The Starting Five Notes:
1. Riding a four-game win streak, St. Bonaventure plays its first true road game of the season and it's a challenging one against perennial MAC power Ohio. The Bonnies passed a big test on Wednesday when they convincingly beat a very talented Buffalo team. St. Bonaventure adds depth with the return of sophomore forward Denzel Gregg from a six-game team suspension.
2. The Bonnies have played strong defense so far this season. They have allowed only one of their six opponents to shoot over 40 percent from the field, and that was Jackson State at .404. While it is early, St. Bonaventure ranks second in the A-10 in defensive field goal percentage (.371) and seventh in points allowed (62.7) and first in blocked shots (5.5).
3. Youssou Ndoye is red-hot. After a slow start to the season in the scoring department, he posted a career-high 23 points against Niagara and followed that with 17 points against Buffalo. The 7-foot senior center has been a force on defense; he leads the A-10 and ranks 12th nationally with 17 blocked shots (3.4 bpg) and ranks 13th nationally in rebounding (10.8 per game).
4. Dion Wright was billed as a player to watch in the preseason by Sports Illustrated and he is proving that accurate. Wright is second on the team in both scoring (13.7) and rebounding (8.7). He scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds against Buffalo.
5. Bonnies freshman point guard Jay Adams was named the Atlantic 10's Rookie of the Week on Monday. Last week, he averaged 13 points, 2.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals over two Bonnies wins. Adams scored a career-high 19 points in the win over Jackson State Nov. 25 at the Reilly Center.
Series History:
• The Bonnies and Bobcats have played three times since Mark Schmidt took over as Bona coach. St. Bonaventure won one of those games – a 112-107, four-OT classic at the Reilly Center in Dec. 2010 when Andrew Nicholson scored 44 points. It was the longest game in St. Bonaventure history.
• The Last Meeting: November 18, 2012 in Athens, Ohio: Ohio 69, St. Bonaventure 64
Ohio Notes:
• Saul Phillips was hired as Ohio's new coach last spring after seven successful seasons at North Dakota State, including last year when he led NDS to the NCAA Tournament.
• Ohio has played three games at home, defeating Appalachian State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff but losing to Belmont in its last game last Saturday, 83-81. The Bobcats' other loss came at Florida Gulf Coast on Nov. 19.
• Like the Bonnies' Youssou Ndoye, Ohio's Maurice Ndour is a native of Senegal. Ndour, a preseason all-MAC selection, is averaging 14.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Redshirt senior guard Javarez Willis leads Ohio in scoing at 19.3 points per game. Ryan Taylor averages 11.3 points per game.
Strong Starters
This is St. Bonaventure's second straight 5-1 start. A win over Ohio would give the Bonnies their first 6-1 start since the 2000-01 team opened with eight wins in its first nine games.
Going For Five
A win at Ohio would give St. Bonaventure its longest in-season win streak (five games) since 2001-02. That team won five in a row from Dec. 8 to Dec. 28, beating Wisconsin Green Bay, Ohio, Davidson, Siena and UConn.
Ndoye Regains Scoring Stride
As a preseason all-conference third team selection and the Big 4 preseason Player of the Year, expectations for Youssou Ndoye were very high entering the season. Forced to sit out the opener against Dartmouth after the NCAA ruled he played in one impermissible summer league game, Ndoye got off to a slow start on the offensive end, taking only 10 shots through his first three games as teams played primarly zone defenses designed to stop the 7-footer. Last Saturday against Niagara, Ndoye broke out with a career-high 23 points on 9-16 shooting. He followed that with 17 points against Buffalo to raise his scoing average to 11.8 points per game.
Rebounds & Blocks A Constant
Through his early-season scoring fluctuations, what have remained constant are Ndoye's defense and rebounding. Always a force on defense, he leads the A-10 and ranks 12th nationally with 17 blocked shots (3.4 bpg). In rebounding, Ndoye ranks 13th nationally at 10.8 per game). He leads all Atlantic 10 Players in blocks and stands second in rebounding. Ndoye has grabbed 10 or more rebounds in each of the last four games with a high of 13 against Buffalo.
"Batch" Gaining Confidence
While it is very early, his statistics back up the idea that Andell Cumberbatch is the most improved of the Bonnies' returning players. A quiet person off the court, the senior swingman has become a leader in this, his second season at St. Bonaventure. The former standout at Barton (Kansas) C.C. has a pair of double-doubles already (10-10 vs. Dartmouth, 24-11 vs. Siena), is third on the team in scoring (13.3 ppg), third in rebounding (6.8 rpg) and leads the team in assists (3.5 apg). Last year, which was his first with the Bonnies after two seasons at Barton, Cumberbatch averaged 8.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in 31 games.
Posley Makes Immediate Impact
Replacing 2014 graduate Matthew Wright, who averaged 16.3 points per game last season and scored over 1,000 career points, is not a task that can fall on one player. Marcus Posley, however, has begun to gain the confidence of Bonnies coaches and fans. He leads the Bonnies in scoring at 15 points per game, which ranks 10th in the A-10. He scored a game-high 20 points – including nine over the game's final 3:16 – to lead the Bonnies to a 59-53 win over Canisius Nov. 22. Posley has scored before; as a freshman point guard at Ball State in 2012-13, he averaged 6.5 points per game. Last season at Indian Hills Junior College, when he switched to shooting guard, he averaged 13.5 points a game.
