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Daryl Banks Assa Essamvous high five
Craig Melvin

Bonnies Bound For Brooklyn To Battle Oklahoma State in Legends Classic

11/15/2023 8:00:00 AM

ST. BONAVENTURE (1-1) vs. OKLAHOMA STATE (1-1)
Thursday, Nov. 16 - 6:30 p.m.
Brooklyn, N.Y. - Barclays Center
TV: ESPNU
Radio: Bonnies Online Network

OPENING TIP
St. Bonaventure makes what is becoming a common trip in recent seasons, heading to Brooklyn's Barclays Center and a date in the Legends Classic. The Bonnies will first square off against Oklahoma State in the opening round Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU, then will face either Auburn or Notre Dame in Friday's finals. The third place game is set for Friday at 4:30 p.m. on ESPNU while the championship game will air on ESPN2 at 7 p.m.

TOURNEY TIME
The Bonnies are looking to continue their recent success in multiple-team events (MTEs). St. Bonaventure has won eight straight games in MTEs dating back to 2019: the Bonnies won last year's Gotham Classic with victories over Notre Dame, Bowling Green and Southern Indiana. In 2021, Bona captured the Charleston Classic championship following victories over Marquette, Clemson and Boise State. In 2019, St. Bonaventure claimed the Boca Beach Classic crown with wins over Florida Atlantic and San Diego. 

POWER MOVES
In the last two seasons, the Bonnies are 6-3 vs. power conference foes, including a victory vs. Notre Dame last season. The Bonnies and Fighting Irish could potentially meet in the finals Friday. SBU scored five wins over power conference opponents in 2021-22. In the NIT, St. Bonaventure became the first mid-major program in the history of the tournament to score three consecutive road wins at Power 5 opponents to reach the semifinals: at Colorado, at top-seeded Oklahoma and at Virginia. During the regular season, the Bonnies defeated Clemson (ACC) and Marquette (Big East) on the way to the Charleston Classic championship in November 2021. 

Bona made good on its lone P6 opportunity during the non-conference schedule last year, defeating Notre Dame, 63-51, in the Gotham Classic at UBS Arena on Long Island Nov. 25. The Bonnies led the Irish wire-to-wire to move to 3-1 vs. the ACC in the past two years.

BACK IN THE BIG APPLE
The trip to the Big Apple is a homecoming of sorts for multiple Bonnies: redshirt junior Chad Venning is back in his hometown of Brooklyn while redshirt senior Daryl Banks III hails from Somerset, N.J., a little more than 50 miles from Barclays Center. For Venning, playing in Barclays Center is the fulfillment of a dream he had as a teenager often walking past the arena during his high school days. He made the most of the opportunity last season, averaging 15 points and eight rebounds in two games at Barclays Center in his first campaign with the Bonnies. 

SCOUTING THE FIELD
The Bonnies will represent the Atlantic 10 against three Power 5 conference foes this week in New York.

First up is a date against Big 12 member Oklahoma State, which won 20 games and reached the third round of the NIT last season. OSU returns two starters and seven letterwinners from last year's squad, including senior guard Bryce Thompson who averaged nearly 12 points per game last year, and graduate guard John Michael-Wright who checked in just under 10 ppg. They lost eight players, though, including Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Moussa Cisse. 

OSU opened with a disappointing home loss vs. Abilene Christian, 64-59, but bounced back over the weekend with an 85-70 win over Sam Houston on Sunday. Thompson leads the way so far with 18.0 ppg while Javon Small adds 16.0 ppg. The Cowboys are averaging 11 3-pointers per game in the early going. 

Notre Dame is largely a new team under first-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry who went 37-31 in two seasons at Penn State. The Fighting Irish return just one player, Matt Zona, to average at least five minutes per game last year, and he checked in at just 1.7 ppg. UND won Shrewsberry's debut, 70-63, over Niagara on opening night, but dropped Saturday's home contest to Western Carolina, 71-61. Markus Burton has averaged 23 ppg in two games while Carey Booth checks in at 15.0 ppg. 

