ST. BONAVENTURE (17-8, 5-7 A-10) at RHODE ISLAND (15-8, 4-7 A-10)
Wednesday, Feb. 12 – 7:00 p.m.
Kingston, R.I.
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Bonnies Online Network / 100.1 FM The Hero

OPENING TIP
The St. Bonaventure men's basketball team starts a week on the road as their Northeastern swing opens at Rhode Island Wednesday night. After Wednesday's game, the team will remain on the road to prepare for their game Saturday afternoon at Massachusetts.

STARTING FIVE

• A February losing skid has been extremely rare for the Bonnies in recent years. Since 2015-16, this is just the fourth time the Bonnies have lost back-to-back games in the month of February.
• Melvin Council Jr. has continued his strong play. He enters this week ranking as the Atlantic 10 steals leader with 52 while also standing fourth in assists with 103 dimes. He paces the Bonnies in scoring at 14.2 ppg.
• In Atlantic 10 action, Council is posting over 15 ppg.
• The Bonnies will need to find success on the road – four of their final six games will come away from the Reilly Center. SBU started the year 5-0 on the road but has lost the last four contests away from home.
• Redshirt freshman Noah Bolanga put together his strongest game of the season this past Sunday vs. George Washington, recording career highs in points (14), 3-pointers (4) and minutes (22).

SERIES HISTORY
Rhode Island leads, 43-32
The Bonnies and Rams meet for the 76th time on Wednesday night with Rhode Island having won seven of the last 11 meetings, a rare Atlantic 10 team the Bonnies have struggled with over an extended stretch in recent seasons.

Much of that is due to St. Bonaventure's struggles when traveling to the Ocean State where they have lost six in a row in Rhody's Ryan Center. The Bonnies have not won at Rhode Island since February 2013.

Bona has had a little better luck inside the Reilly Center, including a dominating 99-64 victory last season. The 99 points mark the most by a Bonaventure team vs. an Atlantic 10 opponent in regulation since a 104-80 win vs. UMass at home on Jan. 5, 1981. The specialty stats all leaned heavily in the Bonnies favor: SBU led 29-2 in turnovers, 44-28 in the paint, 22-4 in fastbreaks and 37-16 in bench tallies. Bona scored 51 points in the first half, the first time the team has tallied 50 or more points in a half since posting 51 in the second half of a Feb. 19, 2023 contest vs. George Washington.

The two programs first met in the 1961 NCAA Tournament where the Bonnies won, 86-76, in Charlotte, N.C.

OPENING TIP

• Bona's entire starting five is averaging double-figure scoring in Atlantic 10 games (or nearly) this season: Melvin Council Jr. (15.5 ppg), Noel Brown (12.8 ppg), Lajae Jones (10.8 ppg), Chance Moore (10.2 ppg), and Jonah Hinton (9.8 ppg).
• February has been winning time during the Mark Schmidt Era at St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies are 50-23 during the month of February since 2016.
• The Bonnies had 13 steals vs. GW on Sunday, their second-most this season, while scoring a season-high 23 points off turnovers.
• Council tallied six assists on Sunday, his seventh game of the season with six or more dimes. He has six or more assists in three of the last four contests.
• Noah Bolanga earned his first career start Jan. 18 vs. George Mason, posting a new career-high in points with eight after making a pair of 3-pointers for his first game of multiple field goals from beyond the arc this season. Bolanga has been playing his best ball of late, setting a new career-best with 14 points vs. GW. He entered last weekend shooting 23% (8-for-34) from deep on the year but has now totaled a 50 percent success rate (11-for-22) in A-10 play.
• Bona is looking to bounce back from scoring a season-low 52 points Sunday vs. GW.
• Xander Wedlow posted new career-highs in the win vs. Fordham Feb. 1 in what was likely his best game at the Division I level. He went 5-for-5 from the floor for a career-best 10 points along with four rebounds in just under seven minutes off the bench. 
• St. Bonaventure is 16-2 when winning the turnover battle this season. The Bonnies committed just six turnovers in the win vs. Dayton and eight the next time out vs. Fordham, but that number has jumped to double figures in each of the last two games.
• Entering this week, the Bonnies ranked 22nd in the country for scoring defense by allowing 64.4 ppg on average to opponents. The A-10 has proven to be a defensive league as three programs rank top-25 nationally in scoring defense this season.
• The Bonnies are committing just 13 fouls per game on the season, ranking sixth in the country for fewest fouls per contest.

ABOUT RHODE ISLAND

• The Rams started the season on a nine-game winning streak after being picked to finish 11^th in the A-10 preseason poll. Senior guard Jaden House was selected to the A-10's preseason third team.
• Senior guard Sebastian Thomas is one of the A-10's top scorers at 18.6 ppg, ranking third among all conference players. On the boards, sophomore forward David Fuchs averages 7.6 rebounds which is fifth in the league.
• Rhode Island has been tough to beat at home where the Rams are 11-2 this season.
• Rhode Island comes into the game losing four of their last five games.
• Rhody is ranked 10^th in the nation in free throw attempts per game (25.7) and ninth in free throws made per game (18.1) and stands 15^th in defensive rebounds per game (28.13) nationally.