Men's Basketball 2/5/2021 12:00:00 AM

Bonnies, Billikens To Battle in Key A-10 Contest Saturday

ST. BONAVENTURE (9-1, 7-1) at SAINT LOUIS (7-3, 0-2)
Saturday, Feb. 6 - 2:00 p.m. EST
St. Louis, Mo.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: Bonnies Basketball Radio Network
Online Coverage: Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Complete Game Notes (PDF)

OPENING TIP
St. Bonaventure travels to Missouri to play in the most anticipated game of the season in a meeting between two teams receiving votes in this past week's Top 25 polls. The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network. Please check your local listings for channel information. CBSSN can be found on Dish Network channel 158, DirecTV channel 221 and Spectrum in the Olean area on channel 315.

GAME NOTES

The Bonnies are off to their best start since 1971, equaling the 9-1 open to the 1970-71 season. Prior to that, the last time the Bonnies opened a season with a better overall record was the 1969-70 Final Four campaign when Bona began 12-0. In 1967-68, the Bonnies went 22-0 during the regular season and won their 23rd consecutive game in the NCAA Tournament vs. Boston College, rising to No. 3 in the national polls. Other 9-1 Bona teams and their ultimate finish: '56-57 (17-7, reached NIT); '58-59 (20-3, NIT); '60-61 (24-4, NCAA Tournament), '63-64 (16-8, NIT).
In Atlantic 10 play, the Bonnies have their best start in program history. Prior to this year, the best open to the conference slate for the program came in 1982-83 when SBU started 6-1.
St. Bonaventure has a seven-game winning streak for the second year in a row and its longest win streak since a 13-game run during 2017-18. Bona is fresh off a perfect month of January (7-0), the program's first unblemished month since running the table in February 2018 with eight wins en route to the NCAA Tournament.
The Bonnies are allowing only 61.3 points per game to opponents, a mark that leads the A-10 and ranks 12th nationally. Duquesne ranks second in the league, allowing 64.0 ppg.
February has traditionally been very good to Mark Schmidt's Bonnies. Since 2016, Bona is 31-10 in February and have won 19 of its past 24 games during the month.

PREVIOUS MEETING

Saint Louis 72, St. Bonaventure 49 (3/7/20)

St. Bonaventure could not find traction offensively against one of the Atlantic 10's top defensive squads, falling in the regular season finale at Saint Louis to end the 2019-20 season in what would be the final game before the COVID-19 shutdown.

After trailing by double digits much of the night, the Bonnies fought back within 63-49 with five minutes remaining, stifling SLU's attack with its press. Unfortunately that would be as close as the Brown and White would get down the stretch, however, as the visitors never found consistent momentum on the offensive end.

Jaren Holmes led the Bonnies with 15 points while Dominick Welch posted 11 points and eight rebounds.

SERIES HISTORY

This will be the 26th meeting in a series that the Bonnies lead 13-12. The last year has turned over what was a series dominated by St. Bonaventure in recent years - Saint Louis has won the last two meetings, but before that, the Bonnies had won nine in a row prior to the 2019 A-10 Championship Game when the Billikens handed SBU a heartbreaker, 55-53, following a second half rally at Barclays Center. Before meeting in the 2019 conference championship game, the Bonnies had beaten Saint Louis just one week prior at home in the regular season finale.

BONNIES IN THE NET

Bona currently stands No. 31 in the NCAA NET rankings with a Quadrant 1 road win at Richmond and a Top 50 win vs. VCU at home in January. The Bonnies entered this week as the top-ranked Atlantic 10 team in the NCAA NET, ahead of VCU (41), Richmond (52), Saint Louis (53), Davidson (65), Rhode Island (75) and Dayton (91).

NATIONAL ATTENTION

St. Bonaventure (9-1, 7-1 Atlantic 10) won its seventh straight game and completed a perfect 7-0 month of January with an 84-67 win over George Mason Saturday in its only action of the week. Following that victory, the Bonnies picked up 19 voter's points in the AP Top 25 and they stand 32nd overall in the voting. A week ago, SBU finished with six voter's points and placed 41st overall. Ten voters ranked the Bonnies inside the Top 25 with the highest ranking coming from Dayton Daily News writer David Jablonski at No. 21. In the coaches' poll, the Bonnies received eight votes and stand 33rd overall.

ST. DUNKAVENTURE

The Bonnies have put their high-flying athleticism on display throughout the season with many rim-rattling dunks. The team has recorded 30 dunks so far this season, led by Osun Osunniyi (12) and Jalen Adaway (aka "Flight 33") (11).

