St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball Game Preview: Dayton Flyers
Date: Saturday, Feb. 14
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Location: Dayton, Ohio | UD Arena
Records:
St. Bonaventure 13-9 (6-5) | Dayton 18-5 (8-3)
Bonnies Statistics | Dayton Statistics
St. Bonaventure Game Notes
TV: NBC Sports Network with Paul Burmeister (pxp) and Dalen Cuff
(NOTE: There will not be any streaming for this game due to NBC restrictions)
Radio: WPIG 95.7 FM, ESPN Radio 1450 AM (Olean, NY) with Gary Nease (pxp)
Twitter: @BonniesMBB
The Starting Five Notes:
1. St. Bonaventure travels to Ohio for its second meeting this season with Dayton. The Bonnies look to bounce back from a last-second loss to UMass on Wednesday. The Flyers are 12-0 at UD Arena this season, but St. Bonaventure has had success on the road, going 3-2 in A-10 road games so far.
2. Marcus Posley could not have had a better week than he did last week. The junior guard made two game-winning buzzer-beaters last week and was then named the national and Atlantic 10 Player of the Week. Posley is the fifth-leading scorer in the Atlantic 10 at 16.9 points per game.
3. Dion Wright has scored in double figures seven games in a row. Over that span, he went 49-81 (60.5%) from the field and averaged 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds. In the win over VCU, Wright played one of the best all-around games of his career with 19 points and eight rebounds. Wright ranks 10th in the A-10 in scoring and 11th in rebounding, and he has a .568 field goal percentage in conference games.
4. St. Bonaventure's anchor in the middle, 7-foot senior center Youssou Ndoye, is second in the A-10 in both rebounding (10.5) and blocked shots (2.8/game). Four of his seven double-doubles this season have been against Atlantic 10 opponents. He is averaging 13.2 points per game in A-10 play.
5. Freshman point guard Jay Adams has continued his solid play into the conference season. In the Bonnies' 10 Atlantic 10 games, he has 63 assists and only 15 turnovers -- the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference. He has been named A-10 Rookie of the Week three times this year.
St. Bonaventure vs. Dayton: The First Meeting This Year: Jan. 8, 2015 at the Reilly Center -- Dayton 78, St. Bonaventure 61
Dayton went 14-24 from behind the three-point line en route to the win. The Bonnies trailed 39-33 early in the second half but the Flyers opened a 16-point lead by the 9:00 mark. Marcus Posley led St. Bonaventure with 17 points. Youssou Ndoye saw his streak of games with 10-plus rebounds end at 10 as he finished with nine boards.
Series Notes: This will be the 28th meeting between the teams; Dayton leads the series 18-9 and has won 10 of the last 11 games. The Bonnies' only win in that span was on Jan. 11, 2012, an 81-73 decision at the Reilly Center. The first-ever meeting between the schools was in 1949.
Dayton Notes:
• The Flyers have split their last four games, winning on Tuesday at Saint Louis, 51-44, and at home Feb. 1 over Fordham but falling at George Washington (in OT) and at UMass. After VCU, George Washington and Rhode Island all lost on Wednesday, the Flyers moved into a tie for first place in the Atlantic 10.
• Dayton is 12-0 at UD Arena this season and has won 17 straight games there dating to the middle of last year.
• Jordan Sibert paces the Flyers in scoring at 16 points per game. He has made 51 three-pointers and shoots 33 percent from long range. Power forward Dyshawn Pierre averages 12.6 points per game and is the team's top rebounder, averaging 7.5 per contest. Kendall Pollard averages 12 points and 5.6 rebounds. Point guard Scoochie Smith leads the Flyers with 91 assists and 36 steals. He averages 8.5 points per game and has made 40 percent of his three-point attempts. Freshman guard Darrell Davis is 31-60 (.517) from three-point range on the year; he averages 5.4 points per game.
St. Bonaventure's Last Game: UMass 55, Bonnies 53
UMass pulled out a 55-53 win over St. Bonaventure Wednesday at the Reilly Center. Jabarie Hinds' three-pointer with eight seconds left after a Bona turnover was the game-winner. The Bonnies erased a 30-23 halftime deficit, outscoring the Minutemen 9-2 through the first three minutes of the second half. The Bonnies led by as many as six points would hold the edge throughout the half. Freshman point guard Jaylen Adams, however, fouled out with 1:20 left in the game, and the Minutemen brought it to a 53-51 game. After a UMass missed shot, a jump ball went the Bonnies' way when the possession arrow favored St. Bonaventure with 23 seconds left. UMass, however, stole Andell Cumberbatch's inbound pass, and Trey Davis found Hinds open on the right wing. A last-second jump shot by Cumberbatch and a follow by Youssou Ndoye were both off the mark.
