By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — Statistically speaking, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has been one of the best offensive teams in all of the Atlantic 10 this season.
Currently ranking fourth in the conference in offensive efficiency, Bona shoots an average of over 46% from the field. But against George Mason last time out, the offense struggled to see the ball through the hoop from just about everywhere on the floor.
In Fairfax, the Bonnies shot just 37.7% from inside the arc, only marginally better than the 36.8% they shot from beyond. A significant portion of those inside misses were right at the rim too, with a number coming early in the affair which led to the substantial deficit they were left to try and erase throughout the remainder of the game.
In the eyes of head coach Mark Schmidt, it wasn’t necessarily that the Patriots were great defensively on the interior, it was that the defense on the perimeter was so sound they had a hard time getting the ball inside to get good looks.
“It was the pressure on the perimeter, that’s what caused us problems,” Schmidt said. “We couldn’t get the ball to the paint. It was their pressure on the perimeter, the pressure full-court, that got us out of our rhythm. We missed three or four layups in the beginning of the game and got off to a difficult start getting down 13-2. We played them pretty well, straight up, the last 35 minutes. But you can’t get off to bad starts. Their half court defense pushed our perimeter guys out.”
Ultimately, the poor offensive showing saw Bona finish with its lowest scoring output of the campaign. This comes off the back of consecutive 94-point outings, and therein lies the biggest problem. Consistency is something Schmidt has been chasing all season long with this team and while it was the offense against George Mason, for most of the year it has been on the other end.
“We’ll play ball screens a couple times good, and then we will mess up, and when we mess up, it just seems like every time we mess up the team scores,” Schmidt said. “When things are going well and you mess up, those teams miss it. But it just seems like every time we make a mistake, they make us pay. It’s keeping the ball in front of us, it’s transition defense, it’s not one thing. We do things well at times, we just don’t do them consistently. And that’s what you have to do if you’re going to win.”
Heading into its penultimate game of the regular season, finding some sort of consistency deep into the home stretch will be critical. Bona will play its final road game of the regular season at George Washington on March 4 and while the Revolutionaries may be sitting at 7-9 in conference play, that does not necessarily reflect the quality in the team. A number of their losses have come by single digits and for a while they were without their brightest star.
“Rafael Castro has been hurt, he was their first-team all-league player and when you lose one of your star guys, you’re not going to be as good as you thought you were going to be,” Schmidt said. “Now he’s back and they’re playing well. They should have beaten Dayton. They beat La Salle by 30. They got really good talent.”
In his second year with GW, Castro has excelled, establishing himself as the centerpiece to a potential A10 title challenger by averaging nearly a double-double at 15.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. He spent a few games out with injury, but now that he is back, Schmidt is wary of the issues he creates on both sides of the floor.
“He’s not overly skilled, but he has a great motor, great athleticism and great length,” Schmidt said. “He’s a guy that scores around the basket, he’s a great offensive rebounder, and averages four offensive rebounds per game. Then defensively, he can switch one through fives. He’s got great feet, he’s got great length, and he can block shots. He causes problems at both ends. He’s a really good player.”
George Washington’s depth is also a concern for the Bonnies, with the prime example being the emergence of Luke Hunger. In the wake of Castro’s injury, Hunger, who averages just 8.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, exploded onto the scene. Having previously hit double figures just five times this year, in a span of six games between Feb. 4 and Feb. 24, he put up double digits in all six, including a 31-point outburst against George Mason.
“The kid (Hunger), who replaced Castro, became a really (good option), he had 31 in one game,” Schmidt said. “They just got good size inside, two 6-11 guys. They got good size on the perimeter. They can shoot the ball, they make 10 3s a game, and they’re number one in the league in rebounding differential, so they cause a lot of problems, and they’re a really good team. They can beat anybody in the league.”
The GW big men draw a lot of attention, and rightfully so. But if they become too much of a focus, that opens up the team’s corps of guards to unload from range — something they have been prone to do.
This season, three players have taken over 130 attempts from beyond the arc for the Revs, two of which, Trey Autry and Tre Dinkins, have taken over 170. They have led to GW averaging double-figure 3s per game and, coming off a game in which they allowed George Mason to hit double their average of 3s per game, the Bonnies will want to shut down the airspace from deep.
“It’s difficult, they shoot 10 3s because you have to double-team the post,” Schmidt said. “So the hope is that we can do a good job in the post, and when they kick it out we can get out there and contest them a little bit better. With George Mason, they had four (3-pointers) at the buzzer, a couple off the backboard. So, they shot the ball well, and we had something to do with it, but they could probably sit out there and shoot 20 more and not make them. We just got to do a better job in the post against GW and do a good job doubling, and then hopefully we can rotate.”
St. Bonaventure and George Washington will tip-off in the nation’s capital at 7 p.m. on March 4.
