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Complete St. Bonaventure Game Notes (PDF) 

The Starting Five Notes:
1.  Friday afternoon, St. Bonaventure travels to Massachusetts to face the Minutemen in the teams' Atlantic 10 Conference opener. The Bonnies have not played since Dec. 22, while UMass got by Georgia State on Dec. 28. This is the first of a home-and-home series between the teams this season.

2.  The Bonnies went 8-4 in non-conference play, their fourth year in a row of at least eight wins prior to the A-10 season.

3.  The backcourt of Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley is the fourth highest scoring teammate tandem in the country, averaging 43.4 points per game. One of the top 50 candidates for the John Wooden Award, Adams leads the Atlantic 10 and ranks fifth nationally in scoring (23.0). He also leads the Atlantic 10 in assists and is second in three-point field goals. Mobley ranks fifth in the A-10 at 20.3 points per game and is the Bonnies' second-leading rebounder at 6.8 per contest.

4.  Senior Denzel Gregg has been the leader most people assumed he would be as a senior. Gregg is averaging 12.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and two blocks per game with four double-doubles. He is second in the A-10 in blocks and tops the A-10 in offensive rebounds.

5.  After a relatively quiet start, senior forward David Andoh came on strong in December. He scored in double figures six of the past seven games, averaging 13.1 points per game over that stretch. Andoh posted a season high 18 points against Canisius Dec. 22.

Series Notes:
This will be the 67th meeting between these long time Atlantic 10 rivals. UMass holds a 41-25 series lead, but the Bonnies have won six of the last eight meetings including a sweep of the season series last year.

St. Bonaventure vs. UMass: The Last Meeting
Feb. 27, 2016 at the Reilly Center: Bonnies 85, UMass 83
A comeback from an 18-point deficit and a replay that overturned a potential game-winning shot by UMass led to the Bonnies' 20th victory of the season. St. Bonaventure trailed 39-21 with 3:57 left in the first half, but did close the gap to 45-35 by halftime. In the second half, a 15-3 run capped by two Marcus Posley free throws at the 15:26 mark put the Bonnies in the lead, 50-48. The game remained close from there, but UMass led 79-74 with 3:32 remaining. The Bonnies rallied to tie the game at 79 on two free throws by Jaylen Adams at 1:47. After the teams traded scores, Jabarie Hinds put the Minutemen up 83-81 with a twisting layup with just 29 seconds left to play. Posley then drove between two UMass defenders, scored and was fouled with 13 seconds left. He made the free throw to put St. Bonaventure back on top 84-83. Hinds was off the mark with a baseline jumper and Dion Wright corralled the rebound and was fouled with 4.6 seconds left. Wright made one of two at the line to set up the final sequence. Donte Clark made a desperation three-pointer but, after a replay, the ball was ruled to have been in his hand after time elapsed. 

UMass Notes:
• UMass went on the road and defeated Georgia State on Wednesday afternoon, 74-65. The Minutemen have played nine games at home and are 8-1 at the Mullins Center.
• UMass finished non-conference play 10-3 overall, its best mark since the 2013-14 season (12-1). The Minutemen lead the A-10 in defensive field goal percentage (.384) and are fifth in scoring defense (67.1).
• UMass is a young club with three freshmen and a sophomore in the rotation. Junior Donte Clark is the veteran and leads the team in scoring at 15.3 points per game. Freshman point guard Luwane Pipkins averages 12.2 points and sophomore center Rashaan Holloway is at 9.8 points and 5.2 rebounds.

Adams Gets Better and Better
Jaylen Adams earned plenty of preseason accolades (see further notes below) and he's lived up to the hype. Adams is fifth in the nation in scoring (23.0 ppg) and leads the Atlantic 10 in assists (6.0 apg) and is second in three-pointers (3.2/game). Adams has eight games of 20 points or more on the year including a pair of 31-point performances. After a slow start shooting, he went 29-62 (.467) from three-point range over the past eight games. After superb performances in leading St. Bonaventure to wins over Siena and Buffalo, he was named the co-Player of the Week in the Atlantic 10 Conference. 

Adams/Mobley Scoring Tandem
The backcourt of Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley is the fourth-highest scoring teammate tandem in the country:
1. Central Michigan    49.4 ppg
         Marcus Keene   31.9
         Braylon Rayson 17.5
2. Davidson              44.4 ppg
        Jack Gibbs        22.6
         Peyton Aldridge 21.8
3. Pittsburgh            43.6 ppg"
         Michael Young 22.8
         Jamel Artis      20.8
4. St. Bonaventure   43.3 ppg
         Jaylen Adams  23.0
         Matt Mobley    20.3 

Gregg Provides Senior Leadership – And Production
Like many St. Bonaventure players before, Denzel Gregg's career has been marked by improvement, a testament to the program's player development. A fan favorite for his highlight-reel dunks and blocks, the A-10's coaches namd him the co-Sixth Man of the Year in 2015-16. The team's only four-year senior, the 6-7 forward is off to a strong start to his final year. He has scored in double figures eight of the past nine games, averaging 13.3 points per game over that span. His 12.9 average for the year is more than three points a game better than last year. At the same time, Gregg continues to be a factor on both ends of the floor. He is fourth in the A-10 in rebounding (7.4) and second in blocked shots (2.0/game). Dec. 17 in the win over Niagara, Gregg became just the fifth player in program history to reach 100 career blocked shots. He stands fifth all-time at Bona's in that category with 106. 

Three-Point Production
With two high-scoring guards leading the way, it is not surprising that St. Bonaventure is a strong three-point shooting team. Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley are in the top five in the Atlantic 10 in three-pointers per game (3.2 and 2.9 respectively) and as a team, the Bonnies top the A-10 with a .391 three-point field goal percentage. The past five games, St. Bonaventure was 49-85 (.448) from long range. 

Adams Reaches 1,000 Points
In the Dec. 19 win over Army, Jaylen Adams became the 43rd player in St. Bonaventure men's basketball history to reach 1,000 career points. Adams now has 1,034 points in 64 games.

Bonnies In A-10 Openers
St. Bonaventure is 21-16 all-time in Atlantic 10 Conference season openers (20-17 when factoring in a 2002-03 victory which was later vacated). The Bonnies are 14-3 in A-10 openers at the Reilly Center, and 7-14 on the road. Under head coach Mark Schmidt, the Brown and White are 6-3 in their first A-10 game of the season.

Offense Stays Hot
The Bonnies averaged 77.9 points per game last season, the best average during coach Mark Schmidt's tenure and the third-highest scoring average in the A-10. Before that, Schmidt's highest-scoring team was in 2013-14 when the Bonnies averaged 73.4 points per game. This season, the Bonnies have clicked on offense despite having so many new players. Led by guards Jay Adams and Matt Mobley, St. Bonaventure leads the A-10 and ranks 22nd nationally in scoring at 84.8 points per game. The Bonnies have reached the 90-point mark five times including two 100-point games.

Mobley Sprints Out Of Gate
By any measure, Matt Mobley is off to a fantastic start to his debut season at St. Bonaventure. The 6-3 junior guard scored 33 points against Canisius and now is fifth in the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 20.3 points per game and fifth in the A-10 in three-point field goals (2.9 per game). Mobley is doing much more than just scoring -- he is also averaging 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. He is seventh in the A-10 in rebounding, and the second-leading rebounder among A-10 guards. Mobley's production is not a surprise. He practiced with the Bonnies last season after transferring from Central Connecticut, where he averaged 17 points per game as a sophomore and was named the Northeast Conference's most improved player. Mobley had four games of 30-plus points that season.

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