The Bonnies saw their two-game win streak snapped and fell to 13-9 overall and 6-5 in the Atlantic 10. Marcus Posley led St. Bonaventure with 13 points, but had a tough shooting night, finishing 4-16 overall and 1-10 from three-point range. Cumberbatch added 12 points. Dion Wright finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Ndoye Picks It Up In A-10
In A-10 games, senior center Youssou Ndoye has a field goal percentage of .479 and is averaging 13.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Prior to the start of A-10 play, Ndoye was shooting .444 from the field. Over the past eight games, Ndoye was 38-75 (.507) from the field and averaged 14.8 points per game.
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 was named to Sport Illustrated's list of the "Projected Breakout Players" for this year. The SI system "forecasts advanced statistics -- such as offensive efficiency, usage rates, and rebound and assist rates." The 6-7 forward from Carson, Calif., 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. Notes on Wright's season:
• He has scored in double figures 18 times including the last seven games in a row.
• Had back-to-back 20-point games against two of the A-10's best defensive teams – 22 at Rhode Island (tying his career high) and 21 against LaSalle.
• Wright ranks 10th in the A-10 in scoring at 13.3 points per game.
• Wright, who has rarely left the floor this year, is also averaging 7.0 rebounds a game, which ranks 11th among A-10 players. He has four-double-doubles this season.
• Well-known for his tenacity under the backboard, Wright has snagged 72 offensive rebounds (3.3 pg), which is fifth-best among all A-10 players.
Posley's Recent Success No Fluke
Replacing 1,000-point scorer Matthew Wright '14 was certainly not what anyone expected of Marcus Posley. The junior guard, who spent a year at Ball State and then transferred to Indian Hills (Iowa) junior college for the 2013-14 season, entered the year somewhat under the radar. But Posley has flourished at St. Bonaventure, where he has become one of the top scorers in the Atlantic 10. Notes on his season:
• Posley is fifth in the A-10 in scoring at 16.9 points per game.
• He has nine 20-point games this season, the second-most of any A-10 player behind Saint Joseph's sophomore forward DeAndre Bembry's 10.
• Posley is second in the A-10 in three-point field goals per game (2.8).
• He has scored in double figures in 18 of 22 games.
• For the season, Posley is shooting 39 percent overall and 35 percent from three-point range. He is a solid free throw shooter at .750, which also ranks 12th in the A-10.
Adams Three-Time A-10 Rookie of Week
Bonnies point guard Jay Adams has been more than a pleasant surprise; he's been one of the best freshmen in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Remarkably consistent, particularly for a freshman, Adams is the Bonnies' fourth-leading scorer at 10.0 points per game. Some additional points on Adams:
• Over the last eight games, Adams handed out 55 assists against just nine turnovers. In the Bonnies' 10 conference games, Adams has 63 assists against only 15 turnovers -- by far the best assist-to-turnover ratio (4.2) of any A-10 player in conference games only.
• Overall, factoring in all games played, Adams leads the A-10 in assists per game (4.5) and is fifth in assist-to-TO ratio and eighth in free throw percentage (.783).
• Adams has been named the A-10 Rookie of the Week three times. The latest came on Jan. 26 after he averaged 12.5 points and 9.5 assists over games at Duquesne and at Rhode Island. His other ROW awards were for the weeks ending Nov. 30 and Dec. 7.
• In the Jan. 22 overtime win at Duquesne, Adams scored the game-winner and tied the school record with 14 assists with no turnovers – the first time a Bonnies player has had that many assists without a turnover.
Gregg Coming On Strong
An athletic big man who can play either forward spot, 6-7 sophomore Denzel Gregg has played better and better over the last month. Gregg made his first career start on Jan 31 against LaSalle and had two points and four rebounds in that game. He then helped spark the Bonnies in the second half at Davidson when he had two blocks. Gregg, however, was at his best in the win over VCU when he scored a career high 10 points and blocked three shots in 17 minutes off the bench. Twelve of his 13 blocks for the year have been against A-10 opponents. Like Chris Dees, Gregg gives the Bonnies needed depth on the front line. Gregg, who sat out the first six games of the season under a team suspension, is averaging 3.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. Last season, the Syracuse native played in 26 games and averaged 2.0 points.
