By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — There’s something about the Spiders that makes the Bonnies’ offense hum.
Of the five best scoring performances the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has had in the Atlantic 10 this season, two have come against Richmond. Scoring 80 points at home and 94 points on the road, the offensive capabilities of the team were put on display both times.
Unfortunately, there’s also something about the Bonnies that makes the Spiders’ tick.
Despite Bona’s high-scoring efforts, Richmond won both meetings with Bona in the regular season, claiming the first 89-80 back on Jan. 7 and the second 99-94 on Feb. 21.
“We’ve had a hard time keeping the ball in front of us and we’ve had a hard time keeping the guys off the foul line, and that’s what happened,” Bona head coach Mark Schmidt said. “They got into the paint, they drove and kicked, and when they didn’t drive and kick, we fouled them. … That’s been the problem all season, especially in the Atlantic, 10, us trying to keep the guys in front of us. Either they get by us, or we foul. You can’t give up 14 3s and give up 28 foul shots and expect to win. I think we’re fourth in the league in offensive efficiency. So it’s not our offense that’s been the problem. It’s us stopping people.”
Bona went 12-of-16 from the free throw line and 12-of-26 from 3-point range in game two, solid numbers if they were not overshadowed by Richmond’s 21-of-28 from the stripe and 14-of-31 from range.
One of the positives from the game for the Bonnies, and a part of how they were able to keep pace with the Spiders, was the reemergence of Daniel Egbuniwe.
In the three games prior to round two with Richmond, Egbuniwe had scored a combined six points, including an empty outing against Duquesne on Feb. 14. In fact, he had hit double figures in just one of his previous eight games.
Ahead of the game at Richmond, Schmidt challenged Egbuniwe to step up his offense.
And Egbuniwe answered with a season-high and joint-career-high 22-point performance while hitting a career-high six 3-pointers.
“He played well offensively,” Schmidt said of Egbuniwe. “When he’s shooting the ball we’re that much better offensively, we can space it out a little bit more. He still needs to rebound and defend, just like all the other guys. But from an offensive standpoint, he shot the ball really well.”
Schmidt will be hoping his team can keep its offense red-hot as they prepare for their penultimate home game of the regular season.
The Bonnies are set to welcome Rhode Island into the Reilly Center on Feb. 25 as both look to pick up critical wins down the stretch of the campaign.
The Rams have been up-and-down as of late in terms of results, falling to both Fordham and La Salle on opposite sides of a massive 81-76 win over then-No. 18 ranked Saint Louis at home. They don’t necessarily shoot the ball all that well, sitting 11th in the conference in field goal percentage (44.3%) and points per game (71.5), but it is the physical nature of Rhody that Schmidt has his eyes on.
“They don’t have great shooters, but when they do shoot it, they can really score some points because they’re a downhill team,” Schmidt said. “They’re off the bounce, they’re attacking guys, and you try to keep them out of the paint. If they’re hitting 3s then that causes a lot of problems, and that’s what happened against Saint Louis. But if you see the La Salle game, they scored 46 points. They’re a physical team, downhill, very aggressive.”
Specifically, Schmidt pointed out Tyler Cochran and Jahmere Tripp as players that have the ability to cause headaches for his team.
Cochran leads Rhode Island with 14.5 points per game and is second on the team, in terms of players who have played more than five games, with 5.5 rebounds per game. Tripp, who has been out since Rhody’s Feb. 7 game, averages 12.5 points and 4.1 rebounds.
“Their threes and fours are a big concern, Cochran and Tripp, if Tripp plays, because they’re physical guys, they’re the prototypical combo forwards in our league,” Schmidt said. “They can ball screen, they pop, they can shoot it, they take you off the dribble, and they can post up. So, if you switch it, and you have your little guy on them, that presents problems.”
Cochran also leads the A10 in steals per game, averaging 2.7 per contest. In fact, the Rams are the second-best in the A10 in turnover margin (1.86) and steals per game (7.79). So, handling that physicality while in possession will be pivotal if the Bonnies are to replicate the positive results they had in limiting fast break points at Richmond.
“We did a good job at Richmond in the fast break,” Schmidt said. “They had 28 in the first game, and we won (the category) in the second game. But it’s the same thing, we gotta take care of the ball. They play the ball screens hard, so we got to do a good job in the ball screen offense, but we got to take care of the ball. That will keep them from getting out and running. Most teams in our league, or in any league, when you get numbers, that’s when you’re at your best. So we got to try to keep it in the half court by being ball strong and making good decisions.”
Jonah Hinton and Myles Corey are the other two Rhody players averaging double-figure points at 13.9 and 10.3 per game, respectively. For Hinton, it will be a return to the Reilly Center as he played for the Bonnies last season before an off-season portal move within the conference. He averaged 8.4 points per game last season.
St. Bonaventure will tip-off against Rhode Island on Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.
