Game Notes: St. Bonaventure | Buffalo

SBU Last Time Out
Cleveland State got four players in double figures and used a 32-6 run over 12:28 of game action to end St. Bonaventure's three-game win streak Nov. 27 at the Wolstein Center. Andrew Nicholson (14 points, 11 rebounds) scored in double figures for the 10th straight game and got his third double-double of the season. Demitrius Conger added 10 points and 10 boards for his second double-double in three games.

Next Up
St. Bonaventure visits St. John's at Carneseca Arena on Dec. 7 for its only true December road game. The Red Storm (5-1) are riding a five-game win streak and handed Wagner a 69-61 loss Dec. 1.

Matching Up
St. Bonaventure (3-2) meets the University at Buffalo (4-2) Dec. 7 for the first time since Jan. 19, 1999 in the Bonnies second home game of the season. The game marks the Bonnies' first in the RC in exactly a month, as SBU traveled for its last three contests. Buffalo defeated host Army on Wednesday, 56-54, on Byron Mulkey's pull-up jumper in the lane with 12.3 seconds left, breaking a 54-all tie.

About the Bulls
The Bulls, who enter their fourth consecutive road game, have used the same starting lineup in all six games so far in G Zach Filzen (14.8P/3.8R/18 3's), G Byron Mulkey (13.2P/4.2R/4.3STL/5.5AST), G/F Dave Barnett (11.2P/4.8R), F Mitchell Watt (8.8P/5.5R) and F Titus Robinson (2.5P/2.0R). Eight players average 11 or more minutes per game and other notables include: F Javon McCrea (8.5P/7.5R/.625 FG%) and F Jawaan Alston (5.3P/4.2R). Buffalo ended last season at 18-12 overall with a loss to Miami (Ohio) in the quarterfinals of the MAC Championship. Picked for sixth (last) in the MAC East Preseason Poll, Buffalo returns two starters and eight lettermen from 2009-10.

How They Got Here
Buffalo opened the season with an 88-46 drubbing of visiting Navy before evening its record with a 64-53 setback at Youngstown St. The Bulls then won back-to-back games vs. Towson (87-76) and at Canisius (81-64) before falling to Indiana St., 58-54. UB defeated Army on Wednesday, 56-54.

Head Coach: Reggie Witherspoon
Witherspoon is in his 12th year at University of Buffalo, where his 148 wins rank third in school history. In 2005, he led the team to a 23-win season and NIT berth and coached a 21-win campaign and College Basketball Invitational berth in 2009. In his previous coaching stints, he earned a 44-23 record at Erie Community College and spent 13 years at Sweet Home High School as assistant and head coach, where he earned Region III Division I Coach of the Year honors after leading the Kats to a 24-5 record and a Region III title. He was named an assistant coach for the 2010 USA Men's U18 National Team at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship and brought a gold medal back to Buffalo with him.

SBU vs. the MAC
The Bonnies own a 33-22 record against current members of the MAC: Akron (0-1), Bowling Green (2-3), Buffalo (3-1), Eastern Michigan (1-2), Kent State (14-7), Northern Illinois (1-1), Ohio (5-3), Toledo (7-4)

Series Snapshot
In the four encounters between the, St. Bonaventure holds a 3-1 advantage over the Bulls. The Bonnies lost in 1996 by one basket, 67-69. The last meeting in '99, the Bonnies won 61-53 at the Bulls' court.

Ten For Nicholson
Andrew Nicholson has scored in double figures in ten straight games dating back to Feb. 27, 2010 against Rhode Island. Over that span, he is averaging 18.8 points and 7.0 boards and has not scored fewer than 14 points in a single game.

Home Sweet Home
The Bonnies defeated Arkansas Little Rock in their home-opener this season. Through 44 years as the home court, St. Bonaventure is 391-180 (.684) all-time in the venerable RC. In 15 games at Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center last year, St. Bonaventure earned a 10-5 record - the most since the 2002-03 season (9-3).

