#23/24 St. Bonaventure (0-0) vs. Alfred (0-0)
Thursday, Nov. 4 – 7:00 p.m.
Reilly Center
TV: ESPN+

TIPPING OFF

• The St. Bonaventure men's basketball team returns to the Reilly Center for the first game in front of fans since March 4, 2020 when the Bonnies host Alfred in exhibition play.
• The Bonnies are ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press preseason poll and No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll.
• The preseason ranking is the first national Top 25 spot for the program in 50 years, with the last national ranking coming in 1971.
• Other rankings: Sporting News ranked SBU at No. 20 in its preseason poll while the Bonnies check in at No. 19 on Matt Norlander's CBS Sports preseason rankings. St. Bonaventure slots at No. 24 in the ESPN 'way-too-early' rankings. Seth Davis placed the Bonnies at No. 23 in his preseason ballot for The Athletic.

EXHIBITION GAME FACTS

• The Bonnies will again host Alfred in the first exhibition game for the programs since 2019. St. Bonaventure defeated the Saxons, 90-45, two seasons ago. The two teams met in exhibition play four straight years 2016-19.
• Thursday's game will not count toward season results for either team.
• When the Bonnies and Saxons meet Thursday, it will begin an eagerly anticipated senior campaign for Bona's returning five seniors – all starters from last year. Thursday's game will be three years since this class – at least the trio of Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi and Dominick Welch – made their debut in Bonnies uniforms. Lofton gave a glimpse of what was to come as the future A-10 All-Rookie Team, and then back-to-back First Team All-Conference pick, scored 15 points in 29 minutes in his first collegiate action Nov. 2, 2018. Welch also started and posted 12 points in 22 minutes. Osunniyi actually came off the bench in his early days as a Bonnie, including the 2018 exhibition vs. Alfred when he scored five points in 16 minutes as a reserve. Bona's other two senior leaders, Jaren Holmes and Jalen Adaway, have actually never played against Alfred – Holmes sat out the 2019 game with a hand injury while Adaway was starting his redshirt season after transferring from Miami (OH).
• Bona did not have an exhibition game last year – and played all of its games in the Reilly Center in front of an empty arena due to the pandemic. When the ball goes in the air Thursday night, it will have been 615 days since fans watched a Bonnies game live in The RC – the last game being Senior Night 2020 when the Bonnies defeated Saint Joseph's, just eight days prior to the pandemic sports shutdown.

SEVERAL FAMILIAR FACES – AND MANY NEWCOMERS

• The Bonnies have the most unique roster composition in America this year. While the team is one of the most veteran squads in the country – UCLA is the only other NCAA Tournament team from a season ago to return its primary starting five this fall – the team has an entirely new bench with nine newcomers joining the program this season.
• The starting five from last year is known to Bonnies fans everywhere – the squad's ironman five of Kyle Lofton, Jaren Holmes, Dominick Welch, Jalen Adaway and Osun Osunniyi bring back 89 percent of last year's scoring.
• Thursday's game offers Bona fans their first chance to see many newcomers, though: A pair of ACC transfers bring previous collegiate experience as guard Quadry Adams (Wake Forest) and forward Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Pittsburgh) expect to earn minutes right away. Junior college All-American guard Linton Brown also brings an impressive resume to Western New York. That trio also is joined by an intriguing freshman class of guards Joryam Saizonou and Justin Ndjock-Tadjore along with forwards Oluwasegun Durosinmi, Anouar Mellouk and Pedro Rossi. Guard Brett Rumpel will redshirt this season.

UNANIMOUS PRESEASON FAVORITES

• St. Bonaventure, the defending Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament champions, starts the campaign as the unanimous preseason conference favorite for the first time in program history.
• Lofton and Osunniyi were each named to the preseason A-10 First Team with Holmes on the Second Team. Osunniyi, the reigning A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, is also on the preseason All-Defensive Team.
• For full A-10 Media Day coverage from last week, click here and here.

FAMILY TIES

• Alfred boasts two very familiar names on its roster: Schmidt and Curran. Junior guard Mike Schmidt is the son of Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt, continuing a tradition of Schmidt players at Alfred. Mike's older brothers Derek and Nick also played at Alfred. Like his brothers, Mike was a standout at Olean High before starting his collegiate career where he was named All-Empire 8 Second Team in 2021 after leading the team with 14.3 points per game over a shortened seven-game slate.
• Sophomore forward Casey Curran is the son of Bonnies associate head coach Steve Curran. Casey started all seven games during his freshman season, averaging 7.3 points per game while shooting 45 percent from the floor. He played his high school ball at Allegany-Limestone where he led the Gators to the Section VI, Class B2 championship in both 2018 and 2019.

ABOUT THE SAXONS

• Alfred is under the leadership of first-year head coach Erich Kaempfee who was hired in June. He spent the past four seasons as an assistant at RPI, helping that program to go 53-28 over the previous three seasons including a D3hoops.com national Top 25 ranking in 2019-20.
• The Saxons played just seven games in a pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, finishing 5-2. The team played all seven of its games between March 6-25.
• Mike Schmidt led the Saxons in scoring (14.3 ppg) and assists (31) while averaging a team-high 28.6 minutes per game and shooting nearly 48 percent from the floor.
• Senior forward Brewster Marshall paced the team on the boards (6.7 rpg) while ranking second on the team in scoring (13.2 ppg). Junior forward Darren Miller also averaged double-figure scoring (10.7 ppg) this past season.

NEXT UP

• The Bonnies officially open the 2021-22 season vs. Siena Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 7:00 p.m. For tickets, click here.

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