St. Bonaventure heads south to Washington DC following a week layoff. The Bonnies were last on the court a week ago in a convincing win over then first place Loyola Chicago. Bonas will now take on the George Washington Revolutionaries who enter tonight in last place in the Atlantic 10. The final week of the regular season is here. The conference tournament in Brooklyn draws near. This IS March.
The Bonnies
Mark Schmidt’s team comes into tonight’s matchup 18-10 overall and 9-7 in conference play. The Bonnies sit 0.5 game behind UMass for fifth place in the Atlantic 10 standings. However, a pair of wins over the bottom two teams in the conference will guarantee Bonas the five seed in next week’s A10 Tournament. The Bonnies have struggled on the road this season, though, especially in conference play. Bonaventure carries a 5-5 overall and 3-5 conference road record into tonight.
Chad Venning continues to lead Bonas offensively. The redshirt junior averages 14.5 points per game while also bringing down 5.0 rebounds per contest. Venning also leads the team in blocks with 51 while notching a solid 72.6% free throw conversion rate as a center. Mika Adams-Woods and Charles Pride are the other Bonnies averaging double figures. Adams-Woods scored 12.9 points per game to go along with 45 threes, an 83.3% free throw percentage and a team-high 99 assists. Pride averages 11.5 points to go along with a Bonnie-best 6.0 rebounds per game. The fifth-year senior also adds 37 threes, an 85.7% free throw percentage and 29 steals.
Moses Flowers and Daryl Banks III have kept their numbers consistent as the year has progressed. Flowers averages 9.6 points while Banks averages 8.9 points per contest. Flowers chips in 23 steals and leads the team in triples with 46. Banks has registered 72 assists, 43 threes and a team-best 87.0% clip from the line. Assa Essamvous has also continued his better play over the past few weeks. The sophomore averages 7.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while also racking up 37 threes and 26 steals.
Noel Brown and Barry Evans also continue to be extremely valuable pieces for Schmidt and his staff. Brown is clearly the best backup big this team has had in a long time. The George Washington transfer scores 6.0 points per game in relief of Venning. Evans has solidified his role as a sparkplug. His 3.2 points per game plays much bigger than a normal 3.2 PPG does. Evans adds 29 steals, 15 blocks, 35 assists and 5.0 rebounds per contest to his stat line.
The Bonnies enter tonight’s game 66th in the NET Rankings and 81st in the Kenpom Ratings. Bonas gives George Washington a chance to grab a quadrant two home victory.
Projected Starting Five: Assa, Adams-Woods, Flowers, Pride, Venning
The Opponent
The newly named Revolutionaries enter tonight’s game 14-15 overall and 3-13 in Atlantic 10 play. GW can only climb as high as the 14th seed in the conference tournament but are likely to finish last in the A10 for the regular season. Second year head coach Chris Caputo lost leading scorer Brendan Adams along with a pair of solid contributors in Ricky Lindo and Hunter Dean from a season ago. Roster turnover has been the theme in our nation’s capital this year.
George Washington has four players scoring in double figures this season and are led by returner James Bishop IV. The 6-foot-2 senior guard averages 18.0 points per game to lead his team. Bishop also leads the Revolutionaries in assists (126), made threes (61), three-point attempts (167), made free throws (133). He is one of four players on this team to have attempted more than 100 threes. It’s safe to say the offense runs through James Bishop.
Darren Buchanan Jr. has been right behind Bishop in scoring all season. The 6-foot-7 freshman scores 15.6 points and grabs a team-best 6.7 rebounds per game. Buchanan Jr. does most of his work inside while also recording 31 steals and 57 assists this season. The freshman is not a great free throw shooter as he is 112/176 (63.6%) from the line on the year. Garrett Johnson and Maximus Edwards are the other players averaging double figures. Johnson, a 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman, scores 13.4 points and hauls in 5.6 rebounds per contest this season. Edwards, a 6-foot-5 redshirt sophomore, averages 12.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Both players have attempted more than 125 threes each so far this season.
Guard Jacoi Hutchinson headlines the complementary scoring for GW. The freshman averages 7.2 points per game and is the only other player on this team averaging more than six points per contest. Hutchinson leads George Washington in steals with 33 while assisting on 61 buckets as well. Another guard that will work into Caputo’s lineup is Trey Autry. The freshman averages 5.4 points per game and sports a 34/106 (32.1%) mark from deep in 2023-24.
Finally, three other big men will see the floor for the Revolutionaries tonight. Babatunde Akingbola will start for GW. The 6-foot-10, 225-pound center scores 3.8 points per game while hauling down 5.6 rebounds per game. Akingbola also adds a team-high 77 blocks while also committing the most personal fouls (85) on the team. Benny Schroder and Antonie Smith Jr. will also be heard from in this game. Schroder averages 4.2 points per contest while Smith Jr. chips in 3.1.
George Washington sits 208th in the NET Rankings and 234th in the KenPom Ratings. The Revolutionaries would be a quadrant three win if the Bonnies come away victorious this evening.
Projected Starting Five: Autry, Buchanan Jr., Hutchinson, Bishop IV, Ankingbola
Players to Watch
Mika Adams-Woods – This game has the making of the guards putting on an absolute clinic. I’m going with Adams-Woods here, but it could be any of the four normal guards in Schmidt’s rotation. The Cincinnati transfer has been quietly maintaining his roughly 13.0 point per game average and this game seems like the perfect opportunity to raise that with at least a 20-point night. I am also looking at Charles Pride to potentially put up a 20-piece as well.
James Bishop IV – The offense runs through Bishop. It’s no secret. The Bonnies do not necessarily have to stop Bishop to win this game, just limit him. Even if the senior guard drops 25, he will need help from a very specific few players that produce for GW. If the Revolutionaries win this game, two of their guards are going to have to combine for more than 50 points.
Last Season’s Meeting
George Washington took home an overtime thriller last season inside the Reilly Center. The Bonnies appeared dead to rights late in the second half before charging all the way back to force an extra five minutes. Unfortunately for Bonaventure, they would come up just short in overtime losing 83-81. Adams led GW with 28 points while Bishop had 25. Ricky Lindo Jr. was the only other Revolutionary scorer in double figures with 10. Venning led the group of four Bonnies in double digits with 22 points. Banks (18), Flowers 915) and Luc (12) were the other players with at least 10 points in the game. George Washington shot 50.9% from the field and 36.8% from deep in the win while Bonaventure shot 38.2% from the floor and 30.0% from three.
Prediction and Keys to the Game
There isn’t much to say about this game as it should be straight forward. The Bonnies have the better talent, experience, depth and record. However, they absolutely cannot overlook this or the next game. Schmidt must get his team to continue to focus in this final week of the regular season. The Bonnies cannot come out flat or risk getting jumped on by a young, hungry team. The guards will be the key to securing a victory tonight while Venning will provide some support on the inside. I have become very bad at predicting what this team will do on a nightly basis. With that being said, give me the Bonnies by double digits.