, the team had 265 bench points through just 13 games. The Bonnies scored eight bench points Jan. 23 at Duquesne, the first time they had single-digit bench points since Nov. 16 vs. Oklahoma State. They followed up with 42 bench points last Friday vs. Saint Joseph’s, their second-highest total this year.
65.8 – SBU is limiting opponents to 65.8 points per game on average this season, a total that ranks 40th nationally in scoring defense.
78.7%  – St. Bonaventure ranks eighth nationally so far this year in free throw percentage at 78.7% on the season. Daryl Banks III is best on the team, sinking 92% of his tries at the line (45-49), good for 15th among all D-I players.
89  – Bona’s has scored 89 or more points seven times this season, the most times in a season that the Bonnies have reached that total since also doing it seven times during the 2016-17 campaign and finished the year as A-10 regular season co-champs.
100 – The Bonnies have recorded back-to-back Top 100 wins in the NCAA NET rankings, beating Saint Joseph’s (86) and VCU (92) in the past week. Bona now has three Top 100 wins on the year, also beating Akron (88).
295 – Tuesday’s win over VCU marked win No. 295 for Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt while at St. Bonaventure.

SERIES HISTORY
Dayton leads, 28-11
This marks the 40th meeting all-time between the Bonnies and Flyers with Dayton owning a 28-11 advantage.

Last year, 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.

The Bonnies now look to snap their drought at UD Arena – against the Flyers, that is. In games vs. Dayton at UD Arena, the Bonnies have dropped four in a row dating to 2016. 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.

St. Bonaventure has beaten a Top 25 Dayton team on the road before: in 2016, the Bonnies toppled #15/13 Dayton, 79-72, as Jaylen Adams hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 36 seconds to play. It was Bona’s first win in UD Arena since 2002 and helped propel the Bonnies to a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title that season.

ABOUT DAYTON

• Dayton’s 13-game win streak came to an end Saturday at Richmond, 69-64.
• DaRon Holmes II leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring with 19.4 ppg. He also is in the top-10 in the conference in scoring, rebounding, FG%, 3-pt. FG% and blocked shots.
• Dayton bounced back from Saturday’s loss with an 83-61 win over George Washington.
• Holmes made it on three preseason watch lists — Atlanta Tip-Off Club’s Naismith Award, the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Karl Malone Award. This week, he was named as one of the 10 finalists for the Karl Malone Award as the top power forward in the country.
• Dayton has yet to lose a game at home this season, winning all 10 of their competitions in UD Arena.
• Dayton has lost just three games this year, at Richmond, at Northwestern, and in a neutral site game against Houston as part of the Charleston Classic finals.

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