ST. BONAVENTURE (14-9, 5-6 A-10) at FORDHAM (10-13, 4-6 A-10)
Wednesday, Feb. 14 - 7:00 p.m.
Bronx, N.Y.
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Bonnies Online Network

OPENING TIP

• St. Bonaventure has been a bit of a rollercoaster team this season, as evidenced by its 5-6 A-10 record. Recently, the Bonnies have merged up-and-down swings into the same game to provide a pair of memorable comebacks: In their last two wins, Bona has rallied from double digits down to score wins. The Bonnies rallied from a 13-point deficit with just over three minutes left in the first half to down UMass, 79-73, on Feb. 7. In the Jan. 30 win over VCU, Bona scored its largest comeback win in over a decade, roaring back from 20 down to shock the Rams, 67-62.
• Bona is the only Atlantic 10 team to score multiple conference wins so far this season when rallying from 13 or more points down.
• The Bonnies look to even their conference record, entering mid-February with a rare record below .500 in A-10 play. SBU has produced a winning Atlantic 10 record in eight of the past nine years, averaging over 11 A-10 wins per year since 2014-15.
• February has been winning time during the Mark Schmidt Era at St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies are 46-20 during the month of February since 2016.
  Five of Bona's six A-10 losses are by single digits. The lone exception came at Richmond when the Spiders hit a bucket in the final seconds for a 65-54 final.
• Charles Pride is on this week's Atlantic 10 Weekly Honor Roll after averaging 20.5 ppg in two contests last week. He posted a game-high 22 points vs. Duquesne last Saturday and also had 19 points in a win over UMass last Wednesday.
• Chad Venning has scored in double figures in all but one A-10 game (six points at Duquesne) and 12 of the last 13 contests overall.
• The Bonnies look to wake up their offense in road contests. In 12 home games, the Bonnies average almost 80 ppg and are shooting over 48% overall as well as over 37% from 3-point land. In 11 games away from home, the Bonnies average 67 ppg while shooting 42% overall and 34% from distance.

SERIES HISTORY
Wednesday marks the 50th meeting between the Bonnies and the Rams. St. Bonaventure leads the series, 29-20. Fordham swept the home-and-home season series last year which snapped what was an 11-game winning streak for the Bonnies vs. their New York rival dating back to 2013. 

In all, the Bonnies have won 17 of the last 22 games vs. Fordham dating back to 2010. Fordham has won three in a row in the series for the first time since the Rams captured seven straight matchups between 2005-08.

TRENDS & NOTABLES

• Charles Pride entered this week ranking 23rd among all active Division I players in career rebounds with 886. Only two guards - Baylor Schierman (Creighton) and Christian Ray (Delaware) have more career rebounds than Pride.
• Pride has just 10 turnovers in over 630 minutes of game time this season, ranking sixth nationally in turnover rate according to KenPom.com.
• The Bonnies entered the week ranking top 100 nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com. In those rankings, the Bonnies ranked 97th in defense and 83rd in offense.
• St. Bonaventure is the only Atlantic 10 team to erase multiple deficits of 13+ points in conference victories this year. The Bonnies roared back from 20 points down in the first half against VCU to win on Jan. 30 before rallying from 13 down in the first half vs. UMass last Wednesday.
• Those two rallies are the only two games in which the Bonnies have won this year when trailing at halftime (2-7). 
• Conversely, the Bonnies are 12-2 when leading at the half – their only setbacks coming vs. Canisius in the second game of the year and Feb. 2 at Dayton when they led, 30-28, at the break.
• Chad Venning had four blocks in last Wednesday's win over UMass. He now has at least one swat in 25 consecutive games and 34 of 35 looking back to last year. He is just one block off his mark of 46 swats last year while his 91 blocks in a Bonnies uniform stand eighth in program history. In last Wednesday's game, he broke a tie with Essie Hollis, '77, for ninth.
• Daryl Banks III has 112 3-pointers as a Bonnie the past two years – that total ranks 18th in program history. Banks has made 76 of those 3-pointers in games played at the Reilly Center.
• Charles Pride and Mika Adams-Woods combined for 43 points vs. Duquesne on Saturday, posting 22 and 21 points respectively. It was the first time this year that the childhood friends from Syracuse both scored 20 points in the same game.
• Noel Brown posted eight points in 16 minutes off the bench Feb. 7 vs. UMass, his highest scoring output since a 13-point effort in a win over Rhode Island Jan. 17.
• Mika Adams-Woods is approaching a career milestone: He enters this week with 378 career assists. He had a career-high 115 helpers last year as a senior at Cincinnati and owns 72 this season. 

ABOUT FORDHAM

• The Rams rank just 226th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 73.6 ppg, but the team is 24th in blocks per game (5.0), 42nd in turnovers forced per game (14.6) and 35th in steals per contest (8.7).
• Senior forward Abdou Tsimbila is fourth in the Atlantic 10 in offensive rebounds per game (2.5) and is 12th in total rebounds per contest (6.5) while ranking second (and ninth nationally) in swats per contest (2.4). Senior guard Kyle Rose leads the league in thefts with 49 steals.
• Senior guard Japhet Medor, a UTSA transfer who was honorable mention All-Conference USA last year, leads the team in scoring as one of three players averaging in double figures at 11.5 ppg while sophomore guard Will Richardson (10.4 ppg) and Elijah Gray (10.2 ppg) are in double figures as well while sophomore forward Josh Rivera (11.2 ppg), a Patriot League All-Rookie Team pick last year at Lafayette, adds 9.3 ppg.
• Second-year coach Keith Urgo led the Rams to a magical 25-8 season last year including a 12-6 mark in A-10 play for one of the best seasons in recent memory in the Bronx. Fordham was selected seventh in this year's preseason conference poll.
• In the first meeting of the year between the Rams and Bonnies, Kyle Rose led Fordham with 19 points and seven rebounds, going 6-for-10 from the floor. Medor posted 16 points and Tsimbila had three blocks and seven boards. For the Bonnies, Chad Venning led the way with 22 points and seven rebounds with Charles Pride posting a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds.
• Fordham stands 4-6 in the A-10 so far. The Rams are coming off a 75-60 loss to VCU, but have been idle for eight days following a weekend bye. In addition to a win at SBU, Fordham's other league wins are at Saint Louis (67-65), Rhode Island (71-68) at George Washington (119-113 in triple OT). Thus far, the Rams are 0-5 in A-10 play on their home floor with losses to VCU, Richmond, Loyola, Davidson and La Salle.

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