By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — After a troubling stretch to start the Atlantic 10 portion of its season, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team is off and running after picking up a win against Loyola Chicago.
The Bonnies started 0-5 in conference play and while that may already not be great, what made those defeats sting more was that they had a chance to win in just about each. Execution on the defensive side of the floor continuously evaded them and almost like clockwork, the offense ground to a near halt with under eight minutes remaining.
But according to Bona head coach Mark Schmidt, despite how poor their run of form had been, not once did he see unrest grow within his camp.
After the team’s 84-70 win over the Ramblers on Jan. 20, a game in which the Bonnies were losing at halftime, center Frank Mitchell noted that during the intermission, the players got together and swore they would do whatever it took to turn the ship around. Their dedication paid off as they flipped a 12-point halftime deficit into a 14-point win in just 20 minutes.
For that, Schmidt gave them their flowers.
“Players make plays, players win,” Schmidt said. “A lot of times when people say, ‘this coach has this many wins,’ the coach hasn’t won anything. Players win the games. I haven’t made a basket that counted in 40 years. But it was good to see that those guys were able to fight back, and they stuck together, and there was no pointing fingers when we were down by 12 at halftime. There was no pointing fingers when we had the five game losing streak, even though we led in four of those five games and had chances to win. … I thought they came out and played a terrific second half, both offensively and defensively (against Loyola Chicago). They won the game, not because of what we did as coaches, but because of what they did on the court. So it’s good to see that we can, we can fight back from adversity and overcome some of the negativity and win games.”
Darryl ‘Buddy’ Simmons II stole the show against Loyola with a 21-point second half performance that saw him finish with a game-high 26 points. Mitchell and Cayden Charles backed him up, each recording a double-double in the same game for the third time this season. But flying under the radar were Joe Grahovac and Andrew Osasuyi.
According to Schmidt, the big men, who have taken some time to adjust to the Div. I level, started to show their true capabilities against the Ramblers. And while they aren’t the typical back-to-the-basket bigs that he heavily utilizes, they and their skill sets are critical for drawing some attention away from Mitchell as he goes to work under the basket.
“Joe’s a face-up four man, and Andrew is more of a lob type threat,” Schmidt said. “But I thought they were a big positive. Joe played with a lot more confidence against Loyola, hit a couple shots, he defended his position better. I thought that was the best game Joe has played in a long time. And Andrew, even though his numbers weren’t great, did a really good job of protecting the rim and in ball screens. I thought both of those guys were positives and one of the reasons why we won.”
That kind of team performance was exactly what the Bonnies needed. But they will need even more of a complete-game if they are to stay in the win column as their next challenge comes in the form of the No. 24 ranked team in the nation, Saint Louis.
“They’re really good,” Schmidt said. “They got seven guys that shoot over 40% from 3s. They got a terrific big guy that sets the table for all of them. They’re 24th in the country for a reason. They got good players, they run good stuff and Coach (Josh Schertz) does a really good job with them.”
The Billikens are making their visit to the Reilly Center with an 18-1 record in tow. They have six players averaging at least 10 points per game, they lead the A10 in rebounding, average over 91 points per game and shoot a league-best 51.7% from the field all while holding opponents to under 36% in the same category. They lead the A10 in rebounding, 3-point percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio. By nearly every statistical margin, Saint Louis is the best team in the conference.
One of the areas that Schmidt has his players focussing on ahead of the matchup is the glass. Prior to the Loyola game, he noted that he needs to see more rebounding from players other than Mitchell and Charles. But once again, it was those two that carried the fair share of that load.
Against the Billikens, Schmidt’s key is limiting them to one shot per possession. If they can successfully get every player involved in keeping their guests away from the offensive glass, then it will make their job just that much easier.
“Rebounding is a critical part of the game,” Schmidt said. “If you can limit them to one shot, and you can get multiple shots, you have a better chance of winning the game. Frank and Cayden have done a terrific job throughout the season. And I thought Joe was a positive (against Loyola Chicago). I thought he was more active. And Andrew, even though Andrew didn’t rebound the ball, … still had a presence out there. But we need to get more guards, Buddy, Dasonte (Bowen), Achille (Lonati) and Daniel (Egbuniwe) to rebound the ball better. It can’t just be two guys. When those guys are rebounding the ball, we’re that much better.”
That being said, no job is necessarily easy with someone like Robbie Avila on the other side. A preseason first team all-conference selection and the marquee man Schertz brought with him from Indiana State prior to last season, Avila has been the engine behind the near-unstoppable force Saint Louis has been this year. Averaging a team-high 12.8 points, along with 4.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and shooting 53.4% from the field, Schmidt acknowledged how much of an impact he has on the game, likening him to three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić.
“He’s terrific. He’s one of those guys like the Joker,” Schmidt said. “He’s not a great athlete in terms of running and jumping, but his understanding of how to play, his IQ for the game is really high. He has a great skill set. They run that five-out stuff and he can really pass the ball. I would assume, just from watching, the game has really slowed down for him. It’s in slow motion. He orchestrates the whole offense. And not that they don’t have other good players, because they have other good players, but he really sets the table for a lot of those guys.”
Dion Brown (11.6 points), Trey Green (10.9 points), Amari McCottry (10.8 points), Kellen Thames (10.6 points) and Quentin Jones (10 points) are the other dangers on the Billiken roster.
St. Bonaventure will look to hand Saint Louis its first in-conference loss of the season on Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m. at the Reilly Center. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
