ST. BONAVENTURE (6-7, 0-0 A-10) vs. UMASS (9-3, 0-0 A-10)
Saturday, Dec. 31 - 2:00 p.m.
Reilly Center
TV: ESPN+

OPENING TIP NOTES

• St. Bonaventure begins Atlantic 10 play with a pair of home games back-to-back vs. UMass Saturday followed by George Mason Wednesday, Jan. 4. It is the first time that the Bonnies have opened A-10 action with back-to-back home games since the 2006-07 season.
• The Bonnies are looking to snap their first four-game losing skid since the 2018-19 campaign. Bona also finished with its first below .500 non-conference record since that '18-19 season when the Bonnies opened the season 4-10, dropping the final four games of non-conference play as well as the A-10 opener. Bonnies fans will remember, though, that team would rebound to finish 18-16 overall with a 12-6 mark in conference action, ultimately reaching the Atlantic 10 Championship Game. That year's squad, like this one, had much turnover from the year before with three freshmen in the starting lineup. 
• The last time the Bonnies and Minutemen opened A-10 play against each other came at the Reilly Center, almost five years to the day of Saturday's battle. St. Bonaventure won, 98-78, over the Minutemen in the '17-18 A-10 opener Dec. 30, 2017 as Jaylen Adams (32) and Matt Mobley (28) combined for 60 points to begin a run to that year's NCAA Tournament. Bona also opened up the A-10 slate at UMass the year prior, scoring an 89-77 victory en route to sharing the conference regular season title in 2016.
• St. Bonaventure has won seven of its last nine A-10 openers, including a 3-0 mark vs. UMass during that stretch. 
• Bona freshman Yann Farell was named A-10 Rookie of the Week on Tuesday, earning the honor for the second time this year. Farell scored in double figures for both games last week, averaging 12.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg. He is the first Bona freshman to be named A-10 Rookie of the Week twice in the same season since Kyle Lofton in 2019, and the first Bonnies frosh to earn multiple weekly honors before the end of non-conference play since Jaylen Adams in 2014. In fact, only eight prior Bonnies had ever been named A-10 Rookie of the Week more than once: Adams, Lofton, Andrew Nicholson (2008-09), Matt Morgan (2008), A.J. Hawkins (2005), Tim Winn (1997), Jason Brower (1989) and Alvin Lott (1983-84). Nicholson owns the program record, taking the award six times en route to being named A-10 Rookie of the Year, an honor only Nicholson and Lott have ever achieved in program history.  

BONA BITES

• SBU is looking to snap out of an offensive funk. In the past five games, the Bonnies are averaging 59 points per game and reached 62 points just once, scoring 70 in a setback at Siena Dec. 19.
• Daryl Banks III has been Bona's leading scorer this season, averaging 15.6 points per game. That total ranks 10th among all Atlantic 10 players so far.
• Banks has scored in double figures in 12 of 13 games in a Bonnies uniform with the lone exception being an eight-point game vs. Notre Dame Nov. 25. In 102 career games, he has posted double-figure scoring 57 times.
• Kyrell Luc has also finished in double figures in 12 of 13 games, the lone exception being an eight-point game vs. Bowling Green Nov. 19. He has finished with double-figure scoring in 36 of 44 career games thus far.
• Chad Venning's 53.5% field goal percentage ranks eighth in the A-10. 
• Venning is also sixth in the A-10 in blocks (18).
• Kyrell Luc ranks tied for second among all A-10 players in steals this year at just under two per game. He is tied with Duquesne's Jimmy Clark with only Davidson's Foster Loyer (2.1 spg) ahead.
• Luc has six games of five or more assists, but each of those contests came in the first six games of the year.
• Anquan Hill went a nine-game stretch between Nov. 15 and Dec. 16 playing less than 10 minutes in each contest. In the past two games, though, he has played 15 and 18 minutes respectively at Siena and at Northern Iowa. 
• Bonnies assistant coach Chris Lowe is one of the best players in UMass history. He played for the Minutemen from 2005-09, graduating as the program's record-holder in career assists (678), and becoming just the seventh A-10 player to post 1,000 points with 600 assists. 

