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Brett Rumpel

Bonnies Wrap Regular Season Slate at UMass Saturday

3/3/2023 9:49:00 AM

By: Scott Eddy, Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Communications
ST. BONAVENTURE (14-16, 8-9 A-10) at UMASS (14-15, 5-12 A-10)
Saturday, March 4 - 2:30 p.m.
Amherst, Mass.
TV: USA Network
 
  • St. Bonaventure enters the final weekend of the regular season looking to secure its spot in the Atlantic 10 Tournament with a first round bye. A win Saturday would lock the Bonnies into the No. 8 seed in the A-10 Tournament and a date in the second round vs. the No. 9 seed Wednesday in Brooklyn.
  • The Bonnies have had a .500 record or better in Atlantic 10 play each season since 2014-15.
  • A win Saturday would ensure that the Bonnies again better their preseason A-10 ranking. SBU was picked 10th in this year's preseason poll. The program has finished better than their preseason ranking every year but one since 2012-13.
  • The Bonnies will have an eight-year streak of double-digit Atlantic 10 wins snapped this year, but can still come within one tally of that mark with a win on Saturday.
  • Four of Bona's conference setbacks have been by six points or less with losses to Rhode Island, La Salle, Duquesne and George Washington coming by a combined 11 points.
  • Regardless of their seeding, the Bonnies will head to the A-10 Tournament knowing they have the ability to beat anyone in the bracket. St. Bonaventure owns wins over the top two seeds after scoring victories vs. both the regular season champion in VCU as well as second-seeded Dayton. Bona's truly represents the potential wide-open nature of this year's A-10 Tournament: SBU owns wins over the top two seeds, but also suffered setbacks to the current No. 14 and No. 15 seeds in Rhode Island and Loyola Chicago on the road.
  • Daryl Banks III is fresh off a career-high 36 points in last Sunday's win over Saint Joseph's. For Banks, it was his third 30-point game of the year. He also totaled 31 points in a win over UMass Dec. 31.

TRENDING NUMBERS
3 – Yann Farell has hit at least three 3-pointers in 12 games this season.
8-1 – The Bonnies are 8-1 this season when committing fewer fouls than their opponent. The lone exception was a Feb. 8 loss to La Salle when the Bonnies finished with 16 fouls as opposed to La Salle's 17.
9-2 – Bona is 9-2 this season when holding opponents to under 40% shooting from the floor. 
22 – Yann Farell scored a career-high 22 points in the first matchup against UMass in December.
48 – Bona had 48 points at halftime in last Sunday's win over Saint Joseph's, the Bonnies' best first half scoring effort this year.
57.9% – Chad Venning ranks second in the A-10 in field goal percentage this season among all players with at least 200 FG attempts at 57.9% from the floor. The only player ahead of Venning is Dayton's DaRon Holmes (59.5%).
70 – Last Sunday's 89-76 win over Saint Joseph's was Bona's first win this season when allowing 70 or more points to an opponent. 
76 – Daryl Banks III stands fourth in the A-10 in 3-pointers made this year with 76. Banks has multiple 3s in 21 of 30 games this year and at least one in 25 contests. All five games where he has not hit a three have come on the road. 
100 – Moses Flowers played in his 100th career game last Sunday vs. Saint Joseph's. Both he and Daryl Banks III are members of the 1,000-point club as well.
678 – Bonnies assistant coach Chris Lowe played collegiately at UMass where he graduated as the Minutemen's record-holder in career assists with 678, a total that ranks sixth all-time in Atlantic 10 history. During his playing career, he became just the seventh player in A-10 history to surpass 1,000+ points and 600+ assists.

FAMILIAR FACE ON THE CALL
St. Bonaventure legend David Vanterpool will handle color commentary duties on Saturday's broadcast for USA Network. 

