Posted: Feb 21, 2020
ST. BONAVENTURE (17-9, 9-4 A-10) vs. RICHMOND (20-6, 10-3 A-10)
Saturday, Feb. 21 - 6:30 p.m.
Reilly Center
Online Coverage - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
TV: NBCSN
Complete Game Notes (PDF)
OPENING TIP
- St. Bonaventure is looking to bounce back from a rare February setback. The month of February has been very good to St. Bonaventure. Since 2016, the Bonnies are 30-8 in February and have won 18 of the past 21 games during the month. The Bonnies have not lost back-to-back February games in five years.
- While playing without two members of its starting lineup, the Bonnies dropped back-to-back games at home to begin the season. St. Bonaventure has not lost consecutive games at home multiple different times in the same year since the 2014-15 season.
- Freshman Justin Winston is on this week's Atlantic 10 Weekly Honor Roll after averaging 16.0 ppg and shot 52 percent from the floor including a career-high 20 points in a win at Saint Joseph's Feb. 11.
- Osun Osunniyi's 9.3 rebounds per game during Atlantic 10 play rank fourth in the conference.
- Kyle Lofton is the only player in the Atlantic 10 to average over six assists per game this year and the only A-10 player to hand out double-digit assists three different times this season.
SELL-OUT CROWD
Saturday's game is officially a sell-out, the second of the season for St. Bonaventure. The game will be broadcast live nationally on NBCSN.
Buffalo Bills legend Jim Kelly will serve as the team's honorary captain and will be available to sign autographs for fans prior to the game. For information on how fans can get an autograph, please click here.
TRENDING NUMBERS
10 – A win Saturday would give Bona six straight years of 10 or more A-10 wins, lengthening the longest active streak in the league.
10.4 – The Bonnies have posted the lowest amount of
turnovers per game during A-10 play of any league team (10.4).
34.6% – St. Bonaventure has shot nearly 35 percent from distance during the conference season, ranking third among all A-10 teams.
59 – In 17 victories this year, the Bonnies are allowing 59 points per game to opponents. In nine losses, they've surrendered on average 77.8.
64.4% – Osun Osunniyi is shooting 64.4% from the floor in his 10 A-10 games, best in the A-10. Dayton's Obi Toppin is second (63.0%).
73.2% – The Bonnies are shooting better than 73 percent at the line for the season as a team, ranking fourth in the A-10.
PREVIOUS MEETING
St. Bonaventure 66, Richmond 57 (1/26/19)
From there, the score remained close. It was a 54-53 Bona lead when Nelson Kaputo made a three-pointer from the corner in front of his team bench with 3:00 to play to give the Bonnies some breathing room.
Osun Osunniyi then blocked a shot by Richmond's Grant Golden, and on the other end of the court Osunniyi slammed home a lob pass from Courtney Stockard to extend the Bonnies' lead to 59-53 with 2:36 remaining.
Kyle Lofton had 21 points in the win while Osunniyi hauled in 11 rebounds.
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 27th meeting in a series that Richmond leads 17-9. The Bonnies have won the last three games, though, and four of the past five meetings with the
Spiders.
The Bonnies started that stretch with an 84-68 win at the Reilly Center Jan. 31, 2016 and have reached 80 points or more in three of the past five meetings.
RICHMOND NOTES
• The Spiders have won five games in a row, including a signature win over crosstown rival VCU, 77-59, last weekend.
• Richmond entered the week with four players averaging double digits including Blake Francis (17.2 ppg) who ranks third in the A-10, along with Jacob Gilyard (13.7 ppg), Grant Golden (13.1 ppg) and Nick Sherod (12.8 ppg).
• Gilyard has been a defensive presence for the Spiders, averaging 3.2 steals per game, first in the A-10
• As a team, Richmond is shooting the ball well at 47 percent from the field (second in the A-10) and 37 percent from deep (third in the A-10).
JUSTIN'S JUST GETTING STARTED
Freshman Justin Winston has been playing his best ball of the season as of late. The former four-star recruit posted his career high of 20 points Feb. 11 at Saint Joseph's, besting the 19 he scored in a win over Rutgers in November. A fixture in the starting lineup for most of the season, Winston averaged 11.0 points while shooting better than 52 percent during Bona's five-game winning streak Jan. 29-Feb. 11 including a career-high five assists vs. Fordham Jan. 29 and career-best seven rebounds Feb. 1 vs. George Mason. He has committed just one turnover in the past four games. He is on this week's Atlantic 10 Weekly Honor Roll after averaging 16.0 ppg in two games last week.
LOFTON'S LOFTY NUMBERS
- Sophomore Kyle Lofton is quickly becoming one of the nation's top point guards. Lofton leads the A-10 in assists per game (6.1 apg - no other player is over 6.0), total assists (158) and minutes per game (38.5 mpg). Nationally, he ranks 17th in total assists, 21st in apg, 25th in assist/turnover ratio and fourth in minutes.
- During A-10 play, Lofton ranks third in the league by shooting over 44 percent from beyond the arc.
- He handed out a career-high 11 assists in the win over Hofstra Dec. 7 and matched that with 11 more Dec. 14 vs. Gannon and again Dec. 18 vs. Niagara. He's the first Bonnies player to register double-digit assists in three straight games since Marques Green achieved the feat in 2003. Lofton is in good company – Green today ranks as Bona's all-time assists leader (8th in A-10 history) with 657 and was selected to the program's All-Time Team.
- He has finished with six or more assists 21 times so far during his Bonaventure career.
- Lofton has played 36 or more minutes in 45 of 60 career games played and entered the year with the most minutes played last season of any returning A-10 player. He's played the full 40 11 times this year.
DOWNTOWN DOM
- Bonnies sophomore Dominick Welch finished non-conference play second among all Atlantic 10 players with 38 three-pointers. Currently, he ranks third in the league for the year in shots from long range. He has hit at least one 3 in 23 of 26 games this year.
- More than just a perimeter shooter, Welch also ranks second on the team in rebounding (6.6 rpg). He ranks 14th among all A-10 players in rebounding and tallied a career-high of 14 rebounds Jan. 29 at Fordham. In conference play, his aggressiveness on the boards has led to 7.5 rpg and a top-10 standing in the league. He is second on the team on the offensive glass with 46 offensive rebounds this year.
- In 25 games last year, he hit 43 3-pointers and shot 36 percent from distance. His 43 3's were a team-high during the '17-18 campaign. He surpassed that total in his 16th game this season.
- He finished his high school career as the all-time leading scorer in boys Western New York history (2,376 points at Cheektowaga).
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