St. Bonaventure hosts Fordham in what can be labeled ‘must win’ for both teams. The two are winless in A10 play as Fordham is 0-3 (9-7 overall) while the Bonnies check in at 0-2 (11-4 overall) . Something has to give and Saturday’s game at St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center should give us more answers.
The Bonnies started off with a loss at VCU on New Year’s eve. VCU has a distinctive and unforgiving, for visitors, home court advantage. Mark Schmidt’s group competed and played tough in an 89-82 setback. The home opener against Richmond on Thursday was an 89-80 loss. The score was similar to the opener but the game was decidedly different.
Richmond had a one possession lead at the break. Chris Mooney’s Spiders came out on a 7-0 run to build a double-digit lead. The difference was 16 points late in the contest when Bona went on an 8-0 run. The host Bonnies could draw no closer.
Defense was a deciding factor. The Bonnies allowed Richmond to shoot 42% from the floor. The Bona defensive efficiency was an extremely high 128. Defense is a concern of late. In A10 play, which yields a small sample, the Bonnies are among the top five in offensive efficiency (they were good for 115 against Richmond) and bottom five on defense. The charts follow:
TeamOffensive EfficiencyRichmond130George Washington124Saint Louis122St. Bona118VCU113
TeamDefensive EfficiencyDuquesne119La Salle119Saint Joseph’s123Richmond128St. Bona130
Interestingly, Richmond (2-1) is near the bottom. They allowed 115 to the Bonnies, as noted, and a whopping 151 in a 99-85 loss to George Washington.
Fordham enters coming off a 67-58 loss at home to George Mason. The previous Saturday they dropped an 83-75 decision at home against Richmond. The Rams are 12th in offensive efficiency at 100 while checking in at 9th defensively with a 113 metric.
Kenpom.com projects a 74-65 Bona victory. The game however is contested on the floor not on a laptop screen. The Bonnies have had their share of problems defending the perimeter. An occasional loss of a shooter off a ball screen or a slow rotation to close out off a ball reversal. These have been problematic. Fordham however is not a premier threat. In A10 play coach Mike Magpayo’s Rams shoot an eFG percentage of 44, at the bottom of the conference. They score only 26% of their points from beyond the arc, again, that mark is at the bottom of the conference.
Fordham does lead the A10 in offensive rebounding percentage at 44%. Keeping them off the offensive glass will be a key consideration for coach Schmidt and company.
A silver lining in the Richmond game may have been the fact the Bonnies had five players in double-figures led by Buddy Simmons with 18 points. The more potential scorers you have the more difficult you are to guard. A concern though, was the fact the Bonnies did not go deep into the bench. The Bonnies were outscored 28-9 in bench points in that meeting.
The Rams are led by Dejour Reaves, an Iona transfer, posting 16.5 points per outing. Reaves is a 6’2” guard, shooting 30% from three as he scores mostly inside the arc.
The big matchup will be between A10 leading rebounder Frank Mitchell of Bona and A10 runnerup Fordham’s Rikus Schulte. In offensive rebounding percentage, Mitchell shows a 17% rate (19th nationally) while Schulte is not far behind at 16% (29th nationally). The battle of the boards could go a long way toward determining this outcome.
Mike Magpayo is in his first season on Rose Hill. He came to Fordham following a five year tenure at the University of California, Riverside. Magpayo was the 2023 Big West Coach of the Year. Magpayo is familiar with the New York area and eastern scene having served as an assistant at Columbia University prior to his Cal Riverside days. He is a coach who is seriously invested in tempo free analytics and their application to program building.
Former Bona standout Glenn Hagan will have his number 23 retired on Saturday. Hagan was a member of Bona’s 1977 NIT champion.
