ST. BONAVENTURE (8-3) vs. AKRON (8-3)
Saturday, Dec. 30 - 4:00 p.m.
Cleveland, Ohio - Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Bonnies Online Network

OPENING TIP

• St. Bonaventure looks to finish non-conference action strong, having won six of the last seven games. The lone setback: a neutral court loss vs. No. 15/14 FAU Dec. 16. The Bonnies led for over 24 minutes of game time in their upset bid, but saw the opportunity for a nationally-ranked win thwarted in the late minutes thanks in large part to a costly turnover total of 21. FAU then defeated No. 4 Arizona in its next game this past weekend to jump to No. 7 in the AP Top 25.
• Bona's defense has been key to an 8-3 start: SBU is allowing just over 64 ppg, ranking first among A-10 teams and 42nd nationally.
• Moses Flowers had his best game as a Bonnie last time out in a Dec. 22 win over Binghamton as he scored a game-high 25 points. 
  His previous SBU best was a 20-point effort last season vs. Richmond. While at Hartford 2019-22, he tallied six games of 24 or more points.
• The Bonnies have battled injuries this year, playing just five games thus far with a full roster. Charles Pride returned to the lineup Dec. 16 after missing three games due to an ankle injury suffered while he was the team's leading scorer and rebounder. Flowers (one game) and Kyrell Luc (five games) have missed time during the non-conference as well, but the Bonnies appear to be nearing full strength as the non-con wraps up. 
• The FAU game aside, Bona has generally taken good care of the ball this season, owning a +2.4 turnover margin. Two SBU newcomers have been especially strong - Pride has just three turnovers in over 251 minutes of game time thus far. Mika Adams-Woods, meanwhile, has 48 assists against 19 turnovers from his point guard position. 
• Adams-Woods has "cooled off" after making 19 consecutive field goals earlier this month. He now is shooting a cool 59.4% for the year, second-best among all qualifying Atlantic 10 players behind only Josh Cohen of Massachusetts (61%).
• The Bonnies are playing their third game of the season in an NBA arena when they take to the court at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers. St. Bonaventure went 1-1 in Brooklyn's Barclays Center, home of the Nets, last month at the Legends Classic - a similarly named event - with a win over Oklahoma State before falling to Auburn in the title game. 
• SBU has played in the Cavs' arena twice previously - most recently, the Bonnies defeated Akron in December 2020. Bona also lost in the 1996-97 season-opener vs. Eastern Michigan there.
• A win Saturday would give Bona its best non-conference mark since going 10-2 in 2017-18.

TICKET INFO
Tickets can be purchased from the St. Bonaventure University Ticket Office at tickets@sbu.edu or (716) 375-2500.

MIKA MOMENTUM

• Mika Adams-Woods was a four-year standout at Cincinnati but has been posting the best numbers of his career in a Bonnies uniform during non-conference play.
• In back-to-back games vs. Miami (OH) and Buffalo on Nov. 25 and Dec. 2 respectively, he tied his career high of eight assists. Entering the season, he had two career 20-point games. He achieved that feat in three straight games Dec. 2-9 vs. Buffalo (20 points), at Niagara (new career-high of 25 points) and vs. Siena (23 points).
• Against Niagara, Adams-Woods went 10-for-11 from the floor (including 5-5 from beyond the arc). It was the first time a Bonnies player had made at least 10 field goals with that high of a shooting percentage in a game since Jalen Adaway went 11-for-12 in a win over Saint Joseph's Jan. 6, 2021. He followed that up by going a perfect 9-for-9 vs. Siena Dec. 9, the first time a Bonnies player finished with that stat line since Peter van Passen did so vs. Fairleigh Dickinson in 2000. Between the Niagara and Siena games, he converted on 19 straight field goal attempts and 10 consecutive 3-point tries.
• He entered the season averaging 7.9 ppg for this career but is averaging 15.2 ppg so far this year and is shooting an eye-popping 59% from his point guard spot. 

BLOOMING FLOWERS

• Moses Flowers has been on a hot streak as non-conference play comes to a close. In the Dec. 22 win over Binghamton, he poured in 25 points, representing his highest-scoring output in a Bonnies uniform. It also ties Mika Adams-Woods' 25 points Dec. 6 at Niagara for the most by a Bona player this year.
• Flowers was averaging 4.7 points per game through the first four contests this year. Since that point, he's posted 13.6 ppg with outstanding shooting numbers across the board: 49% from the floor (30-61), nearly 49% from distance (19-39) and 89% at the line (16-18).
• Flowers has registered double-figure scoring in five straight games and six of the last seven.

BELIEVE IN BROWN

• Redshirt junior Noel Brown is making a big impact in his first season with the Bonnies. In three seasons at George Washington, Brown scored double figures twice in 68 games. At SBU, he tied that mark in a three-game span, scoring a career-best 16 points Nov. 25 vs. Miami (OH) before totaling 15 points two games later at Niagara. He has served as a strong backup to starting center Chad Venning who himself enjoyed huge production jumps last year, his first with the Bonnies, when he went from averaging 7.2 ppg and 3.0 rpg the previous year at Morgan State to 12.7 ppg/5.6 rpg last year. 
• Brown has converted 76% of his field goal attempts so far (28-37).

