The Starting Five Notes +ONE
1. Wednesday night, St. Bonaventure hosts Duquesne in the second meeting of the season between these long-time Atlantic rivals. The Bonnies come off a 79-72 win at #13/#15 Dayton. This game will pit two of the A-10's best and highest-scoring backcourts – the Bonnies' Jaylen Adams and Marcus Posley vs. the Dukes' Derrick Colter and Micah Mason.
2. As of Feb. 23, St. Bonaventure is 33rd in the Ratings Percentage Index list on NCAA.com. The Bonnies are 2-2 against top 50 teams and 3-3 against teams 51-100.
3. St. Bonaventure has a chance to tie the program record for Atlantic 10 Conference wins in a season of 11 set in 1999-00. The Bonnies are also going for their 19th win, which is already the most in a regular season during Mark Schmidt's nine years as coach.
4. Jaylen Adams continues to make a case for himself to be included in discussions of the most improved players in the A-10. His three-point shooting percentage has improved from .324 last year to .463 this season, contributing to his 8.5 points-per game jump in scoring. He ranks fourth in the A-10 in scoring, second in assists and second in three-point percentage. Last Saturday at Dayton, Adams scored a career high 31 points including the game-winning three-pointer.
5. The "big three" of senior forward Dion Wright, senior guard Marcus Posley and Adams is the second-highest scoring trio in the A-10 (Davidson is first). The three combine to average 52.9 points per game. They all rank in the top 16 scorers in the Atlantic 10 with Adams (18.5) fourth, Posley (18.4) fifth and Wright (16.0) 16th.
6. St. Bonaventure is one of just 15 schools – and the only non-power conference school – to have both its men's and women's basketball teams in the top 40 of the RPI. The average enrollment of the other 14 is 33,175. Bona's enrollment is 1,687.
Duquesne Quick Notes:
• Duquesne has lost five straight games and stands 5-9 in the A-10, good for ninth place. The Dukes have been very competitive, though, dropping all but one of those five games by fewer than 10 points. Duquesne nearly won at Dayton Feb. 9, falling 76-74.
• Duquesne is second in the A-10 in scoring and third in three-point percentage.
• Their backcourt of seniors Micah Mason (17.8 ppg) and Derrick Colter (17.7 ppg) is potent and experienced. Mason has six consecutive games of 20 points or more, most recently 23 in a 77-74 loss at Rhode Island on Saturday.
• Sophomore Tysean Powell gives Duquesne a formidable sixth man; he is shooting over .600 from the field in A-10 games and averages 6.4 points per game off the bench.
St. Bonaventure vs. Duquesne: The Last Meeting
Jan. 16, 2016 at Palumbo Center: Duquesne 95, St. Bonaventure 88
St. Bonaventure's perfect start to the Atlantic 10 season ended with a loss at Duquesne. The Bonnies saw the Dukes make 66 percent (18-27) of their shots from the field in the second half. Duquesne broke the game open with a 13-3 run, giving the Dukes a 77-66 led with 4:14 left. St. Bonaventure clawed back to within five at 93-88, but that came with only 21 seconds left. Rebounding played a key part in the decision as the Dukes enjoyed a 49-34 advantage on the glass. Duquesne outscored St. Bonaventure 46-36 in the paint. Jaylen Adams led the Bonnies with 22 points. He was joined in double figures by Denzel Gregg (19), Dion Wright (17) and Marcus Posley (15). St. Bonaventure was looking for the first 5-0 start to an A-10 season in its history.
Series History
This will be the 116th meeting between the longtime A-10 rivals. St. Bonaventure has claimed six of the last eight meetings but trails in the all-time series 59-56. The series dates to 1920.
Milestone Watch For Posley, Wright
• Marcus Posley (978 points) is 22 points away from 1,000 for his career at St. Bonaventure, and 39 points shy of 500 for the season.
• Dion Wright (611 rebounds) needs 26 rebounds to move into the top 20 rebounders all-time at St. Bonaventure.
Ten Atlantic 10 Wins
St. Bonaventure's 10 Atlantic 10 Conference wins this season are tied for the second most ever in the 37 years the Bonnies have been members of the A-10. The top A-10 win totals and winning percentages in the program's history:
Wins Season W-L (Pct.)
11 1999-00 11-5 (.687)
10 2015-16 10-4 (.714)
2014-15 10-8 (.555)
2011-12 10-6 (.625)
1985-86 10-8 (.555)
1982-83 10-4 (.714)
Quality Wins
St. Bonaventure has two wins over top 50 RPI teams: Dayton (currently #17) and Saint Joseph's (27) and three more over top 100 teams, GW (52), Davidson (60) and Ohio (78). In all, the Bonnies are 5-5 against Top 100 teams. The Bonnies have also beaten Buffalo (107), Richmond (124) and Rhode Island (127). Five of the Bonnies' seven losses came to top 100 teams including two inside the top 50, Dayton and VCU (49).
Offense Trending Toward Best Under Schmidt
The Bonnies are averaging 76.4 points per game, which is on pace for the best average during coach Mark Schmidt's nine seasons. Schmidt's highest-scoring team to this point was in 2013-14 when the Bonnies averaged 73.4 points per game.
Adams Playing At All-Conference Level
Last season, a broken finger ended point guard Jaylen Adams' superb freshman season prematurely. The injury likely kept the A-10's coaches from putting Adams on the All-Rookie team – a spot that seemed a sure thing considering he was averaging 10 points and 4.5 assists per game and led the A-10 in assist-to-turnover ratio at the time. This year, he has played at an All-Conference level.
• Adams is second in the A-10 in three-point percentage (.463) and ranks fourth in scoring (18.5), second in assists (5.1 per game), fourth in three-pointers per game (2.9) and first in free throw percentage (.879). Adams' .463 three-point percentage ranks 11th nationally.
• Adams has a chance at the school record for three-point field goal percentage in a season of .456 set by Rich McCormick in 1986-87.
• He's proven to be as clutch as possible, scoring 31 points in road wins at Dayton and Saint Joseph's, and draining a buzzer-beater to top Saint Louis.
• Adams has been named the A-10 Player of the Week twice this season, most recently for the week ending Feb. 7. That week, the Baltimore, Md., native averaged 25 points per game to lead the Bonnies to wins at Saint Joseph's and over Saint Louis. Adams scored a career high 31 points with seven assists at Saint Joseph's, then followed that with 19 points and four assists against the Billikens. He made the game-winning three-pointer as time expired in the 65-62 decision over Saint Louis. His first POW selection was for the week of Dec. 28.