Auburn was picked sixth in the SEC preseason poll, led by preseason All-SEC First Team forward Johni Broome who is the only returning SEC player to average 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks last year. He's also a Wooden Award Preseason Watch List candidate. Freshman point guard Aden Holloway is the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week after posting 15 points and 4.5 assists in two games last week where the Tigers dropped their opener, 88-82, to No. 20 Baylor at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota, where the Bonnies also played last year. Auburn bounced back last Friday with a home win over Southeastern Louisiana, 86-71. 

SERIES HISTORY VS. OKLAHOMA STATE
The Bonnies and Cowboys have never met in the sport of men's basketball.

Bona is just 12-43 vs. current members of the Big 12, due in large part to a 6-34 record vs. West Virginia when the teams were Atlantic 10 foes. The Bonnies won their last matchup vs. a Big 12 opponent, however, winning at Oklahoma in the second round of the 2022 NIT. 

The last time St. Bonaventure and Oklahoma State squared off in any sport: the 2016 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament First Round when the Bonnies upset the Cowgirls, 65-54, in Corvallis, Ore.

VS. NOTRE DAME
The Bonnies are 3-5 all-time vs. the Fighting Irish. The Bonnies scored a 63-51 victory last year at UBS Arena on Long Island in the finals of the Gotham Classic - Chad Venning was named MVP with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds while Kyrell Luc added 16 points and six assists.

Notre Dame won the first four meetings between 1976 and 1988 before the Bonnies won back-to-back in 1993 and 1994 in a home-and-home series. 

In the last two seasons, the Bonnies are 3-1 vs. the ACC, also scoring wins over Clemson and Virginia. 

VS. AUBURN
St. Bonaventure and Auburn have met just once previously: the Bonnies scored a 77-73 victory in 1967 when the Bonnies defeated Auburn in the Tampa Invitational. That year, the Bonnies went an undefeated 23-0 during the regular season as the Bonnies rose to a top-five national ranking.

TRENDING NUMBERS 
18  –  Charles Pride averaged 18.5 ppg in his first two games with the Bonnies last week, shooting over 54% from the floor and 50% from long range (6-12). He was named to the Atlantic 10 Weekly Honor Roll this week for his work.
24  – Daryl Banks III and Chad Venning tied for the team lead last year by each posting double-figure scoring 24 times apiece. 
24  – Mika Adams-Woods enters Thursday's game needing 24 points to reach 1,000 for his career.
25  – Daryl Banks III played 25 minutes in the opener vs. Longwood, the lowest minute total he's logged in a Bonnies uniform. The national leader in minutes last year, he played fewer than 30 minutes in just two games in 2022-23, but has been under that total in both games so far this year.
26  – Noel Brown played a career-high 26 minutes in the season-opener Nov. 6 vs. Longwood. 
70  – Daryl Banks III recorded his 70th career game of double-figure scoring last Saturday vs. Canisius. He enters this week just two points away from 1,400 for his career.

SHOOTERS SHOOT
The Bonnies have over 800 career made 3-pointers on their roster this year. Daryl Banks III was among the A-10 leaders last year, draining 79 triples - for his career, he entered the year with 206 3-pointers. Four Bonnies are well over the century mark in threes made - along with Banks, Charles Pride (170), Moses Flowers (152) and Mika Adams-Woods (131) all have prolific three-point shooting history. Assa Essamvous proved to be a sharpshooter in his debut season, 
finishing the year 65-for-155 from beyond the arc.

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For the latest news on St. Bonaventure athletics, stay connected on social media. Follow the Bonnies on Twitter @GoBonnies and get men's basketball updates @BonniesMBB. Keep up with the Bonnies on Facebook /GoBonnies and on Instagram @GoBonnies
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