PRIDE OF THE BONNIES

• Bonnies grad guard Charles Pride is in rare company when it comes to his lofty career statistics. He is one of three guards in the country with 1,500+ points and 750+ rebounds and one of just nine active players overall to reach those career totals, and the only player not currently with a Power 6 conference team. (see game notes for more)

TRENDING NUMBERS 
2.5 – Mika Adams-Woods currently has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.5.
20  – The Bonnies have seven players on their active roster who have single-game career highs of 20 points or more. Nationally, only TCU (9), BYU (8), Missouri (8) and New Mexico (8) have more.
46  – St. Bonaventure received 46 points from its bench in the Dec. 22 90-64 win over Binghamton. It was the first time the Bonnies have posted 40+ bench points since Dec. 16, 2017 in a win over Vermont when they posted exactly 40. Bona's 46 bench points represented the program's highest bench scoring since also reaching that total in a Dec. 15, 2012 win over Cleveland State - the Bonnies posted 46, 44 and 44 points off the bench in a consecutive three-game span that season. 
69%  – Over the last five games, Mika Adams-Woods is shooting nearly 69% from the floor (35-51).
75.5 – The Bonnies are averaging 75.5 points per game. That would represent the best offensive production for the team since 2017-18 when the Bonnies averaged 77.1 ppg, finishing the year with a school record for wins (26) and an at-large spot in the NCAA Tournament where they beat UCLA in the First Four. 
77.4%  – St. Bonaventure ranks 17th nationally so far this year in free throw percentage at 77.4% on the season. Daryl Banks III is the best on the team at the line, sinking 93% of his tries at the line (25-27).
89  – The Bonnies have scored 89 or more points in four out of their last six games. The last time the program hit 89+ points in more games during non-conference play: 2016-17 when they did it six times.
800  – Charles Pride hauled in his 800th career rebound in the win over Binghamton.
890  – The Bonnies have drained at least 10 3-pointers in six of the last seven games, the lone exception being the loss to FAU Dec. 16. Bona's recent 3-point success is no surprise considering Bonnies players have 890 combined career 3s on the active roster. Daryl Banks III leads the Bonnies with 220 career treys.
1,500  – Daryl Banks III is 21 points away from 1,500 for his career.

SERIES HISTORY
Akron leads, 2-1
The Bonnies and Zips are meeting for just the fourth time and first since a December 2020 matchup which also took place in Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. That was the opening of a pandemic-shortened campaign that ultimately saw the Bonnies win both the 2020-21 Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament championships. The programs also met in the finale of the 2018 Cayman Islands Classic when Akron claimed a 61-49 win. That season, too, was a memorable one for the Bonnies as they would reach the 2019 Atlantic 10 Championship Game. The only other meeting between the squads came in the opener to the 1942-43 campaign when the Zips held on for a 39-36 win on the way to the NAIA national tournament that year, which was also the 15th and final season for the Bonnies under legendary head coach Mike Reilly. 

Previous Meeting: St. Bonaventure 81, Akron 74 (12/15/20)
The setting was definitely different. At times the environment of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, seemed cavernous and eerily silent with just a smattering of friends and family in attendance (announced attendance: 150).

And, along with the odd surroundings, there was also the fact that 283 days had passed since the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team had last competed in a real game.

The Bonnies showed little rust, though, in an 81-74 victory over Akron. St. Bonaventure led for 39:41 of game action and never trailed. Junior Osun Osunniyi poured in a career-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, adding eight rebounds and three assists. Dominick Welch posted 18 points and four assists while Kyle Lofton chipped in 17 points and five assists.

BONNIES VS. THE MAC
St. Bonaventure is playing its third game this year vs. a Mid-American Conference opponent, going 2-0 so far with wins over Miami (OH) and Buffalo. Bona is 49-29 all-time against current members of the MAC.

ABOUT AKRON

• Akron enters the weekend at 8-3 overall and riding a four-game winning streak with triumphs over Gardner-Webb (94-90), Northern Kentucky (77-76), Bradley (67-52) and non-NCAA opponent Miami Hamilton.
• The Zips have a productive offense, averaging better than 78 points per game and with 9.5 three-pointers per game, they rank 36th nationally in treys per contest. They're also a top-100 team in scoring defense, allowing 66.8 ppg, and they're strong on the glass: their +6.7 rebounding margin is a top-50 total in the country as well.
• Senior forward Enrique Freeman presents a matchup problem for anyone: the four-time MAC Player of the Week owns more double-doubles than any other player in the nation (9) and leads the country in rebounding (13.5 rpg) while scoring 18 points per game.
• Akron received a big boost earlier this month when senior guard Ali Ali was cleared by the NCAA to join the active roster after transferring from Butler. Ali started 12 of 18 games played at Butler last year, averaging 6.5 points and 2.7 rebounds. He started his career at Akron and was an All-MAC player in 2021-22, averaging nearly 14 points per contest. He's averaged over 17 ppg in three games since getting his season started Dec. 8.
• Akron is the MAC preseason favorite while both Freeman and Ali were on the All-MAC preseason teams. John Groce's squad went 22-11 last year and 13-5 in conference play.

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