ST. BONAVENTURE (13-8, 4-5 A-10) vs. UMASS (14-7, 5-4 A-10)
Wednesday, Feb. 7 - 7:00 p.m.
Reilly Center
TV: Peacock / NBC Sports Digital
Radio: Bonnies Online Network

OPENING TIP

• The Bonnies are in the midst of playing four of five games at home in the Reilly Center. The homestand, which was interrupted with a trip to Dayton last Friday, wraps with two games this week at The RC - first vs. UMass Wednesday night before Duquesne visits on Saturday. 
• St. Bonaventure scored a pair of big wins at home a week ago vs. Saint Joseph's and VCU to even its A-10 record at 4-4. The Bonnies then put #21/19 Dayton on red alert on the road last Friday night, leading by seven in the second half and trailing by just three under a minute to play before falling, 76-71.
• The Bonnies now return to the Reilly Center where they are 8-2 this season. On home court this year, SBU is averaging nearly 81 ppg with a scoring margin of +15.
• Bona erased a 20-point first half deficit in storming back to beat VCU, 67-62, last Tuesday night. It marked the largest comeback for the Bonnies in over a decade. 
• In 10 home games, the Bonnies are shooting nearly 49% overall and 37.5% from 3-point land. In 11 games away from home, the Bonnies average 67 ppg while shooting 42% overall and 34% from distance.
• St. Bonaventure owns the second-highest NCAA NET ranking of any Atlantic 10 team entering this week at No. 69. Only Dayton (17) is higher. First-place Richmond stood at No. 74 on Feb. 5.
• The Bonnies look to even their A-10 record with a win on Wednesday. Last season, the Bonnies finished 8-10 in A-10 and had a losing conference mark for the first time since 2013-14.
• February has been winning time during the Mark Schmidt Era at St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies are 45-19 during the month of February since 2016.
  Four of Bona's five 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 has just nine turnovers in over 560 minutes of game time, ranking 10th nationally in turnover rate. Point guard Mika Adams-Woods also has 68 assists against 29 turnovers. 
• Chad Venning has scored in double figures in all but one A-10 game (six points at Duquesne) and 10 of the last 11 contests overall.
• Friday's loss at Dayton was a rarity for two reasons: It marked the first time this year that the Bonnies lost when making 10 3-pointers (10-1) and just the second time they've lost when leading at half (12-2).
• SBU enjoys one of the best home court advantages in college basketball. Since 2015-16, the Bonnies are 55-15 (.786) at home in Atlantic 10 games.

WHERE TO WATCH
Wednesday's game will be available to stream for anyone with a Peacock subscription. 

The game is also available through NBC Sports Digital - login through your cable subscription credentials to watch on NBCSports.com or on the NBC Sports app.


TRENDS & NOTABLES

• Kyrell Luc has started the last four games at point guard. He started the first 63 games of his collegiate career - all 31 games of his freshman season at Holy Cross when he was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year and each of last year's 32 games in his first season at SBU. He helped key last Tuesday's comeback vs. VCU with six points in the second half.
• Luc had 11 points, six assists and three steals in last March's game at UMass, the last game he totaled double figures in. 
• Assa Essamvous scored in double figures in two of the past three games prior to Friday at Dayton (8 pts) after doing so just three times in the first 16 contests. A contender for Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year last season, he finished in double figures 14 times as a freshman.
• Charles Pride enters this week ranking 23rd among all active Division I players in career rebounds with 875. Only two guards - Baylor Schierman (Creighton) and Christian Ray (Delaware) have more career rebounds than Pride.
• Pride has hauled in double-digit rebounds in back-to-back games after doing so just twice in his first 16 games this season.
• The Bonnies rank top 100 nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com. In those rankings, the Bonnies rank 77th in defense and 85th in offense.
• Last Tuesday's win over VCU broke an on-going trend for SBU - it marked the first time this season that the Bonnies have won when trailing at the half (1-6). Conversely, Bona is 12-2 when leading at the half - their only loss when ahead at the break came in season's second game vs. Canisius - and last time out at Dayton.
• Daryl Banks III scored 31 points in last year's win over UMass at the Reilly Center on New Year's Eve 2022. It is one of three 30-point games in his career, all of which have come inside The RC.
• Assa Essamvous had a career-best 22 points in last year's win vs. UMass at The RC, his only career 20-point game thus far. He had a career-high nine field goals in that game.

SERIES HISTORY
The Bonnies and Minutemen will be meeting for the 76th time when they lock up Wednesday. 

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

UMass holds a 42-33 series lead after dominating the early years, but the Bonnies have won 10 of the past 11 meetings and 14 of the last 17. 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.

Bonaventure has won five in a row over UMass at home - the Minutemen last stole a victory inside The RC in February 2015.

ABOUT UMASS

• The Minutemen have won three of their past four games to move to 5-4 in Atlantic 10 play thus far. UMass held on for a wild 66-65 victory at home over George Mason on Saturday afternoon when an ill-timed Patriots foul sent junior guard Rashool Diggins to the line for the game-winning free throw with .8 seconds to play.
• 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.
• Offense has been a huge strength for UMass as the Minutemen lead the Atlantic 10 in points per game at 80.6 ppg, a total that ranks 46^th in the nation. They also lead the league in offensive rebounds with 11 per game, standing 11^th nationally in that category. UMass also takes care of the ball: they stand 37^th nationally and first in the A-10 in turnover margin at +3.1.
• Senior forward Josh Cohen is one of the A-10's leading scorers at nearly 17 points per game while his 55.8% field goal percentage is the best in the league. Fellow senior forward Matt Cross adds another threat inside at 15.5 ppg and 8.2 rebounds per contest while Diggins (12.8 ppg) and sophomore guard Keon Thompson (10.0 ppg) also average in double figures. Thompson is also second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.