DAYTON, Ohio — Mark Schmidt, understandably, did his best to downplay the magnitude of this matchup.
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team, he said, was preparing for this one in the same fashion it did for VCU and every game before it. The Bonnies would be focused on playing well, not on the number attached to their opponent’s name.
Perhaps those things are true.
The challenge — and opportunity — ahead of Schmidt’s team on this Wednesday in western Ohio is far from the same as what it’s experienced so far in this promising 2019-20 campaign, however.
Dayton officially cracked the Top 10 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, vaulting from No. 13 to 7, ahead of perennial powerhouses Duke (No. 8), Villanova (No. 9) and Kentucky (No. 15). Its sophomore star, Obi Toppin, is being viewed as a National Player of the Year candidate.
The Flyers (16-2, 5-0), whose only two losses are to No. 3 Kansas and No. 23 Colorado, both in overtime, aren’t just the best team in the Atlantic 10 this season — they’re one of the best in the country.
And that’s against whom Bona, with star center Osun Osunniyi still a question mark, will test itself tonight (7 o’clock, WPIG-FM, WHDL-AM, CBS Sports-TV) inside vaunted University of Dayton Arena.
“We know what we’re going into,” Schmidt said. “Dayton’s a really good team; it’s a hard place to play, just like VCU. We’ve just got to prepare the way we need to prepare and go in there and challenge them, and play to win. We know it’s going to be difficult, but we’re going to do the best job that we can, and hopefully in the last five minutes, it’ll be close and we can pull it out.”
Added sophomore guard Jaren English, echoing his coach’s sentiment: “We’re going to go out there and compete as hard as we can, play as hard as we can. Toppin’s a great player, a great prospect. Dayton’s a great team, and their fans — that arena’s tough to play in.
“But I think our guys are ready. I think we’re tough enough to play in that environment and I’m excited to see what they have for us.”
For Bona (12-6, 4-1), it’s the second in a treacherous three-game stretch … and what figures to be the most difficult.
Minus Osunniyi, who sat with a concussion, the Bonnies were handled in their first attempt at a resounding league road win, falling to VCU, 91-63, on Saturday in a game that was over in the first 15 minutes.
Four days earlier, the Flyers raced past that same VCU team inside UD Arena, 79-65.
The Bonnies’ chances of pulling off the biggest win of the Schmidt era figure to hinge largely on the availability of Osunniyi, who was still in concussion protocol as of Tuesday and was described as “questionable” for tonight.
Even if the 6-foot-10 center plays, however, Bona will be as big an underdog as it’s been in recent memory.
Dayton, which owns non-league victories over Georgia, Virginia Tech and Saint Mary’s, has beaten its opponents by an average of 17.3 points per game. It leads the league while ranking Nos. 1 and No. 5 nationally in field goal percentage (51.9) and scoring offense (82.8 points), respectively.
The Flyers barely kept their perfect league record intact last week, needing overtime and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Jalen Crutcher to win in Saint Louis, 78-76. Their four other conference triumphs, though, have all been by at least 13 points.
How has coach Anthony Grant’s team made such a quick jump from a team that finished third in the A-10 last year to the No. 7 team in the country this season?
It combined a solid returning core, which includes guards Crutcher (14 points) and Trey Landers (11 points) with a talented group of eligible transfers, including Rodney Chatman (Chattanooga) and Ibi Watson (Michigan, 11 points), brought back forward Ryan Mikesell from injury and watched as Toppin blossomed into one of the most dominant players at this level.
“They’ve got high-level players,” Schmidt said. “Toppin’s much-improved, Crutcher is one of the most clutch players (in the league), they’ve got seniors with another year’s experience. They’re good because they’ve got good players who are experienced.”
Dayton’s offense, marked by high-flying dunks from Toppin and strong 3-point shooting, figures to be the sternest test to date for the Bona defense, which entered the week ranked No. 1 in the A-10 in field goal percentage defense (.390).
“They’re good in the open court, they’re good in the half court,” Schmidt said of Dayton. “You just can’t let them get the easy ones. Just like any team, you’ve got to make them earn their buckets. If you turn the ball over, they’re going to get out on the break, and now it’s going to be dunks and open 3s. You try to limit that as much as you can.”
For Bona, still 11-2 in its last 13 games — and 11-0 this season when Osunniyi plays at least 18 minutes — that starts with trying to contain Toppin, the athletic 6-foot-9 forward who was recently named by The Athletic as the midseason National Player of the Year and is expected to be a lottery pick in this June’s NBA draft.
Toppin is currently averaging 19.6 points, which ranks second in the A-10, and 7.7 rebounds per game.
“He’s the known,” said Schmidt, whose teams are just 2-14 against the Flyers since 2008. “You try to do the best job you can, limit him as much as you can. We know he’s going to get his points, you just try to make sure you make it difficult on him, don’t give him any easy ones.
“He’s going to get some open court stuff, he’s gonna get a couple dunks, you just try to make him work for what he gets.”