TRENDING NUMBERS
10 – The Bonnies were picked 10th in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll. It is the first time SBU has been picked that low since 2014-15 when the team ended up finishing sixth while beating the A-10's preseason favorite (VCU) and league champion (Davidson). Bona's has been terrific at outperforming preseason predictions: Since 2012-13, the Bonnies have finished lower than their preseason selection just once. St. Bonaventure has not finished outside the top five in the final A-10 standings since 2014-15 when Bona's was tied for sixth.
10 – St. Bonaventure has recorded at least 10 victories in conference action in each of the past eight Atlantic 10 seasons, the longest such active streak for any program in the league.
26% – Kyrell Luc has a 26% assist rate when on the floor this season. 
27% – Bonnies opponents are shooting 27.7% from beyond the three-point line this season. Bona's three-point defense stands 18th nationally and second in the A-10 behind only Dayton (27.4%).
35 – Daryl Banks III ranks fourth among all A-10 players with 35 made 3-pointers this year. Only Dae Dae Grant of Duquesne (46 in one extra game), Cameron Brown of Saint Joseph's (36) and Darius Quisenberry of Fordham (36) have more.
54% – Moses Flowers is shooting 54 percent from the floor over the past five games, best on the Bona's roster. As a team, the Bonnies are shooting just 39 percent during that span.
65% – When the Bonnies win this season, Chad Venning makes good on nearly 65% of his field goal attempts. He's 33-for-51 in Bona's six wins. 
68.1% – The Bonnies are currently shooting 68.1% percent for the season at the foul line. No Bona's team has failed to crack 70% at the charity stripe for the season since the 2010-11 group finished at 69.9%. 
81.7% – St. Bonaventure's home winning percentage in Atlantic 10 games played at the Reilly Center since 2015-16 is .817 (49-11).

SERIES HISTORY
UMass leads, 41-32
The Bonnies and Minutemen will be meeting for the 74th time when they lock up Saturday. St. Bonaventure has played just four schools more – Canisius (170 meetings), Niagara (160), Duquesne (129) and Saint Joseph's (83). 

UMass holds a 41-32 series lead after dominating the early years, but the Bonnies have won the past nine meetings and 13 of the last 15.

The Bonnies and Minutemen did not meet for two years, though, during the pandemic before last year's SBU win at The RC. The schools will make up for lost time this year, bookending conference play against each other. 

LAST MEETING
St. Bonaventure 83, UMass 71 (2/16/21)
Kyle Lofton set the Bonnies single-game record with 17 assists as Bona's sailed to an 83-71 victory last year.

All five Bonnies starters finished in double figures. UMass led by a point at halfitme. 

The Bonnies embarked on a 15-2 run early in the second half, taking control with a double-digit lead for the first time on the night. The Bonnies were successful on 69 percent of their field goal tries after intermission, going 18-for-26.

ABOUT UMASS

• The Minutemen are 9-3 in their first season under head coach Frank Martin, who was named the 23^rd head coach in program history this past March. Martin came to Amherst owning 15 years of head coaching experience, including 10 years at South Carolina where he led the Gamecocks to their only Final Four appearance in 2017. Prior to South Carolina, he was head coach at Kansas State where he helped guide the Wildcats to the Elite Eight in 2010.
• UMass opened the year red hot, winning seven of eight to start the season including a championship win at the Myrtle Beach Invitational following victories over Colorado, Murray State and Charlotte. The Minutemen have gone 2-2 in their last four to finish non-conference play, winning over Hofstra in Brooklyn (71-56) and vs. Dartmouth at home (68-57) but dropping a neutral site contest to North Texas (62-44) and a home game vs. UMass-Lowell (85-80).
• Martin will play a deep rotation: 11 players have seen regular time while the Minutemen lead the A-10 and rank sixth nationally in bench points at 34 per game. Nearly 47 percent of the team's minutes come from bench players, ranking first in Division I.
• Senior point guard Noah Fernandes was named to the A-10 Preseason Second Team after earning all-conference accolades following last year (14.9 ppg, 5.3 apg), and hopes to return from an ankle injury that has sidelined him since Dec. 2.
• Junior forward Matt Cross leads the team in scoring (12.1 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg). Redshirt junior guard T.J. Weeks has started all 12 games and averaged 9.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg.
• The Minutemen have not been fond of the trey: Just 27 percent of their field goal attempts come from long range (348^th nationally) and 24 percent of their total points are from three-pointers (322^nd).

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