St. Bonaventure (23-2, 10-0) @ Dayton (15-6, 8-1)
Saturday, Feb. 11 | 2 PM | UD Arena (13,455)
Game Notes: St. Bonaventure | Dayton | Atlantic 10
Follow & Interact: @Go_Bonnies | #Bonnies
There will be a viewing party held at Randy's Up The River in Allegany. For more information, click here.
Riding a program-record 12-game winning streak and playing its second game as a nationally ranked team, No. 25/RV St. Bonaventure puts its nation-best undefeated road mark on the line for the second time this week in a vital league contest against Dayton with first-place ramifications.
With a win, Bonaventure maintains its stranglehold on first place in the league. With a loss, SBU, Dayton and Temple (barring a setback to visiting Massachusetts) will all have one defeat in conference play – each to the other team.
The Bonnies are ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press Poll and are the first team out of the top-25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. Bona owns the third-most wins in the nation, and with a victory over Dayton will set a program record for victories in a season with 24.
The Flyers and Bonnies have the best scoring margins in the A-10 at +11.2 and +11, respectively. They are the only two teams in the league with positive double-digit scoring margins, but they go about it with contrasting styles.
Dayton leads the A-10 in scoring at 72.2 points per game, while St. Bonaventure ranks second in the league in defense, allowing just 54.3 points per outing. Bonaventure ranks sixth in the conference in scoring at 65.2 per game, while Dayton checks in at eighth in scoring defense at 61 per contest. The Bonnies have not allowed an opponent to score 70 points in a game all year, while the Flyers have eclipsed that mark 12 times, including four straight.
The contest against Dayton will be the second road trip of six or more hours already this week for SBU as it is coming off a 69-54 victory at Massachusetts on Wednesday evening. The victory against UMass set program regular-season records for A-10 wins (10) and road wins (11). Currently 11-0 on the road, Bona is one of just three unbeatens on the road in the nation (No. 1 Baylor: 8-0; No. 9 Green Bay: 8-0).
Bonaventure – picked 6th in the A-10 preseason poll – has already defeated every team chosen to finish ahead of it, excluding Dayton (T-1st). The Bonnies have won at Temple (T-1st), swept Duquesne (3rd) in a home-and-home, defeated Charlotte (4th) on the road and emerged victorious against Saint Joseph's (5th) at home.
The meeting with Dayton will be head coach Jim Crowley's first career game on the SBU sidelines in which he has a career record at Bonaventure over .500. Crowley has gone 120-57 since the midway point of the 2006-07 season to get his record at Bona to 177-176. When Dayton and St. Bonaventure met last year, Crowley's record with the Bonnies was 20 games below .500.
Scouting Dayton
~ Senior Justine Raterman – recently named as a Lowe's Senior CLASS Top 10 Finalist – was a Preseason First Team A-10 pick and leads Dayton in scoring and rebounding at 13.6 and 6.3 per game, respectively
~ The Flyers have earned NCAA Tournament at-large berths in each of the last two seasons
~ Senior Patrice Lalor was named to the Preseason Third Team, while classmate Casey Nance was named to the All-Defensive Team
~ Lalor owns the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the A-10 at 2.2 (93 assists to 42 turnovers)
~ Dayton has recorded the top three scoring games in the A-10 this year (97 vs. Rhode Island; 94 vs. Buffalo; 91 vs. Charlotte)
~ 11 Dayton players average double-figure minutes per game
Next Up
The Bonnies will get some rest as they have a bye week leading into a contest with Xavier as part of a doubleheader on Homecoming Weekend next Saturday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. The game will be Senior Day for the program and will air on national TV via the CBS Sports Network. The men's team will follow the women with a game against Rhode Island.