Vanterpool helped lead the Bonnies back to national respect, taking Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team honors in 1991-92. As a senior, he averaged 17.5 ppg and was named First Team All-A-10. More importantly, he led the 1994-95 team to the NIT - the first for the program since 1983. Vanterpool stands 14th all-time in career scoring with 1,474 points and is also among the program's leaders in assists (401, eighth), rebounding (630, 22nd) and three-pointers (106, 19th). His 247 steals were at the time a school record and a total that still ranks fourth in program history. A player in the NBA for Washington and New Jersey, Vanterpool has also served as a well-respected assistant coach in the NBA in recent years. He was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006 and selected to Bona's All-Time Centennial Team in 2019. 

PLAYER NOTES
  • Daryl Banks III has scored in double figures in 24 of 30 games in a Bonnies uniform. He ranks 10th among all Atlantic 10 players in scoring this season at 15.8 ppg. That total would represent the highest scoring total in a season by a Bonnies player since Jaylen Adams in 2017-18 (19.1 ppg).
  • Moses Flowers has been an offensive spark for the Bonnies since joining the starting lineup Jan. 28 at VCU. He has scored in double figures in all but one game as a starter. In nine games as a starter, he's averaged 11.9 ppg.
  • Chad Venning is third in the A-10 for blocks with 43.
  • Kyrell Luc stands fifth among all A-10 players in steals (1.7 spg) and fifth in assists (4.2 apg). Luc, VCU's Ace Baldwin and Davidson's Foster Loyer are the three players who rank in the top five of both categories. 
  • Yann Farell ranks eighth in the A-10 for 3-pointers made this season with 60 treys, most of any conference freshman. Farell also ranks second on the boards among all A-10 freshmen, behind only GW's Maximus Edwards (6.7 rpg). This week, he and Edwards were named the A-10 Co-Rookies of the Week. For Farell, it was his fifth top rookie honor this season, tying him for second in program history.
  • Redshirt freshman point guard Brett Rumpel had one of his best showings of the year last Sunday vs. Saint Joseph's, playing a career-high 25 minutes with five points, three assists and three rebounds. In the last five games, he's been averaging nearly 17 minutes per game in an enhanced role as the season continues.

SERIES HISTORY
The Bonnies and Minutemen will be meeting for the 75th 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 (84). 

UMass holds a 41-33 series lead after dominating the early years, but the Bonnies have won the past 10 meetings and 14 of the last 16.

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 make up for lost time this year, book-ending conference play against each other. 


LAST MEETING
St. Bonaventure 83, UMass 64 (12/31/22) 
Daryl Banks III delivered a game-high 31 points, including six three-pointers, while freshman Yann Farell was electric in the second half as he scored all of his career-best 22 points after intermission.

Bona shot almost 50 percent for the game and opened the contest on a 36-19 run. 

UMass got within 11, 48-37, three minutes into the second half but it would be as close as the visitors could chip away to.

Two minutes later, Bona's lead was back to 19 as Farell caught fire.

The five-time A-10 Rookie of the Week went 9-for-11 in the second half, after an 0-of-6 start, including four buckets from long range. He added 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the year.

ABOUT UMASS
  • The Minutemen started strong under first-year head coach Frank Martin, going 9-3 in non-conference play, but have struggled to a 5-12 record in A-10 action and are locked into a spot in one of Tuesday's first round games in Brooklyn.
  • UMass is trying to snap a two-game losing skid after an 88-79 loss at Duquesne Wednesday night and a 72-54 setback vs. Dayton at home last weekend.
  • The team has been playing shorthanded for much of the A-10 slate. Point guard Noah Fernandes hasn't played since Jan. 11 due to an ankle injury in a huge setback for the club. He was the team's leading scorer at over 13 ppg. The team's second-leading scorer, forward Matt Cross (12.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg) has also not played since suffering an injury Feb. 14 vs. Loyola Chicago. 
  • Despite the injuries, UMass continues to average nearly 71 ppg on the season and is one of the league's better rebounding teams, ranking fourth with a +3.4 margin.
  • UMass is 7-6 on its home floor this year.

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