Opening Tip
Surging St. Bonaventure meets Saint Louis in a Homecoming Weekend matchup at the Reilly Center Saturday. The Bonnies rebounded from a six-game losing streak over the last week with crucial victories on the road at Temple and Saint Joseph's. SBU is looking for its first home win in conference play after falling to VCU and Xavier earlier this month. Saint Louis, meanwhile, is looking for back-to-back road A-10 wins after defeating Duquesne in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Last Time Out
St. Bonaventure led from start to finish at preseason league favorite Saint Joseph's Wednesday night as the Bonnies claimed a 73-
64 win in the City of Brotherly Love for the second time in five days. Senior Demitrius Conger scored a game-high 21 points, Matthew Wright knocked down four 3-pointers for the second straight game as part of his 18 points and Chris Johnson added 15 as the Bonnies earned their first win in Hagan Arena since the 1999-2000 season, breaking a streak of nine straight setbacks. The win, coupled with SBU's 81-78 victory at Temple Saturday (Bona was 0-30 all-time entering the game on the Owls home court), gave Bonaventure consecutive triumphs in Philly and just its third all-time win at Hagan Arena (3-22).
Doing It The Wright Way
Junior Matthew Wright started his freshman year by shooting just 3-28 (10.7 percent) from the 3-point line in non-conference games during the 2010-11 season. However, he rebounded to shoot 23-54 (42.5 percent) in A-10 games that year and finished the season at 31.7 percent (26-82). Now, in 2012-13, Wright has produced a similar pattern to that freshman campaign. The Toronto native went only 6-34 (17.6 percent) from the 3-point line during non-conference play, but has turned it around just in time for league play.
Wright is 12-20 (60 percent) – including a scorching 8-10 in the last two games – from the 3-point line through Bonaventure's first five A-10 games and is 22-35 overall from the field (62.9 percent). Wright, who is averaging 12.4 points per game in conference action, notched a career-best 22 points against Temple and backed it up with 18 versus Saint Joseph's.
Difficult Opening Stretch Continues
St. Bonaventure is the only team in the A-10 which faces the top-4 teams in the preseason poll through its first six conference games. The matchup with Saint Louis (2nd) marks the fourth time this year already that the Bonnies will play a team predicted to finish in the top-4 of the league, with the others being VCU (3rd), Temple (4th) and Saint Joseph's (1st).
A-10 Snapshot
One of the deepest conferences in the nation, the 16-team Atlantic 10 has already displayed its depth through just the first four/five games of the league docket. All of the 16 teams have at least one loss, and 11 squads have two or three losses. Every team has at least one win with the exception of Duquesne, and various RPI reports have as many as 11 A-10 teams in the top-100. With its two road wins over then top-50 Temple and then top-60 Saint Joseph's, St. Bona saw its RPI jump from near 200 to around 100 late this week.
All-Time With Saint Louis
Saint Louis has won eight of 12 meetings all-time against the Bonnies. St. Bonaventure has gotten the better of the series of late, however, having won four of the last six meetings against the Billikens. The Bonnies are 3-0 all-time against Saint Louis in the Reilly Center, with each of the wins coming since 2007.
Scouting Saint Louis
^ The Billikens rebounded from back-to-back losses at Temple (64-54) and at home against Rhode Island (82-80 in overtime) with a 73-64 victory at Duquesne Wednesday.
^ The win was Saint Louis' first true road triumph this season; the Billikens have played just three true road games this year, and two of those have come in A-10 play.
^ Predicted to finish second in the Atlantic 10, the Billikens had won nine straight games – including a 60-46 victory over then-No. 20 New Mexico – before its loss to Temple.
^ Though no SLU player ranks among the conference's top 30 in scoring, three Billikens average better than 10 points per game: Cody Ellis (11.2), Mike McCall, Jr. (10.9), Kwamain Mitchell (10.7) and Dwayne Evans (10.3).
^ Saint Louis boasts one of the A-10's top backcourts in McCall, Mitchell and Jordair Jett, an All-Conference defender who leads the team in steals and assists.
^ Mitchell, an A-10 First Team preseason selection, is still rounding into form after missing the season's first 11 games with an injury.
