By SPENCER BATES
AMHERST, MA — Ahead of UMass’ switch to the MAC for the 2025-26 season, St. Bonaventure men’s basketball coach Mark Schmidt will always remember the Minutemen as “one of the teams that was at the top” of the Atlantic 10.
A team that has been within the conference since its inception in 1976, UMass played a major role in putting the A10 on the national stage. Now, as Bona prepares to face them in the regular season for the final time away from home, in-conference, it will look to steal one more win on their floor.
“UMass … were the top dog,” Schmidt said. “National Final Fours, them and Temple and then Xavier came in and they were the top dogs. They really represented the Atlantic 10 and really put the Atlantic 10, not saying on the map, but really gave it a national look. The Calipari teams, they put the Atlantic 10 on national television, along with Temple. We’ve missed Temple, and we’ll miss UMass too.”
But as much as the game is a sentiment for Schmidt and the Bonnies, business will come first. After enduring a heart-breaking 68-64 loss last time out at Rhode Island, and having won just two of their last eight games, they are desperate for a win in order to right the ship.
Bona was without Chance Moore against the Rams on Feb. 12, but in his wake there were a handful of good offensive performances from the four starters that would have been around him. Jonah Hinton found a groove early and led the team with 18 points. Co-captain duo Melvin Council Jr. and Noel Brown recorded 16 points apiece and Lajae Jones tacked on 10 to the tally. Unfortunately, Noah Bolanga, who stepped into Moore’s spot in the starting rotation scored just two after having had a career-high 14-point display against George Washington on Feb. 9. What also did not help was just two points coming from the bench, both scored by Xander Wedlow.
But it is less the offense that will need to be prepared come Saturday afternoon, but the defense that will need to shape up after folding in the second half against the Rams, allowing them to shoot over 50% from the field in the second half.
The Minutemen are led by Rahsool Diggins and Jaylen Curry at the guard positions, scoring an average of 17.4 and 12.8 points per game respectively.
In UMass’ last five games, Diggins has scored double figures in all but one and scored over 30 points in two (32 against Duquesne and 34 against La Salle). Curry is just as consistent of a scorer. He has 13+ points in six of the last seven games for the Minutemen, combining with Diggins for a lethal 1-2 punch.
The only other UMass player to average double-figure points per game is Daniel Rivera, a forward who scored 12 points last time out against Davidson. He will be partnered up with Daniel Hankins-Sanford, another forward who falls just short of the double-digit points per game mark but who has been just as successful over his last seven games in which he netted 10+ points in six.
But where Schmidt specifically has his attention focused is not the numbers, but the physicality that he knows UMass will attack with. A style, he noted, indicative of their coach, Frank Martin.
“They’re just like Rhode Island, they’re physical,” Schmidt said. “I’ve just watched them play against teams that we’ve played, and they’re physical. Frank is a tough, physical guy who plays blue collar, old school. He’s an old guy and he believes in those things, just like a number of us do. They really try to pound the ball inside. They got really aggressive guys … I know they have good guards. He had a couple guys stay with them, but, you know, a Frank Martin team is a blue collar team that just pounds the ball and plays really good defense.”
St. Bonaventure will be looking to break down that defense and get back on track as the end of the regular season is fast-approaching. It will tip-off against UMass on Feb. 15 at 12 p.m. in the Mullins Center.
