GAME NOTES (PDF)
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
DATE: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
SITE: Blue Cross Arena (11,215)
CITY: Rochester, N.Y.
TIP-OFF: 7:00 p.m.
RADIO: WPIG (95.7 FM) & WHDL (1450 AM) -
Olean
TALENT: Gary Nease (Play-by-Play)
Dr. John Watson (Color)
RADIO: WHTK (1280 AM & 107.3 FM) -
Rochester
TALENT: John DiTullio (Play-by-Play)
Mike Neer (Color)
WEB AUDIO & VIDEO: www.GOBONNIES.com
SERIES: St. John's leads, 11-5
LAST MEETING: December 28, 1985
St. John's 85, St. Bonaventure 69
UP NEXT: vs. Binghamton
Friday, Nov. 20 @ 7 p.m. at the Reilly Center
AT A GLANCE
For the first time in 24 years, St. Bonaventure and St. John's
will square off on Tuesday evening at Blue Cross Arena in
Rochester, N.Y. Both teams were victorious in their season openers
with the Bonnies taking down defending Horizon League Tournament
champion Cleveland State by a 72-62 outcome. This will be the Brown
and White's 17th game in the city of Rochester where they are 8-8
all-time.
BONNIES AT BLUECROSS
The Bonnies' return to Blue Cross Arena is their first since
2005 when they hosted eventual NCAA Sweet Sixteen participant West
Virginia. St. Bonaventure is just 1-3 all-time at Blue Cross Arena
since 2000. Below is a look at the previous four games.
DATE
OPPONENT
OUTCOME
11/30/05 West
Virginia L,
61-66
12/3/03 #16
Syracuse L,
78-87
11/30/02 Saint
Louis
L, 54-56
11/25/00
Charlotte
W, 79-78
THIS DAY IN BONA BASKETBALL
St. Bonaventure is 3-0 all-time when playing on November 17,
dating back to the 1975-76 season in the Bona record books - the
final season that has actual dates recorded. The Bonnies improved
to 2-0 last season with a blowout win at Marist on this date and in
2000 they defeated New Mexico State, 68-53, at the Hispanic Fund
Classic hosted by Fresno State. Four players finished in double
figures in the game, led by big man Peter Van Paassen's 18 points
and seven boards.
SCOUTING THE RED STORM
Like the Bonnies, St. John's opened its 2009-10 campaign with a
convincing double-digit home win over Long Island in which five
different players scored in double figures. Led by sixth-year head
coach Norm Roberts, the Red Storm are coming off a 16-win campaign
in which it advanced to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI)
for the second straight season. All five starters return for the
Red Storm who were picked to finish 11th in the preseason BIG EAST
coaches poll. St. John's returns an amazing 97 percent of its
scoring and 95 percent of its rebounding from last season. Led by
junior Paris Horne's 14.6 points per game in 2008-09, the Red
Storm also return three other players that averaged double figure
points and its top nine scorers. Included in that group of
returners is BIG EAST All-Conference guard Anthony Mason Jr., who
returns from a season-ending injury in 2008-09. Mason was injured
in preseason and may not play in tonight's contest. The
frontcourt duo of juniors D.J. Kennedy and Sean Evans combined to
average 23.3 points and 13.7 rebounds per game last season. Kennedy
led the way against LIU in the opener with a team-high 16 points
and seven boards.
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
DATE
SITE
WINNER
SCORE
12/28/85
Madison Sq. Garden St.
John's
85-69
12/1/84
Alumni
Hall
St.
John's
58-57
3/15/60*
Madison Sq. Garden St. Bonaventure
106-71
1/30/59
Madison Sq. Garden St.
Bonaventure 95-78
3/14/59*
Madison Sq. Garden St. John's
82-74
* - NIT contest
ALL-TIME SERIES
Tonight's meeting is the 17th between the two storied
programs, but the first since 1985. The Red Storm holds an 11-5
edge in the all-time series. Only two of the games in the series
have been played since 1960 with SJU winning the last two meetings.
Seven of the meetings have been played at Madison Square Garden,
including four postseason NIT contests. St. Bonaventure has never
hosted the Red Storm in the 44 years of the Reilly Center's
existence. The last Bona win in the series came in 1960, when the
Bonnies defeated St. John's 106-71 in the second round of the
NIT. The legendary Stith brothers duo of Sam and Tom combined to
score 63 points.
AGAINST THE BIG EAST
St. Bonaventure's win at Rutgers last season in the Garden State
Challenge snapped a 10-game losing streak against BIG EAST foes.
Prior to that win, the Bonnies last victory over a BIG EAST
opponent came at Connecticut in 2001. Since the formation of the
BIG EAST Conference in 1979, the Brown and White are 8-24 all-time
against the BIG EAST. The Bonnies are 3-2 at the Reilly Center,
5-12 on the road and 0-10 at neutral sites against the BIG
EAST.
