St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball Game Preview: Dayton Flyers  

TV: CBS Sports Network with Jason Knapp (pxp) and Chris Spatola
Please Note: CBS broadcast regulations prohibit any streaming of this game.

2. Junior guard Marcus Posley, who is in his first season at St. Bonaventure, has been the impact scorer that the Bonnies hoped he would be. Posley has scored at least 16 points six consecutive games and leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 17.7 points per game. Posley has connected on 34 three-pointers and ranks second in the A-10 with 2.8 three-pointers per game.

3. The Bonnies hope that the UMass game, when they held the Minutemen to 55 points on 35 percent shooting from the field, signaled a return to the type of defense they played most of the season. The Bonnies rank fourth in the A-10 in defensive field goal percentage (.402) and are second in the A-10 in blocked shots (4.6 per game).

4. Senior center Youssou Ndoye is the centerpiece of the Bona defense. He has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in 10 straight games - tied for the longest such streak in NCAA Div. I this season. Ndoye leads the A-10 in both rebounding (11.5) and blocked shots (3.0 per game). He ranks third and 13th, respectively, among all Division I players in those categories.

5. Junior forward Dion Wright has become a consistent scorer and rebounder, entering the Dayton game second on the team in both scoring (13.5) and rebounding (8.2). His 4.0 offensive rebounds per game are second best in the Atlantic 10. 

Series Notes:
This will be the 27th meeting between the teams; Dayton has won nine of the last 10 games with the Bonnies' only win coming on Jan. 11, 2012, an 81-73 decision at the Reilly Center. Last year in Olean, the Flyers posted a hard-fought, 72-69 win. This game will be the first of two games this season between the teams.

Dayton Notes:
• The Flyers opened A-10 play with an 81-55 win over Duquesne on Saturday in Dayton, Ohio. Kyle Davis led five Flyers in double figures with 17 points while Jordan Sibert, Scoochie Smith and Dyshawn Pierre all scored 16 points. The Flyers made 10 of their 26 three-point shots in the win, which was their fourth in a row.
• Sibert paces the Flyers in scoring at 15.7 points per game. He has made 31 three-pointers and shoots 33 percent from long range. Pierre averages 12.2 points per game and is the team's top rebounder, averaging 6.4 per contest. Kendall Pollard averages 10.5 points and 5.3 rebounds. Point guard Scoochie Smith leads the Flyers with 53 assists and 19 steals. He averages 7.7 points per game and has made 40 percent of his three-point attempts. 

St. Bonaventure vs. Dayton: Last Year's Meeting
In a typically hard-fought Atlantic 10 Conference game that included eight lead changes and five ties, the Bonnies led 64-59 after Jordan Gathers made a driving layup with 4:40 left. The Flyers, however, scored five straight points and tied the game on a jumper by Devin Oliver with 2:59 to play. After a miss by Gathers, Matt Kavanaugh scored on a putback to give the Flyers a 66-64 lead with 2:03 left. After Andell Cumberbatch missed a three-pointer, Vee Samford made a contested jumper with 1:12 left to make it 68-64 Dayton. Charlon Kloof's three-pointer from the left corner pulled the Bonnies back within one point with 53 seconds to play, but Dayton went 4-4 at the line down the stretch and held on for a 73-68 win.

Posley Takes Over A-10 Scoring Lead
Replacing 2014 graduate Matthew Wright, who averaged 16.3 points per game last season and scored over 1,000 career points, was a tall task for the Bona program. Marcus Posley, however, has gained the confidence of Bonnies coaches and fans. After scoring at least 16 points in each of the last six games, he now leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 17.6 points per game. Posley has six 20-point games this season, including a career high 26 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore. He's only failed to reach double figures once and shoots 41 percent overall – 37 percent from three-point range. Posley is 34-92 on three-pointers, good for second in the A-10 in three-point field goals per game (2.8). Posley has scored before; as a freshman point guard at Ball State in 2012-13, he averaged 6.5 points per game in a reserve role. Last season at Indian Hills Junior College, when he switched to shooting guard, he averaged 13.5 points a game.

Ndoye's Rebounding Streak At 10
While his scoring has fluctuated this season, 7-0 senior center Youssou Ndoye's defense and rebounding have remained a constant.
• Ndoye has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in 10 consecutive games, which is the longest such active streak in NCAA Division I. RaShid Gaston from Norfolk State had a streak of 10 consecutive games with double-figure rebounds earlier this season.
• Ndoye leads the A-10 in both rebounding (11.5) and blocked shots (3.0 per game), ranking third and 13th, respectively, among all Division I players in those categories.
• His average of 8.4 defensive rebounds per game ranks third nationally.
• Three times already this season, he has grabbed 13 rebounds - UMass, Buffalo and Binghamton.
• Ndoye has also blocked at least one shot in every game this season with eight games of three or more rejections.
• He has four double-doubles, which ties how many he had all of last season.
• With his 12 rebounds against Maryland Eastern Shore, Ndoye became only the fourth player in school history to record 500 rebounds (he now has 530) and 150 blocks.

Coaching Through The Pain
When the news spread of a serious injury at practice on Dec. 19, no one thought of head coach Mark Schmidt. But he is exactly who suffered the injury - a ruptured Achilles tendon in his right foot. Schmidt hurt himself when he planted to pivot in the opposite direction. Not surprisingly to those who know him, Schmidt didn't miss a beat, caoching the rest of practice from a chair. He then boarded the team bus to Binghamton and coached the game the next afternoon wearing a protective boot. He has undergone surgery and will continue coaching through his recovery, which includes the 10 days following surgery when he cannot place any weight on his foot.

Rebounding Strong
St. Bonaventure is off to a good start to the season in many ways, and rebounding is one of those:
• The Bonnies have outrebounded eight of their 12 opponents with two ties.
• The Bonnies rank fifth in the Atlantic 10 in rebound margin (+5.3) and third in total rebounds per game (39.1).
• Youssou Ndoye leads the A-10 and ranks third among all NCAA Division I players in rebounding at 11.5 per game.
• Dion Wright ranks sixth in the A-10 in rebounding at 8.1 per game; Andell Cumberbatch stands 18th with a 5.7 average.
• St. Bonaventure outrebounded Pitt by three. The Panthers came into the game with a +8.8 rebound margin.

Dion Wright Backing Up Sports Illustrated's Breakout Projection
Following a sophomore season that could easily been described as a breakout, St. Bonaventure junior Dion Wright has been named to Sport Illustrated's list of the "Projected Breakout Players" for the upcoming year. Wright was slotted 22nd on the list of 50 players based upon a projection that he will increase his scoring to 13 points per game this season. The SI system "forecasts advanced statistics -- such as offensive efficiency, usage rates, and rebound and assist rates -- for each player and then fits them within the context of their team's rotation to yield raw stats."
A 6-7 forward from Carson, Calif., Wright averaged 8.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game coming off the bench in all 33 games as a sophomore. Wright more than doubled his per-game scoring and rebounding averages from his freshman season.
So far this season, Wright has lived up to the hype. He's scored in double figures 10 out of 12 games and ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.9 points per game. Wright, who has rarely left the floor this year, is also averaging 8.1 rebounds a game, which is sixth among A-10 players. He has snagged 49 offensive rebounds (4.1 pg), which is third-best among all A-10 players.