ST. BONAVENTURE (16-10, 7-7 A-10) at UMASS (17-9, 8-6 A-10)
Saturday, Feb. 24 - 2:30 p.m.
Amherst, Mass.
TV: USA Network
Radio: Bonnies Online Network

OPENING TIP

• St. Bonaventure finishes a two-game road trip at UMass Saturday, having been on the road for the week. The Bonnies will look to bounce back from a disappointing effort at La Salle on Wednesday night and try for a series sweep of UMass after beating the Minutemen at Reilly Center, 79-73, just over two weeks ago. 
• The Bonnies will try to get back above .500 in the Atlantic 10 with a win Saturday. 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.
• Chad Venning is a strong candidate for Atlantic 10 All-Conference honors. Venning has scored in double figures in all but one A-10 game (six points at Duquesne Jan. 23) and 15 of the last 16 contests overall. He currently ranks 15th in A-10 scoring (14.3 ppg), fifth in blocks (1.9 bpg) and ninth in field goal percentage (.534).
• February has been winning time during the Mark Schmidt Era at St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies are 48-21 during the month of February since 2016.
• Five of Bona's six A-10 losses were by single digits prior to Wednesday, making the 72-59 loss at La Salle a surprising aberration. Bona's has struggled on the road, though. In 13 games away from home, the Bonnies average 68 ppg while shooting 43% overall and 36% from distance (at home, the Bonnies average nearly 80 ppg). Bona seemed to solve their road struggles, however, by shooting 60% overall and 12-18 from deep in their 85-67 win Feb. 14 at Fordham before slumping at La Salle. Bona is 4-5 in true road games.
• Assa Essamvous is on this week's Atlantic 10 Weekly Honor Roll after averaging 19.0 ppg in two games last week. In addition to his amazing 7-7 perimeter shooting effort at Fordham for a career-high 23 points, he also posted 15 points in last Saturday's win vs. Davidson. 
• The Bonnies had five players score in double figures in the Davidson win, the sixth time this year SBU has achieved that feat.
• Both Chad Venning and Mika Adams-Woods can achieve individual career milestones in Saturday's game. Venning needs nine points to reach 1,000 for his career - he averages 14.3 ppg for the season. Adams-Woods enters the weekend with 398 career assists - he posts 3.7 apg on the season, tied for ninth in the A-10.

TRENDS & NOTABLES

• Charles Pride entered this week ranking 23rd among all active Division I players in career rebounds with 892. Only two active guards in the country - Baylor Schierman (Creighton) and Christian Ray (Delaware) - have more career rebounds than Pride.
• Saturday's game at UMass is a bit of a homecoming for Massachusetts natives Moses Flowers and Kyrell Luc, both who hail from Dorchester, less than two hours from Amherst. Flowers had his best game recently with 14 points at La Salle, his first double-figure effort since also having 14 points in the first meeting of the year with UMass Feb. 7. Flowers and Luc were bright spots in last March's loss at UMass as Flowers finished with 16 points, seven rebounds in two steals while Luc posted 11 points, six assists and three steals in their return to their home state. The game is also a homecoming for assistant coach Chris Lowe who played collegately 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.
• Assa Essamvous had the best 3-point shooting performance of the season by any Atlantic 10 player, percentage-wise, when he went 7-for-7 beyond the arc at Fordham Feb. 14. It also set the school record for most 3-pointers in a game without a miss. Essamvous and teammate Mika Adams-Woods are the only two A-10 players to have a perfect performance on 3-point attempts this year when making five or more treys in a single game. Adams-Woods went 5-for-5 in a December win at Niagara. 
• According to sports-reference.com, only three other Division I players this year have gone 7-for-7 or better from three-point land without missing an attempt: Jestin Porter of Middle Tennessee (8-8 on Feb. 17 in double OT vs. UTEP), Owen Lobsinger of Western Michigan (Jan. 20 vs. Bowling Green, 7-7) and Blake Hinson of Pitt (Jan. 20 at Duke, 7-7). Since 2010, it has only happened 50 times in a D-I game.
• Mika Adams-Woods had a career-best 10 assists Feb. 14 at Fordham. His previous best of eight was set earlier this season at Buffalo and vs. Miami (OH) in back-to-back games.
• Chad Venning has 95 blocks the past two seasons with the Bonnies, already moving into the program's top-10 list. He currently stands eighth in school history with Jerome Spellman, '96, next up on the list with 97 blocks. 
• Venning played in his 100th career game on Wednesday.
• Daryl Banks III has 118 3-pointers as a Bonnie the past two years – that total ranks 16th in program history. Banks has made 78 of those 3-pointers in games played at the Reilly Center. He's tied with Eric Mosley, '13. Next up: Kyle Lofton, '22 (122).
• Banks had his 80th career game of double-figure scoring last Saturday vs. Davidson. Among current Bonnies, only Pride has more (91).

SERIES HISTORY
The Bonnies and Minutemen will be meeting for the 77th time when they lock up Saturday.

St. Bonaventure has played just four schools more – Canisius (171 meetings), Niagara (161), Duquesne (130) and Saint Joseph's (84). 

UMass holds a 42-34 series lead after dominating the early years, but the Bonnies have won 11 of the past 12 meetings and 15 of the last 18. The Minutemen snapped what was a 10-game Bonnies winning streak in the series last March, though, as UMass came away with a 71-61 win in last year's regular season finale after Bona had scored a convincing 84-64 victory inside the Reilly Center in the 2023 A-10 opener.

ABOUT UMASS

• The Minutemen picked up a convincing win at home over VCU earlier this week to move to 8-6 in Atlantic 10 play thus far. 
• UMass also won at Saint Louis (84-73) and home over George Washington (81-67) in their recent hot stretch with only a heartbreaking 78-77 loss at home to Saint Joseph's in the middle. The Minutemen also scored a home win over George Mason (66-65) and Rhode Island (81-72) before a triumph at Richmond (69-59). 
• UMass is 12-2 at home this year.
• Offense has been a huge strength for UMass as the Minutemen lead the Atlantic 10 in points per game at nearly 80 ppg, a total that ranks 50^th in the nation. They also lead the league in offensive rebounds with 11 per game, standing 20^th nationally in that category. UMass also takes care of the ball: they stand 50th nationally and first in the A-10 in turnover margin at +2.5.
• Senior forward Josh Cohen is one of the A-10's leading scorers at 16.3 points per game while his 55.1% field goal percentage is third in the league. Fellow senior forward Matt Cross adds another threat inside at 15.5 ppg and 8.4 rebounds per contest while sophomore guard Keon Thompson (10.1 ppg) also averages in double figures. 

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