ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Mere minutes after Wednesday’s victory over Saint Joseph’s, Jalen Adaway was already looking ahead.
“The biggest thing from this point on is just not stopping,” the junior guard said in the postgame press conference, “continuing to work, that’s what we have to do. I’m glad it (paid off) tonight, and we’re looking forward to George Washington; we hope to get that game, too.”
Bona had just turned a corner, following up its road upset of preseason No. 1 Richmond with a 26-point drubbing of the Hawks. Adaway had hit a high point individually, scoring a career-high 24 points on 11-for-12 shooting in the latter triumph.
But just as quickly as it found that first real momentum of the season, that’s how fast it was halted.
Bona’s home game with George Washington, scheduled for Saturday at noon, has been postponed due to COVID-19 concerns within the Colonials program, the teams announced Friday afternoon. It was the seventh Bona contest to be affected by the coronavirus after six were previously canceled, and the third to be altered within 24 hours of a scheduled tip. The would-be home-opener with Saint Francis was called just an hour-and-a-half before game time while the UB game was wiped out the day before.
THE GOOD news is that, as a league game, this one will be rescheduled at a later date. However, it continues to be a frustrating situation for Bona, which has managed to play just five games (4-1, 2-1) since the season officially began on Nov. 25, and will have endured three pauses, numbering two weeks, 11 days and seven days, in that span.
George Washington notified Atlantic 10 and Bona officials of a positive COVID-19 test within its Tier 1 personnel group on Friday afternoon. In accordance with program policy, all GW Tier 1 members are now undergoing additional testing and contract tracing. Until that process is completed, all team activities will be paused.
The question now is when this game could be made up.
BOTH TEAMS have two bye weeks built into their remaining Atlantic 10 schedules, but no common open slots. Bona, for instance, has a gap from Jan. 23-30 and Feb. 6-14, but GW has a midweek game in both stretches … and vice-versa. The league could follow its recently established precedent of staging games on back-to-back days in the same location, and have the teams play twice when Bona visits the Smith Center on Sunday, Feb. 21, but coach Mark Schmidt’s team is slated to host La Salle that Wednesday. That would give it three games in a five-day span.
The A-10 also left the final Saturday of the regular season open as a make-up date, with Bona scheduled to finish the campaign three days earlier at Duquesne.
Either way, it’s a season that remains taxing, for both Bona and its foes.
The Bonnies’ last three altered games were due a positive test within the opponent’s program, something entirely out of their control. Their next contest is now scheduled for Wednesday at Fordham (2 o’clock). GW’s pause, meanwhile, came just two days after its Wednesday home game with UMass was postponed due to the riots, and subsequent curfew, at the Capitol building in D.C.
And now, once again, Bona is being made to the very thing that Adaway hoped his team could avoid after that 83-57 win over the Hawks: it’s being forced to stop.
Bona-Duquesne moved to ESPN Friday Night Showcase
On the same day it had a game postponed, Bona did receive one welcomed bit of news: It will once again get to take center stage on a Friday night.
The Bonnies’ home game with Duquesne, originally slated for next Saturday, has been moved to Friday, Jan. 15, and now becomes the Atlantic 10’s ESPN Friday Night Showcase contest, the league announced yesterday. This game replaces the previously scheduled Showcase matchup between Saint Louis and Davidson, which was postponed due to the Billikens being on a COVID-related pause. It will be aired live nationally on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. from the Reilly Center.
The adjustment gives Bona 10 nationally televised games during Atlantic 10 play this season, including three on the ESPN networks. Bona’s Feb. 28 home game against Dayton will air on ESPNU while its Jan. 23 contest at Saint Louis will be broadcast on either ESPN2 or ESPNU. It will also mark the Bonnies’ fifth appearance in the Showcase event since 2017-18, which included a trio of losses to Davidson (in 2018, ‘19 and ‘20) and a memorable win over Rhode Island (in 2018).
Longtime league and geographic rivals (it will be the 125th all-time matchup between the teams, the most for Bona against an A-10 foe), Bona-Duquesne has made for an especially entertaining pairing of late.
From 2016-20, the Bonnies won eight-straight over the Dukes, though five were by three points or fewer. A year ago, the teams split the season series, with Bona earning a riveting 83-80 win outside Pittsburgh and the Duke avenging that with an overtime win at the RC.
Bona and Duquesne were picked to finish fourth and fifth in this year’s preseason poll, respectively.