HEAD COACHING MATCHUP
ST. BONAVENTURE HEAD COACH
Mark Schmidt
@ St. Bonaventure: 24-37 (3rd Season)
Overall: 106-127 (9th Season)
Atlantic 10: 8-24 (3rd Season)
vs. St. John's: First Meeting
ST. JOHN'S HEAD COACH
Norm Roberts
@ St. John's: 65-85 (6th Season)
Overall: Same
vs. St. Bonaventure: First Meeting
BONNIES IN NOVEMBER
St. Bonaventure is 44-34 in the month of November for a .564 win
percentage dating back to 1975. That mark is pumped up by a 27-7
record at the Reilly Center in the opening month of the season and
a 41-3 all-time mark in home openers at the RC. With six games in
the first month of the season, the Bonnies will look to beat the
program record of three wins in November. Below is a look at how
the current Bonnies have fared in the first month of the
season.
Player
GM
REB/AVG.
PTS/AVG. Dble
Fig.
Ogo
Adegboye
1
3/3.0
6/6.0
0
Demitrius
Conger
0
1/1.0
0/0.0
0
Da'Quan
Cook
7
16/2.3
21/3.0
0
Michael Davenport
7
9/1.3
26/3.7
1
Malcolm
Eleby
13
39/3.0*
49/3.8
0
Jonathan
Hall
7
44/6.3
115/16.4
7
Jake
Houseknecht
1
0/0.0
0/0.0
0
Chris Matthews
7
31/4.4
86/12.3
4
Andrew
Nicholson
7
44/6.3
82/11.7
5
Marquise
Simmons
1
1/1.0
0/0.0
0
* - Assists Per Game
PRESEASON HONORS
Sophomore ANDREW NICHOLSON'S Rookie of the Year campaign in
2008-09 earned the respect of the A-10's head coach, as the
6-foot-9 forward was named to the preseason All-Conference second
team and All-Defensive team. Nicholson was the only player to be
named to multiple teams and is just one of three underclassmen on
the three preseason teams.
LOOK OUT BELOW
Armed with more athleticism and depth, St. Bonaventure's
eye-opening 77 percent shooting percentage in the first half in its
win over Cleveland State was fueled by a plethora of dunks and
layups. The easy buckets led to 46 points in the paint. The Bonnies
finished their season opener with six throw downs, led by sophomore
ANDREW NICHOLSON'S three dunks. Last season, Nicholson led the team
with 37 dunks.
CINCINATTI KID
Head coach MARK SCHMIDT has used a common theme to describe his
freshmen at St. Bonaventure: "The best thing about freshmen is they
become sophomores." After a freshman season in which he averaged
3.3 points and played sparingly, MICHAEL DAVENPORT showed the truth
to Schmidt's statement in the season opener. The Cincinnati, Ohio
product began his second season in style, scoring a career-high 19
points off the bench on 7-of-10 from the field.
MR. NOVEMBER
Senior JONATHAN HALL has made an immediate impact during his short
time in the Brown and White, especially in the opening month of the
season. Last season, Hall scored in double figures in the opening
nine games, including all six games in November. Hall continued his
early season success in the season opener with a game-high 20
points to bring his career seven-game November scoring average to
16.4 points. Hall also grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, his 20th
game of six or more caroms out of 30 career contests.
BENCH POINTS
One of the keys to St. Bonaventure success in 2008-09 was the play
of its bench. The Bona reserves out-scored the opposing bench 23
times last season and picked up where they left on Friday night by
out-scoring the Cleveland State bench by a 25-9 margin. Sophomore
MICHAEL DAVENPORT led the way with 19 points in 28 minutes off the
pine. The Bona bench supplied at least one double figure scorer in
17 games in 2008-09.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Sophomore ANDREW NICHOLSON will be the focal point of opposing
scouting reports this season, but that didn't stop the 6-foot-9
forward from getting off to a good start. Nicholson burned
Cleveland State for 14 first half points in the season opener. The
double figure scoring game was Nicholson's 18th in the last 23
games dating back to last season.
OH CANADA
ANDREW NICHOLSON more than lived up to the hype that crossed the
Canadian border with him. The 6-foot-9 forward from Mississauga,
Ontario won a program record six Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week
honors en route to being named the Rookie of the Year in 2008-09.
Nicholson averaged 12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per
game. He led all A-10 Rookies in six different categories, ranking
second overall in the A-10 in both blocks and field goal
percentage. On the season, Nicholson scored in double figures 21
times, including a team-high three 20-point outings, and had three
double-doubles. Nicholson also led the team in both scoring and
rebounding 10 times, including both in the same game on five
occasions. He just missed recording a triple-double at Bucknell
with 22 points, eight rebounds and a school record nine blocks.
Category Stat A-10 Rookies A-10 Overall
Scoring 12.5 2nd --
FG Percentage$ .602 1st 2nd
Rebounding 6.0 1st 15th
Blocks* 2.7 1st 2nd
Double Figures 21 2nd --
Double-Doubles 3 1st T-12th
20-Point Games 3 T-2nd T-21st
10-Reb. Games 3 1st T-15th
* - Ranks 11th nationally and is tops amongst all freshmen
$ - Ranks 12th nationally and is tops amongst all freshmen
