#7 ST. BONAVENTURE (20-12) vs. #6 DUQUESNE (22-11)
Saturday, March 16 - 3:30 p.m.
Brooklyn, N.Y. - Barclays Center
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: Bonnies Online Network

OPENING TIP

• The St. Bonaventure men's basketball team has advanced to the Atlantic 10 semifinals following thrilling wins over 10th-seeded La Salle (75-73) and No. 2 Loyola Chicago (75-74) in double overtime. St. Bonaventure will play sixth-seeded Duquesne after the Dukes upset the 3 seed, Dayton, Thursday night.
• St. Bonaventure is 16-11 in A-10 Tournament play under head coach Mark Schmidt. 
• The Bonnies have now reached at least the quarterfinals in nine of the last 11 seasons the tournament has been completed. The Bonnies have won at least one A-10 Tournament game in nine of the 14 seasons they have qualified under Coach Schmidt.
• This year marks the sixth time that the Bonnies have reached the A-10 semifinals under Coach Schmidt and 10th time in program history. Schmidt's Bonnies have been to the title game three times (2012, 2019, 2021; winning in '12 and '21). SBU is seeking its sixth appearance in the A-10 Championship Game  in program history and third since 2019 (1984, 2000, 2012, 2019, 2021). 
• In Wednesday's second round win over La Salle, the Bonnies had six players score in double figures for the first time since Dec. 18, 2019 vs. Niagara. 
• Thursday's quarterfinal win over Loyola Chicago gave the Bonnies 20 wins on the year. This year marks the sixth 20-win season during the Mark Schmidt Era and 18th in program history. 
• In Bona's two Brooklyn wins so far during the Atlantic 10 Tournament, Daryl Banks III is averaging 16.5 ppg, including 22 points in Thursday's win over Loyola Chicago - 20 of which came after halftime. Mika Adams-Woods is posting 14.0 ppg in 42.1 minutes per game this week while Noel Brown has posted double-figure scoring in back-to-back games for the first time this year (14.0 ppg, 9-13 FG, 4.5 rpg). Adams-Woods played 48 minutes in the double OT win over Loyola Chicago.
• The last time the Bonnies were a No. 7 seed: 2011 when the Bonnies lost a heartbreaker, 75-73, in double overtime vs. 10th-seeded La Salle. Prior to that, the Bonnies had only been the No. 7 seed twice, winning first round games in both 1984 and 1985. In 1984, the Bonnies were a Cinderella story as they beat Penn State, Saint Joseph's and George Washington to reach the A-10 Championship Game for the first time in program history before falling to West Virginia.

QUARTERFINAL LOOK BACK
Watch our Visual Recap of Thursday's thriller vs. Loyola Chicago.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for Saturday's game are available now for $65 by clicking the link below or by calling the SBU Ticket Office at (716) 375-2500 beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 15.

• Seating in the Bona section is open seating.
• The only way to guarantee your seat in the Bona section is to purchase through the SBU Ticket Office.
• All tickets will be sent to purchasers via email from Ticketmaster.
• Click here to purchase online

PREGAME MEETUPS
40/40 Club - Barclays Center
620 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Saturday, March 16, 2024
1-3 p.m.

Tip-off at 3:30 p.m.
General Admission - $30
Young Alumni (2014-2023) & Students - $20

Official Bonnies Post-Game Gathering immediately following each game 
McMahon's Public House
39 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217


BONNIES AT BARCLAYS
St. Bonaventure is 8-7 all-time at Barclays Center including 3-1 this season. Bona defeated Oklahoma State, 66-64, before falling to Auburn, 77-60, in this year's Legends Classic. The Oklahoma State win was Bona's first in the building since the 2019 Atlantic 10 semifinals and snapped a three-game skid at Barclays. In Atlantic 10 Tournament games played inside Barclays Center, the Bonnies are 7-5. 


ATLANTIC 10 TOURNAMENT NOTES

• St. Bonaventure needed double overtime to beat Loyola Chicago on Thursday to move to 2-0 vs. the Ramblers this year. It was just the third double OT game in Atlantic 10 Tournament history - and the Bonnies have been involved in all three. Bona lost a 2011 first round game to La Salle and a 1995 quarterfinal contest in 2 OTs vs. Saint Joseph's. Thursday was Bona's first overtime win in an A-10 Tournament game in program history. 
• Noel Brown came to SBU after transferring from George Washington where he played the first three seasons of his collegiate career. Brown averaged no higher than 3.0 ppg at GW, but has been a valuable piece of the Bonnies rotation this year, posting nearly 6 ppg. For the season, he has connected on over 72% of his field goal attempts. Bona's season record is Osun Osunniyi's 61.5% in 2019-20, but the program record book minimum (and that for national rankings) is 2.5 field goals made per game - Brown is currently at 2.3 FG/game. The current national leader in field goal percentage, AJ Braun of Wright State, is at 68.9%.
• Brown has been key for the Bonnies off the bench this week, posting 11 points and four boards in the second round win over La Salle and 13 points and five rebounds in the quarterfinals vs. Loyola Chicago.
• Assa Essamvous has averaged 7.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in the two wins so far.
• Daryl Banks III is 15-for-15 at the foul line, including 12-12 vs. Loyola to tie a career-high. His eight rebounds in the game are also a season-best.
• Bona held Loyola to just 33% shooting overall Thursday, the second-lowest total by an opponent this year behind only Duquesne in the first meeting of the season vs. the Dukes (30%).

