By: Ben Metcalf
RICHMOND, Va. – The St. Bonaventure men's basketball team will lift the lid on its 2025-26 Atlantic 10 schedule with a road matchup against VCU on Wednesday (Dec. 31) at the Siegel Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET, and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
To Be Frank
St. Bonaventure forward
Frank Mitchell has been one of the most productive players in the country this season. The senior forward posted a team-best 21 points and nine rebounds in the Bonnies' last game vs. Le Moyne (Dec. 20).
Mitchell's stellar performance ended a streak of six consecutive double-doubles. With nine double-doubles on the season, Mitchell is tied for third most in the country as of Tuesday (Dec. 30).
Most Double-Doubles in NCAA Div. I
Rank Name School #
1 Delrecco Gillespie Kent State 11
2 Michael Ajayi Butler 10
t3 Frank Mitchell St. Bonaventure 9
t3 Caleb Wilson North Carolina 9
Mitchell is averaging 11.4 rebounds per game, which leads all players in the Atlantic 10 conference and ranks fourth nationally. He ranks third in the nation with 148 total rebounds.
Most Rebounds in NCAA Div. I
Rank Name School #
1 Michael Ajayi Butler 159
2 Delrecco Gillespie Kent State 151
3 Frank Mitchell St. Bonaventure 148
4 Justin Neely UNC Greensboro 146
5 Caleb Wilson North Carolina 141
A remarkable number of Mitchell's rebounds have come on the offensive end. His 68 total offensive rebounds (5.23 per game) lead all of Division I.
Most Offensive Rebounds Per Game in NCAA Div. I
Rank Name School #
1 Frank Mitchell St. Bonaventure 5.23
2 Duke Brennan Villanova 5.09
3 Hannes Steinbach Washington 5.00
4 Giovanni Emejuru East Carolina 4.77
5 JT Toppin Texas Tech 4.67
Mitchell has tallied double-digit offensive rebounds two games this season, with a season-best 11 against Colgate (Dec. 10) and 10 vs. Ohio (Dec. 13).
Mitchell's total rebounding percentage of 20.6 and offensive rebounding percentage of 19.0 would both be school records if the season ended today, with the latter being the highest in school history by 6.0 percentage points.
Mitchell is no stranger to the top of the national rebounding leaderboards. In 2023-24 with Canisius, he averaged 11.6 rebounds per game, the fourth-most in Division I.
Dasonte Delivers
Redshirt junior point guard
Dasonte Bowen has been one of the Bonnies' top scoring options of late, posting 15-or-more points in each of the Bonnies' last three games.
The team's lone captain has reached double figures in six of his last seven games.
Bowen posted 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals in St. Bonaventure's last game vs. Le Moyne.
He recorded a career-best-tying 17 points against Ohio, adding seven assists and four rebounds. In the prior game against Colgate, Bowen posted 15 points and a career-best nine assists.
Over his last three games, Bowen is averaging 15.7 points, 6.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 43.8 percent (14-for-32) from the field and 89.5 percent (17-for-19) from the free throw line.
Bowen is currently leading the Atlantic 10 by a wide margin with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.29, while ranking 41st in Division I.
Highest Assist-Turnover Ratio in the Atlantic 10
Rank Name School #
1 Dasonte Bowen St. Bonaventure 3.29
2 RJ Johnson Rhode Island 2.53
3 Tarence Guinyard Duquesne 2.48
Bowen is averaging 4.3 assists per game on the season, tied for third most in the conference.
Most Assists per Game in the Atlantic 10
Rank Name School #
1 Christian Henry Fordham 5.54
2 Tarence Guinyard Duquesne 5.15
t3 Dasonte Bowen St. Bonaventure 4.31
t3 Justin Moore Loyola Chicago 4.31
t5 Kory Mincy George Mason 3.69
t5 Ashton Walker La Salle 3.69
Bonnies Off The Bench
St. Bonaventure has had several key performances off the bench in its signature wins this season.
In seven of the Bonnies' 11 wins, at least one player off the bench has reached double figures. The Bonnies have had two bench players reach double figures in two games this season.
More often than not, the player leading the Bonnies off the bench has been senior forward
Daniel Egbuniwe. Since returning from injury on Nov. 20, he has reached double figures four times.
Egbuniwe is averaging 10.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game since re-entering the rotation. He has been extremely efficient, shooting 53.1 percent (34-for-64) from the field and 45.7 percent (16-for-35) from beyond the arc in nine games.
SBU's bench production has led to a more balanced scoring attack this season. In St. Bonaventure's last game vs. Le Moyne, the Bonnies had six players in double figures for the third time this season. The team did not have six players with 10-plus points in any game in 2024-25.
The Nerd Corner
In the latest NET rankings published by the NCAA on Tuesday (Dec. 30), the Bonnies ranked 101st. In TeamRankings.com's RPI rankings, St. Bonaventure was ranked 25th in the country.
The Bonnies ranked 31st in FaktorSports' KPI rating, a metric used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
VCU Notes:
- The reigning Atlantic 10 champions enter Wednesday's matchup at 9-4.
- The Rams are on a three-game win streak, defeating Niagara (Dec. 15), American (Dec. 18) and Rider (Dec. 22) to close their non-conference slate.
- VCU employs a balanced array of scorers, with four players averaging 10-or-more points per game: Terrence Hill (13.1 ppg), Lazar Djokovic (12.2 ppg), Jadrian Tracey (10.5 ppg) and Nyk Lewis (10.3 ppg).
- Lewis has won Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week three times this season.
- Former St. Bonaventure player Barry Evans has started all 13 games for the Rams, averaging 9.0 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds per game. Evans played for the Bonnies from 2022-2024 before spending the 2024-25 season at Bryant.
- Bonnies assistant coach Nick Schmidt spent the 2024-25 season on Phil Martelli Jr.'s staff at Bryant as an assitant coach.
- The Bonnies have an 11-10 record against VCU.
- After defeating the Rams at the Reilly Center to open conference play last season (Dec. 31, 2024), St. Bonaventure dropped each of its next two matchups with VCU on the road and in the Atlantic 10 tournament.
