ST. BONAVENTURE (0-0) vs. LONGWOOD (0-0)
Monday, Nov. 6 – 7:00 p.m.
Reilly Center
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Bonnies Online Network

OPENING TIP NOTES
The St. Bonaventure men's basketball team opens the 2023-24 season by welcoming Big South member Longwood to the Reilly Center Monday night in the first-ever meeting between the programs. The two teams are a bit of a contrast – while the Bonnies are a veteran squad looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2022-23 campaign, Longwood is fresh off a 20-win season last year but with a host of new faces on the roster.

TICKETS
Tickets for Monday's season-opener remain available. Call the SBU Ticket Office at 716-375-2500 or click here for details.

HOW TO FOLLOW
If you can't be at the game, a live stream through ESPN+ will be available with the purchase of a subscription to the streaming platform. Fans can also listen live for free all season long through the Bonnies Online Network. Click here for details.

HOME SWEET HOME

• Since the Reilly Center opened in 1966, the Bonnies are 51-5 overall in home openers.
• St. Bonaventure has won its last two openers, defeating Saint Francis (PA) on opening night last season and Siena the year before that. Those wins snapped what was a three-year skid in season lid lifters, all at home. Prior to that, however, the Bonnies had won 12 straight home openers between 2004 and 2016.
• The Bonnies were two different teams at home in the Reilly Center and on the road in 2022-23. At home, Bonaventure produced an impressive 11-4 record a year ago. Away from home, though, the Bonnies were just 3-14 including a 2-11 mark in true road games. The home rims were kind to the Bonnies - they scored nearly 73 points per game at The RC last year. In road games, though, that dropped under 62 points per contest. At home, they shot nearly 37% from 3-point land and on the road the number dipped to 32%. No player had bigger splits than Daryl Banks III - he averaged 20.8 points and shot 42% from beyond the arc (55-131) at home. On the road, he posted 10.9 ppg and shot 24% from deep (22-90).

THE EXPERIENCE FACTOR

• Combined, the Bonnies roster boasts 725 career games and 562 starts at the Division I level. Among Atlantic 10 teams, only Duquesne has more career game experience on its roster (740) while the Bonnies have more combined career starts than any other A-10 squad.
• Daryl Banks III (121), Mika Adams-Woods (121), Charles Pride (112) and Moses Flowers (102) have all played more than 100 career games with Banks (109) and Adams (104) owning more than 100 career starts each.
• St. Bonaventure has three 1,000-point scorers on the roster in three fifth-year products: Charles Pride (1,528 points), Daryl Banks III (1,382) and Moses Flowers (1,143). Adams-Woods is also close at 955 while Kyrell Luc enters the year with 765 points.
• The Bonnies return all six players who started double-digit games last year - Banks III (32), Luc (32), Assa Essamvous (32), Chad Venning (29), Barry Evans (21) and Flowers (11).

 
SHOOTERS SHOOT

• The Bonnies have nearly 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 has registered 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.

 
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Assa Essamvous is a familiar face with a different name this year. He was known to fans as Yann Farell last year, but his full legal name is Yann Farell Assa Essamvous. To better represent his family lineage from his native Gabon, he wishes to be referred to as Assa Essamvous this season. To honor his family, he will wear "Assa" on the back of his jersey this season, the name he has always been called by his parents. Essamvous came to the United States five years ago while most of his family remains back home in Gabon, a country of approximately 2.3 million people on the coast of Central Africa. Essamvous is from Libreville, the country's largest city and capital.
 
TRENDING NUMBERS
11-5 –  The Bonnies are 11-5 in season-openers under head coach Mark Schmidt.
7  – New NCAA uniform number rules allow players to wear any numbers from 0-99. Charles Pride is the lone Bonnie to take advantage of the new rules this year and will be the first Bona's player to wear the No. 7 since Michael Marens in 1942.
13  –  Assa Essamvous hit three or more 3-pointers in 13 games last year as a freshman.
24  – Daryl Banks III and Chad Venning tied for the team lead last year by each posting double-figure scoring 24 times apiece.
44%  – The Bonnies shot over 44 percent from the floor in games at the Reilly Center last season.
57%  – Moses Flowers accounted for 57 percent of Bona's bench points prior to moving into the starting lineup in late January when he started the final 11 games of the season. After moving to the starting lineup, Flowers upped his scoring average to 12 ppg.
62  – Assa Essamvous sank 62 3-pointers in his freshman season last year. Since 1990, no otherBonnies freshman has shot over 41 percent from beyond the arc with at least 50 makes on the year. No other Bonnies freshman has made more 3-pointers in their collegiate debut since Tim Winn in 1996-97 (69).
86%  – The Bonnies return 86% percent of their minutes from last year, sixth-most in the country among all Division I teams according to T-Rank.
137  – Kyrell Luc handed out a team-high 137 assists last season.
1,000  – St. Bonaventure has three 1,000-point scorers on the roster in three fifth-year products: Charles Pride (1,528 points), Daryl Banks III (1,382) and Moses Flowers (1,143). Next up: Mika Adams-Woods who enters the year at 955 career points.
5,008  – St. Bonaventure has four fifth-year players (Banks, Flowers, Pride, Adams-Woods) and the quartet owns a combined 5,008 points at the Division I level.
 
SERIES HISTORY
St. Bonaventure and Longwood are matching up for the first time in the sport of men's basketball.
 
BONNIES VS. BIG SOUTH
St. Bonaventure has played a current member of the Big South just one time: The Bonnies beat Presbyterian, 79-72, in 2007 at a tournament in New Mexico.
 
ABOUT LONGWOOD

• Longwood was selected to finish fifth in the Big South preseason poll, just two points behind fourth-place Garner-Webb. The Lancers earned a first-round bye in the Big South tournament after finishing the 2022-23 regular season with a 12-6 conference mark. The Lancers were bounced by Campbell in their first game of the conference tournament.
• The Lancers have secured back-to-back 20-win seasons, winning 46 games over the past two years.
• Longwood returns six players from their 2022-23 roster. Seniors Walyn Napper and DA Houston come back to the Lancers lineup after averaging 9.4 and 7.2 points per game respectively. Losses for the Lancers include their 2022-23 top-scorers Isaiah Wilkins and DeShaun Wade.
• There are 10 additions to the roster, five transfers and five freshmen. The 2022 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year Johnathan Massie comes to Longwood after spending two years at McNeese State. Massie averaged 10.5 points and 4.6 rebounds in his sophomore season with the Cowboys.

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