BEASTS ON THE BOARDS

St. Bonaventure boasts four players in the A-10's top-17 rebounders this year: Osun Osunniyi (9.6 rpg, 2nd), Dominick Welch (6.6 rpg, 10th), Jalen Adaway (6.4 rpg, 13th) and Jaren Holmes (5.9 rpg, 17th). On the offensive glass, Adaway is fifth (2.4 offensive rpg), Osunniyi is 7th (2.3) and Welch is 12th (2.0).

ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR JAREN

Jaren Holmes has been a spark plug for the Bonnies since joining the program last year, but particularly this season. He leads the team by averaging 16.5 ppg during Atlantic 10 games, shooting over 46 percent from the floor in those contests. In Bona's only loss thus far Dec. 30 at Rhode Island, he was limited to approximately 90 seconds of action due to back spasms. During Bona's six-game winning streak, he has averaged 18.9 ppg, best on the team.

OFFENSE IS FICKLE, DEFENSE WINS GAMES

Bona head coach Mark Schmidt likes to tell his players that offense is fickle, but defense can be a constant that allows winning teams to weather offensive droughts. The Bonnies have been one of the A-10's best defensive teams in recent years: In addition to leading the conference in scoring defense this year, SBU has limited A-10 opponents to 60 points or less 22 times since the start of 2018-19, including in four of the past six games with the only exceptions being Duquesne (61) and George Mason (67), each of whom only reached 60+ in the waning seconds. Through eight A-10 games this year, the Bonnies are holding opponents to 58.8 ppg.

TRENDING NUMBERS

2 – The Bonnies rank in the Atlantic 10's top two in each of the following defensive categories: scoring defense (first), field goal percentage defense (first) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (second).

2 – Among all Atlantic 10 guards, Dominick Welch ranks second in the league on the glass with 6.6 rebounds/game.

6 – St. Bonaventure had six COVID-related cancellations during non-conference play. Due to a team pause on Nov. 19, the Bonnies went from being slated to having the very first Division I game of the season Nov. 25 at 9 a.m. in Bubbleville vs. Towson to being one of the last teams in the nation to play their first game Dec. 15 vs. Akron.

7 – Bona's seven-game winning streak is the longest active win streak in the A-10.

7 – Osun Osunniyi handed out a career-high seven assists in the Jan. 13 win at Fordham, the most by a Bonnies center during the Mark Schmidt Era. Osunniyi actually ranks 20th in the A-10 at 2.4 apg.

7 – As of Thursday St. Bonaventure was one of just seven Division I teams to have played at least 10 games with 1 or 0 losses. The others: Gonzaga, Baylor, Drake, Belmont,

Winthrop, Michigan.

11 – Alejandro Vasquez provided a spark off the bench Jan. 15 vs. Duquesne, scoring a season-high 11 points. He scored in double figures eight times as a freshman, but that game was his first such performance since Feb. 1, 2020 vs. George Mason.

13 – The Bonnies are averaging nearly 13 offensive rebounds per game, leading in the A-10 (Bona averages more than a full rebound per game on the offensive glass more than any other A-10 team).

27 – Bona handed out 27 assists on 32 made field goals Jan. 6 vs. SJU - it was the most assists in a game by the Bonnies during Mark Schmidt's 14 years as head coach. Bona is averaging 15.5 assists per game, ranking third in the A-10.

30 – Each of Bona's starters average over 30 minutes per game. The Bonnies have used the same starting lineup in all but one game this year.

33 – Osun Osunniyi has 33 career games of three or more blocks.

40 – Kyle Lofton enters this weekend with 1,085 career points and needing just five points to crack SBU's all-timetop-40 in career scoring. Next up: Ken Murray, whose No. 13 is retired at St. Bonaventure.

40 – Bona's No. 40 Jalen Shaw had his best game in a Bonnies uniform Jan. 23 at Duquesne. With Osun Osunniyi sidelined for nearly the entire first half due to foul trouble, Shaw picked up the slack, finishing with season highs in minutes (16), points (7) and rebounds (3).

58.8 – St. Bonaventure is limiting conference opponents to 58.8 points per game through eight A-10 contests. That's nearly four points per game better than second-place Duquesne (62.5 ppg).

70 – No Atlantic 10 opponent has reached 70 points this year against the Bonnies. The last time it happened: The 2019-20 season finale at Saint Louis (72).

+120 – Despite being outsized in most of its games, the

Bonnies are +120 in points in the paint this year, outscoring their opponent in each game thus far including a season-high +24 last Saturday vs. George Mason (48-24).

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