Game Notes: St. Bonaventure | St. John's
SBU Last Time Out
Andrew Nicholson's jumper with 6.8 seconds remaining sent St. Bonaventure (4-2) to a 76-74 win over Buffalo (4-3) after the Bulls all but erased a 19-point second-half deficit down the stretch Saturday night at the Reilly Center. Senior G Ogo Adegboye converted seven 3-pointers – one shy of the school record – for 24 points with a career-high 10 assists and Nicholson recorded 16 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double in five games. It was also the 11th straight game in double figures for Nicholson, as the junior Mississauga, Ont. native closed to within 20 points of 1,000 for his career.
Next Up
The Bonnies return to the Reilly Center on Saturday to host local rival Niagara. The St. John's game is the only true road contest in the month of December, as the Brown and White host Virginia Tech at Blue Cross Arena (Rochester, N.Y.), Ohio (Dec. 18) and Siena (Dec. 28).
Matching Up
St. John's hosts St. Bonaventure in a matchup of teams that have won nine of their last ten combined games. The Red Storm own a five-game streak after dropping their opener, while the Bonnies are 4-1. In last year's meeting at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y., St. John's defeated SBU 69-68 on a pair of free throws by Malik Boothe with just six seconds remaining.
About the Red Storm
Under first year head coach Steve Lavin, who rejoins the coaching ranks after a seven-year stint with ESPN, the Red Storm are off to a 5-1 start that includes a Great Alaska Shootout title and five consecutive victories. St. John's returns all five starters from last season's squad that finished 17-16 and was ousted from the opening round of the NIT. Senior guards Malik Boothe (6.7 pts/4.0 ast) and Dwight Hardy (10.8 pts/3.0 reb) have started all six games, while classmate F Justin Brownlee (14.3 pts/4.5 reb/ 1.5 blk) leads the Red Storm in both points and blocks. Guard/Forward D.J. Kennedy (11.7 pts/5.3 reb), a First Team All-Met selection in 2009-10, and F Dwayne Polee II (7.2 pts/3.5 reb) have also made five starts. Justin Burrell grabs a team-best 5.8 boards per game.
How They Got Here
After adding new coach Steve Lavin on March, 30, the Red Storm dropped their opener to host Saint Mary's, 76-71. From there though, St. John's has run off five in a row, with wins over Columbia (79-66), Ball State (78-73 OT), Drake (82-39), Arizona State (67-58) and Wagner (69-61).
Head Coach: Steve Lavin
Lavin is in his first season at St. John's and eighth season as a head coach with a career record of 150-79. The mark includes seven seasons at UCLA (1996-2003) with six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and five trips to the Sweet 16. After his first sub-20 win season (10-19), Lavin was relieved of coaching duties and transitioned to broadcasting, where he spent seven years as an analyst with ESPN. Often working alongside Brent Musberger, Lavin was highly-regarded for his color commentary and unique perspective on the game. He returned the sidelines March 30, 2010 as the 19th coach in St. John's history.
Bonnies vs. the Big East
St. Bonaventure is 103-167 all-time against current members of the Big East: Cincinnati (4-3), Connecticut (1-2), DePaul (10-7), Georgetown (6-5), Louisville (1-0), Marquette (3-4), Notre Dame (2-5), Pittsburgh (2- 5), Providence (12-11), Rutgers (18-21), St. John's (5-12), Seton Hall (13-14), South Florida (1-0), Syracuse (3-23), Villanova (16-23), West Virginia (6-34). The Bonnies last defeated a Big East team Nov. 23, 2008 when SBU earned a 64-63 win over Rutgers in the Garden State Challenge.
Series Snapshot
St. John's leads the series against St. Bonaventure, 12-5. The Brown and White have dropped three straight to the Red Storm, with their last win coming March 15, 1960 in the NIT at Madison Square Garden. The Bonnies are 1-6 on the road against St. John's with the only win coming Jan. 2, 1922.
11 For Nicholson
Andrew Nicholson has scored in double figures in 11 straight games dating back to Feb. 27, 2010 against Rhode Island. Over that span, he is averaging 18.5 points and 7.3 boards and has not scored fewer than 14 points in a single game.
And Boom Goes the Dynamite
Ogo Adegboye made seven 3-pointers – one shy of the school record – in Saturday's effort to hold off Buffalo, 76-74. He tied his previous career high 17 points and set personal high-water marks for 3-point makes and attempts in the first half alone in helping Bona's to an 11-point lead at the break. Adegboye ended the game with new career-highs of 24 points and 10 assists for his first career double-double. The outburst also raised his season 3FG% from 31.6 to a blistering 46.4.
Where'd You Go?
With 13 points on 5-of-9 from the floor opposite UB, Davenport was once again a noteworthy contributor on the offensive end. Davenport recorded a career outing in the opener against Canisius (19 points) before posting another strong performance (17) against Ark.-Little Rock in his next outing. Over the next three games however, Davenport shot 5-for-25 from the field and 0-for-6 from deep and failed to crack double digits (9-4-4). Welcome back!
Stat Stuffer
Conger has already posted the first two double-doubles of his career and was riding a three-game double-digit scoring streak prior to the Buffalo game. Although he didn't crack 10 points, he finished with nine points, eight boards and six assists to go with a block and a steal on 3-of-4 from beyond the arc in 38 minutes of work.
Struggles from Deep
Through the first four games of the season, St. Bonaventure converted 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 shot just 12.9 percent (4-for-31). After an 11-for-17 outing versus Buffalo, the Bonnies raised their season percentage from 24.7 (18-73) to 32.2 (29-90).
Take a Step In
Freshman G Matt Wright is just 1-16 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 career leader in FG% (.579), ranks third in blocks (147), and now sits in 39th on the all-time scoring list with 980 points.
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 12 points and 10 rebounds in his last four games – including career-highs of 22 points and 14 rebounds in the Bonnies' comeback win at Cornell. Through six games, he is also shooting 56.3 percent from 3-point range (9-16).
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)
42+ 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 a wide margin despite their favorable record. Through six games SBU has yet to post a deficit of better than three points in bench scoring.
Canisius 23-6
Ark. Little Rock 19-9
Cornell 10-0
Binghamton 22-5
Cleveland State 12-9
Buffalo 11-2
Block Party
Nicholson had his three-game block streak end against Buffalo. Prior to that game the junior had swatted 11 shots over the three games, helping his rise to 51st on the national blocks per game ledger. 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 list (147).
Possession is Nine-Tenths
Adegboye (1.2:1) and Conger (1.1:1) combined for 16 of a team season-high 22 assists against Buffalo and finally moved into positive assist/turnover ratios. Wright (1.6:1) still has the best ration on the team, while Nicholson has the worst (1:15).
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). Adegboye also re-upped his personal best to 24 points -helped by a barrage of 3s (7-of-9) - against Buffalo
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.
Ogo in the Olympics?
Senior G Ogo Adegboye spent his summer playing for Great Britain in the Eurobasket qualifying tournament. In contrast with other sports which receive an automatic Olympics berth as host nation, GB basketball must qualify for the London 2012 games and took a big step toward that goal by advancing to its fourth-straight Eurobasket championship that will take place in Lithuania in 2011. Adegboye was playing on the U23 team but received a call-up to the senior men's team after injuries to several players, including Chicago Bulls' star Luol Deng, short changed GB head coach Chris Finch's options. Adegboye earned the starting point guard spot in all eight games and averaged 4.8 points and 21.1 minutes per contest with a 1.3 assist/turnover ratio.
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.