TAKE WHAT'S FREE

• St. Bonaventure ranked 23rd in the nation this year by shooting 76.9% from the free throw line. Among Atlantic 10 teams, only VCU had a better success rate in the regular season. 
• The Bonnies don't get to the line a ton, though, as their 13.8 free throws made per game rank just 175th in the nation.  Daryl Banks III leads the team, ranking fifth in the A-10 at 86.8% for the regular season.
• Bona's ability at the line came in clutch in their win over Loyola Chicago as they went 27-31 at the foul stripe.

TRENDS & NOTABLES

• Charles Pride finished the regular season as one of 31 active Division I players with 900+ career rebounds. Only three active guards in the country - Baylor Schierman (Creighton), Christian Ray (Delaware) and Tanner Holden (Wright State) - have more career rebounds than Pride.
• Pride committed 18 turnovers this season in over 800 minutes of game action, ranking 36th nationally in turnover rate according to KenPom. He committed multiple turnovers in a game just twice during the regular season, that coming back-to-back at Fordham (3) and vs. Davidson in an overtime game (2) in mid-February. 
• Moses Flowers did not score in the quarterfinal win over Loyola Chicago, snapping what was a six-game streak of double figure scoring. In the final five games of the regular season, Flowers led the Bonnies with 14.2 ppg.
• SBU is second among all A-10 teams in turnover margin for the year (+2.3), behind only first-place Richmond (+3.1). The Bonnies also stand 49th nationally in turnover margin.
• Chad Venning has 99 blocks the past two seasons with the Bonnies, already moving into the program's top-10 list. He currently stands tied for eighth in school history with Jerome Spellman, '96. 
• Venning played in his 100th career game Feb. 21. In career game 101, he surpassed 1,000 points - over 800 of which have been scored in a Bonnies uniform. 
• Venning had scored in double figures in 15 of the first 16 A-10 games of the year, but went without scoring 10+ in back-to-back games for the first time during the entire year in the final two contests of the regular season (at GW, vs. SLU). 
• Daryl Banks III has 131 3-pointers as a Bonnie the past two years – that total ranks 14th in program history. Over the last five games, Banks is averaging over 16 ppg.
• Banks failed to score a point in the regular season finale vs. Saint Louis after scoring 26 and 23 points back-to-back off the bench in the previous two contests. The SLU game was his first time in the starting lineup since January. It is the only time in 64 games with the Bonnies that he has not cracked into the scoring column and was the first time he had not scored in a game since Feb. 27, 2021 vs. Rider while with Saint Peter's,
• Barry Evans had a career-high four blocks vs. Loyola Chicago Feb. 27. He also tallied a season-high nine points vs. Saint Louis in the regular season finale.
• Assa Essamvous came off the bench for the first time in his career in the regular season finale vs. SLU. He had started 61 consecutive games.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 134th meeting between the longtime A-10 rivals. St. Bonaventure leads the series, 70-63. St. Bonaventure had won 20 of the previous 24 meetings prior to this season, but Duquesne scored their first season sweep of the Bonnies since 2009. 

Nearly every game in recent years has come down to the wire: 11 of the last 18 games have been decided by six or fewer points, including the first meeting of the year when the Dukes held on for a 54-50 win.

In 104 seasons of basketball, the Bonnies have only played Western New York rivals Canisius (171 meetings) and Niagara (161) more than Duquesne. 

St. Bonaventure is 11-4 vs. the Dukes since Keith Dambrot took over in 2017-18.

In Atlantic 10 Tournament games, the Bonnies are 4-2 vs. their regional rivals, including a win in the last meeting which came in the 2021 quarterfinals as the Bonnies went on to win the league crown. The teams have never met later than the quarterfinals of the A-10 Tournament previously, however. 

The Bonnies are looking to avenge two regular season losses to the Dukes. Bona shot just 33% from the floor combined in those games and just 7-28 from 3-point land. Charles Pride was a bright spot, averaging 18.0 ppg and went 13-24 from the floor in those two games. 


ABOUT DUQUESNE

• Duquesne upset No. 24 Dayton, 65-57, in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinal round for the first time since 2009. The Dukes beat Saint Louis in the second round, 83-73.
• Jimmy Clark III led the Dukes with 16 points and Dae Dae Grant finished with 11 in the win over Dayton. 
• Grant paces the team at 16.5 ppg for the year while Clark adds 15.2 ppg as the only two players on the roster averaging double figures.
• Clark and Grant both earned spots on the A-10 Second Team while Clark also was named to the A-10 All-Defensive Team.
• Duquesne got on a roll in the second half of the A-10 campaign, turning around an 0-5 start to earn the No. 6 seed at 10-8 in league play. 
• The Dukes rank fourth in the A-10 and 42nd nationally in defense, holding opponents to 66.7 ppg. They average 71.2 ppg, good for just 12th in the A-10 and 245th nationally.