^ SLU is led by interim coach Jim Crews, who took over at the start of the season for an ailing Rick Majerus; Majerus passed away on Dec. 1, 2012.
^ The Billikens lead the A-10 in defense, allowing opponents to score just 57.9 points per game; they are the only team in the league holding opponents below 60 points per outing.
^ SLU has the worst 3-point field-goal percentage defense in the A-10, allowing opponents to connect at a 37.8-percent clip; Bonaventure is third in the A-10 in 3-point percentage at 37.7.
Starting Off On The Right Foot
For the second game in a row the St. Bona starting five produced a majority of SBU's points in its win at Saint Joseph's Wednesday night. The Bona quintet accounted for 67 of Bonaventure's 73 points (91.7 percent), the second straight game the starting five has tallied 91 percent of Bona's team scoring as it also was responsible for 91.3 percent of SBU's 81 points at Temple. The 91.7 percent at Saint Joe's is the highest percentage of points from the starting lineup this year for the Bonnies. The Bona bench – which has been great this year – hasn't been needed the last two games, and it marks the first time this campaign that they have tallied single-digit points in consecutive games, and just the third time overall.
Quick Hitters
# The 17 first-half points the Bonnies held Saint Joseph's to on Wednesday are the fewest they have allowed any opponent to score in an opening stanza this year; the previous low was 24 by Cornell.
# Saint Joseph's held a 36-19 edge on the glass against Bonaventure Wednesday night, tied for the largest rebounding disparity the Bonnies have faced this year; Colorado State out-rebounded SBU by 17 as well, 45-28.
# Matthew Wright's eight 3-pointers over the past two games are the most in a two-game stretch in the junior's career.
# Demitrius Conger's 21 points at Saint Joseph's are the senior's most against an A-10 opponent (during regular-season play) in his career; his previous high was 19, set exactly two weeks ago opposite VCU.
# The Bonnies have not won a game this year when they trail with 5 minutes remaining (0-6).
Protecting The Rock
St. Bonaventure turned the ball over only six times – including just twice in the second half – in its win over Saint Joseph's Wednesday. The six giveaways are the second-fewest of the season for the Brown and White, with the lowest total being five against Siena. On the year, the Bonnies are 0-5 when they have more turnovers than their opponent.
City Of Brotherly Love
With their back-to-back wins in Philadelphia over the last week, the Bonnies won two games in Philly on A-10 opponents' home courts in the same season for just the second time in program history. The other came during the 1999-2000 season when they claimed victories over La Salle and Saint Joseph's. That 1999-2000 squad advanced to the NCAA Tournament before dropping a heartbreaker in overtime to Kentucky.
Going Gold
For just the third time this year, St. Bonaventure will wear its alternate gold jerseys on Saturday in front of a Homecoming Weekend crowd. SBU is 1-1 when wearing the gold uniforms this season, with the loss coming against Iona and the victory coming over Siena. SBU has three jerseys for the 2012-13 season, with the other two being its home whites and road browns.
Leading Wire-To-Wire
Eric Mosley knocked down a 3-pointer two minutes into Bonaventure's win at Saint Joseph's Wednesday, and the Bonnies never trailed en route to a 73-64 win. It marked the third time this year that Bona's has not allowed an opponent to lead at any point in a game. The last time it occurred was as part of a 97-57 win over The Citadel on Dec. 19. The first occasion came in SBU's initial road test of the season at Cornell on Nov. 14.
Spreading The Wealth
Demitrius Conger's 21 points at Saint Joseph's on Wednesday mark the second game in a row SBU has had a player score 20 or more in a game, but it is just the fourth time this year that has occurred. Matthew Wright tallied 22 against Temple last Saturday, and Conger owns the other two 20-point performances (20 vs. Buffalo, 26 vs. Iona). Despite just four 20-point individual performances this year, St. Bona still ranks as a top-85 offense nationally, averaging 72.1 points per game.
Next Up
St. Bonaventure will have its first of two bye weeks as it will have a week off before returning to the Reilly Center next Saturday to face longtime rival Duquesne. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m., and the game will once again be televised regionally by Time Warner Sports.