Struggles from Deep
Through the first four games of the season, St. Bonaventure is converting its 3-pointers at a 25.4 percent clip (15-59). Outside of Adegboye (6-18, 33.3) and Conger (5-10, 50.0), the Bonnies are shooting just 12.9 percent (4-for-31). According to Statsheet.com, the Bonnies have shot under 26 percent from deep in the month of November just once since 1996-97 (20.2%, 1998-99), and the 25.4 percent for a season would be the lowest since the 2005-06 campaign (26.4).

Take a Step In
Freshman G Matt Wright is just 1-14 from outside the arc to start his first season in the Brown and White. Conversely, the Toronto, Ont. Native is 5-of-8 when shooting from inside the 3-point line.

Climbing the Charts
Nicholson is climbing the St. Bonaventure career records list in his third season. The Mississauga, Ont. native is the school's leader in FG% (.579), ranks third in blocks (147), and is now tied for 42nd on the all-time scoring list (964).

Out of Our League
All but four of the 12 teams on the Bonnies' non-conference docket ended last season with winning records. In total, the Bonnies' non-league opponents racked up a 232-163 record in 2009-10 for a .587 win percentage. That number includes 20-game winners Cornell (29-5), Siena (27-7), Virginia Tech. (25-9), Marshall (24-10) and Ohio (22-15).

He's Heating Up
After combining for nine points and nine rebounds in the first two games of the season, Conger has averaged over 14 points and 10 rebounds in his last three games – including career-highs of 22 points and 14 rebounds in the Bonnies' comeback win at Cornell. Through five games, he is also shooting 50 percent from 3-point range (6-12).

Count Your FOUR-tunes
Jim Baron, the last coach to lead the Bonnies to a postseason tournament (NIT, 2001), posted 48 wins in his first four campaigns. Beginning his fourth season on the Bona sidelines, Schmidt and his staff (all of whom worked under Schmidt at Robert Morris) have collected 41 wins…and counting. By number of victories in their first four seasons, here's how it breaks down:

75           Ed Melvin (1948-52)
72           Jim Satalin (1973-77)
67           Jim O'Brien (1982-86)
58           Larry Weise (1961-65)
53           Eddie Donovan (1953-57)
48           Jim Baron (1992-96)
Mike Reilly (1928-32)
41+         Mark Schmidt (2007-Pres.)
24           Anthony Solomon (2003-07)

Riding the Pine
The Bonnies are on the short side of the bench scoring matchup by an 86-29 margin. Canisius reserves Alshwan Hymes (13) and Greg Logins (10) combined to power the Griffs to a 23-6 bench advantage, while Chretien Lukasa (12) and Kyrie Sutton (6) helped Binghamton to a 22-5 edge. SBU booked a 10-point deficit in that category against Ark.-Little Rock (19-9) while being held scoreless off the bench at Cornell (10-0). The Bonnies were outscored 12-9 at Cleveland State.

Block Party
After not recording a blocked shot in the season-opener versus Canisius – his first time in five games without a rejection – Nicholson has increased his output in three of the last four outings (1 vs. UALR, 3 vs. Cornell, 4 vs. Binghamton). He rejected 9 shots as a freshman at Bucknell Dec. 30, 2008 to post SBU's single-game record and ranks third on the career blocks ledger (144) and has at least three blocks in each of the last three games.

Dialing Long Distance
In an ironic twist, players who hail from outside the U.S. have made the majority of the Bonnies' shots from distance, led by six threes from London native Adegboye, two each from Nicholson (Mississauga, Ont.) and de Haas (Den Bosch, Netherlands) and one from Wright (Toronto, Ont.)

Possession is Nine-Tenths
Only one player on the roster has a positive assist to turnover ratio so far, and he's a freshman. Wright has dished out 11 assists and only six turnovers, by far the best ratio on the squad. Adegboye and Conger are tied for the team lead with 13 assists, but have 31 combined turnovers. Nicholson has turned the ball over 14 times while collecting just one assist.     

Nostradamus on Nicholson
Should he record two more seasons similar to those already in the books, Nicholson will notch: 1,849 points (would rank sixth at SBU), 819 rebounds (fifth) and 272 blocks (second). It is also likely that he will become the 22nd player in school history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds (needs 36 points and 62 rebounds).

