It could be viewed as both a strength and a weakness.
At times, you could argue, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has played down to the perceived “lesser” teams on its schedule, surviving scares from the likes of Canisius, Coppin State and Loyola (Md.). Conversely, though, it’s elevated its collective game in the biggest contests of the year.
Indeed, Bona rose to the occasion against Boise State and Marquette, in the second half against Clemson and even last Saturday against Buffalo, against which it held a late 13-point lead without Kyle Lofton. It’s often revealed that character trait in the last decade under coach Mark Schmidt.
And it knows it’ll have to do so again today when it meets No. 15 UConn in the Never Forget Tribute Classic (4 o’clock, WPIG-FM, ESPN2-TV), a nationally televised showcase matchup, inside the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
“A little bit, you play in fear,” Schmidt said of a game of this magnitude. “If you don’t play at 100 percent against UConn, you’re not gonna win. And I think our guys understand that, and they understood that against Boise State, Clemson, Marquette and UB. That’s human nature. I would think that our guys would be ready to play, motivated, excited and are understanding they need to play their ‘A’ game if we’re gonna have a chance to win.”
FOR SOME, today’s matchup has lost some of its preseason luster.
It’s no longer a pairing between ranked teams after Bona fell out of the AP poll two weeks ago. There’s also the injury front: Lofton, despite telling nj.com on Wednesday that he hopes to play against UConn, is not expected to suit up as he continues to work his way back from an ankle sprain. Offsetting that is the fact UConn is without both its second- and third-leading scorers in 6-foot-9 forward Adamo Sanogo (16 points, 6 rebounds, abdominal) and 6-foot-6 forward Tyrese Martin (13 points, wrist), though there’s reportedly a chance the latter returns today.
Still, this could well go down as one of the Bonnies’ most pivotal contests of the season. And it’s one that pits teams of similar stature.
The Huskies (8-2), under former Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley, have been among the top defensive and rebounding teams in the country, ranking No. 18 nationally in field goal percentage defense (37.4 percent) while sitting at an impressive plus-9.8 on the glass. It’s what allowed them to hang with West Virginia on the road (in a 56-53 loss) without Sanogo and Martin on Wednesday night.
Bona (8-1), at its best, also hangs its hat on both of those categories. Both will be critical against the Huskies, whose only other loss is a 64-60 setback against Michigan State and who own wins over then-No. 19 Auburn and VCU.
“The tougher team’s gonna win,” Schmidt said. “The team that gets the most points in the paint, the team that out-rebounds; the tough areas.
“Toughness is taking care of the basketball, toughness is making good decisions. They pride themselves on that, and so do we. We just gotta play our game, and if we do that, then we have a chance. This team is really explosive in the open court, really explosive on the backboard, and those are tough areas, physical things … that’s what we need to do if we’re gonna win.”
UCONN STILL has its top scorer in redshirt senior guard R.J. Cole, averaging 16 points and four assists per night.
And, short-handed or no, it’s a team that’s built to win based on its overall makeup. UConn is long and athletic — “there could be times where they have five 6-foot-9 guys on the floor,” Schmidt noted. It boasts two other talented bigs in the 6-foot-9 Isaiah Wiley and Akok Akok, a former Bona recruit and another Putnam Science product. It’s tough, physical and, regardless of personnel, looks to pressure opponents defensively and score in transition.
Those, we know, are characteristics of a team coached by Hurley, who’d become a notable nemesis of Bona fans due to his sideline tantrums, and who was on the receiving end the last time the Bonnies beat a ranked team — his URI group in February of 2018.
“He’s an aggressive coach,” Schmidt said of Hurley. “They play an aggressive style; in your face, a lot of pressure defensively on the ball, a lot of pressure offensively by going downhill, pushing the ball in transition.
“He’s an aggressive personality, and usually your team takes on the personality of the coach, and they did at Rhode Island, and they’re certainly doing that at UConn. Just very, very aggressive.”
BONA, in recent years, has not only elevated its play on the bigger regular-season stages, it’s been resilient in adverse circumstances. This is a program, remember, that beat Maryland without Jaylen Adams in 2017 and downed Rutgers without Osun Osunniyi in 2019.
The Bonnies, almost certainly, will be without Lofton, who’s made considerable progress on his right ankle (he’s now out of the walking boot and moving with only a slight limp), but reportedly still wasn’t practicing as of Thursday. And even against a less-than-full strength UConn, they know a formidable challenge awaits.
“They’re all good players (either way),” Schmidt said of UConn, when asked how he viewed the Huskies without Sanogo and with a 50/50 chance of having Martin. “You prepare for everybody playing, that’s how you do it …
“They’re really talented, and if (Martin) doesn’t play, there’s somebody as good as him stepping in. They’ve got a lot of depth, and that’s one of the reasons why they’re so good. (Martin) playing or not playing, that doesn’t change the way we’re going to go about the scout. … We can’t not defend, we can’t not rebound; we can’t turn the ball over. It’s all the same things, but (just magnified in a game like this).”