Stepping Up
Entering the season, coach Mark Schmidt commented that players other than Andrew Nicholson would have to step up for the Bonnies to find success. True to form, each of the other four starters netted career highs through the team's 3-1 start to the year in Michael Davenport (19 pts vs. Canisius), Ogo Adegboye (17 vs. Ark.-Little Rock), Demitrius Conger (22 pts. 14 rebs. vs. Cornell) and Da'Quan Cook (21 pts. 13 rebs. vs. Binghamton).

NLI Signees
SBU added a pair of guards in the early signing period. Schenectady native Derrick Millinghaus, who currently attends Queen City Prep in Marshville, N.C., is a 1-2 combo guard with an open-court style. Millinghaus will have four years of eligibility, while fellow signee Eric Mosely will have two years remaining. Mosely currently attends Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and spent his freshman season at Austin Peay in 2008-09.

APR Improvement
Mark Schmidt ranks 13th in the nation in NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) improvement, as calculated by Fox Sports. Schmidt is among the top coaches nationally in cumulative improvement of his team APR, a metric used by NCAA officials to track the academic achievement of Division I teams during each academic term. Each student-athlete earns one point for staying in school and one point for being academically eligible. A team's total points are divided by points possible and multiplied by 1,000 to equal the team's APR score. As calculated by Fox Sports, Schmidt has increased the Bonnies' team APR by a combined 126 points over the last three academic years for which data are available (2006-2009).

Ahead of Schedule?
Now in his fourth season at the helm of the Bonnies, head coach Mark Schmidt is ahead of schedule with respect to his previous head coaching stint at Robert Morris. During his third and fourth season at RMU, Schmidt posted back-to-back seasons with the same number of wins (14) before guiding the team to a record over .500 (15-14). At St. Bonaventure, Schmidt has guided the team to 15 wins in each of the last two campaigns in his second and third seasons with the program. St. Bonaventure has not finished a season over .500 since 2001-02 (17-13).

#100 for Schmidt
Now entering his fourth season at St. Bonaventure, head coach Mark Schmidt will coach his 100th game at St. Bonaventure Dec. 18, nine games into the season, when the Bonnies host Ohio University in a non-conference tilt at the RC. Schmidt's .419 (39-54) win percentage at SBU is the highest by a Bonnies' mentor since current Rhode Island coach Jim Baron's .502 (132-131) mark compiled from 1992-01. Schmidt and Baron are the only two coaches to post a win-loss percentage over .400 since the start of the 1987 season.

A Look Back: 2009-10
The St. Bonaventure University men's basketball team ended the 2009-10 season with a 15-16 overall mark that included a 7-9 record in Atlantic 10 conference play. Third-year head coach Mark Schmidt guided the Bonnies to a No. 8 seed in the A-10 Championship. The Bonnies earned its first postseason win since 2002 by eliminating No. 9 Duquesne, 83-71, in an opening-round game on Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies have now won 15 games in consecutive seasons after an 8-22 (2-14) showing in Schmidt's first season.

Chasing .500
After recording a 15-15 mark in 2008-09, SBU fell one game short of .500 last season by booking a 15-16 record. St. Bonaventure enjoyed a streak of 28 consecutive seasons of .500-or-better basketball from 1956-57 to 1983-84, but has just eight such seasons in the last 25. SBU has 63 seasons at or above .500 in 89 years.

International Men of Mystery
Four players on the 2010-11 roster hail from outside of the United States. Andrew Nicholson (Mississauga) and freshman Matt Wright (Toronto) both came to St. Bonaventure from Ontario, Canada, while Ogo Adegboye (London, England) and Sam de Haas (Den Bosch, Netherlands) have European roots.

They Did What?!
St. Bonaventure's wins over Cornell and Binghamton early in the season were highlighted by two noteworthy stats. Against the Big Red, the Bonnies managed a 56-54 win despite the combined 1-for-23 shooting performance outside of leading scorers Conger (8-11) and Nicholson (8-15). Two days later against Binghamton, SBU used a 20-0 run in which the Bearcats were 0-for-9 from the field to pull away.