PITTSBURGH — It isn’t Hawk Hill and it’s no UD Arena, but for years the Palumbo Center has presented problems for the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team.
Andrew Nicholson never won on Duquesne’s home floor.
The Bonnies needed a miracle to win there in 2015 and lost there during its Atlantic 10 championship season of 2015-16. Even last year, when the Dukes finished last in the A-10, Bona led by just two with four minutes remaining before pulling out a 71-64 triumph.
Whether it’s the venue, which always seems to boast more Bona fans than Duquesne fans, or the fact these teams have met twice a year since 2006, the Bonnies have almost always had their hands full on Forbes Ave.
And tonight back inside the Palumbo Center, it will likely be no different.
Bona (15-6, 5-4) finally broke into the win column in league road games Wednesday, shooting its way past George Mason, 85-69. That was its largest margin of victory in such a game in over two years.
On paper, the Bonnies – 4.5-point favorites – are expected to leave the Palumbo Center with a win – they rank second among A-10 teams in the Ratings Percentage Index at No. 51 while the Dukes rank second-from-last at No. 207. At the halfway point of the conference campaign, however, Duquesne has been the surprise of the league … and playing well at home.
After firing coach Jim Ferry and losing the bulk of their production in the offseason, the Dukes were expected to be in total rebuilding mode this year. They were picked to finish last among the A-10’s 14 teams in the preseason poll.
New coach Keith Dambrot, however, has Duquesne (15-8, 6-4) competing, alone in fifth in the league standings, a game ahead of the Bonnies, and already with twice the number of conference wins it had last year.
The Dukes are 4-1 in A-10 home games, including a 70-62 triumph over Dayton. They led VCU on the road until late in the second half and lost at the buzzer to first-place Rhode Island in Kingston. They’re coming off a 75-73 road win over George Washington.
“Coach Dambrot is one of the best coaches in the country,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt said. “It was great that Duquesne was able to get him.
“They got off to a good start (12-4, which included a number of home games against lower-tier opponents), they scheduled smartly, so it gave them some confidence. Then they play their first (league) game against Dayton and win, so I would think that would give them a lot of confidence.”
Addressing the fact the Dukes were picked last, Schmidt seized the opportunity to reiterate his oft-stated thoughts on the preseason poll: “I say it all the time and people make fun of me for it: Those preseason rankings. They mean nothing.”
Bona, after surrendering an average of 85 points in its first four road games, looked much better defensively against the Patriots (minus allowing Otis Livingston II to go off for 31 points), holding them to 69 points on 42 percent shooting. It was the 13th time in 21 games they allowed 70 points or fewer.
And though that might have eased the pressure in tonight’s game, the Bonnies were always confident in their ability on the road.
“I think we have the most road wins of any team in the A-10 overall,” Schmidt, whose team owns five road victories, said accurately. “I’m not sure how important (Wednesday was from that standpoint).
“It’s important to win, believe me. But I don’t know how important it is for the psyche of the team, because they had won before. It would have been different if we were 0-11. But at the same time it’s nice to be coming off a victory.”
Duquesne has been tough defensively, ranking first in 3-point field percentage defense (27.7), third in field goal percentage defense (42.5) and sixth in scoring D (70.3) in conference play.
And it’s a high scoring team when its 3-pointers are falling.
The “known” is sophomore guard Mike Lewis II, an All-Rookie team selection a year ago and a third team preseason all-conference choice. Lewis, who scored 20 points in both meetings with the Bonnies last season, is averaging a team-best 15.9 points.
One of the big reasons Duquesne is exceeding expectations, however, is what it’s getting from two new guard additions: Rene Castro-Caneddy, a Butler transfer, and freshman Eric Williams Jr. Castro-Cannedy is averaging 13 points and a team-best three assists while Williams, the frontrunner for A-10 Rookie of the Year, is averaging 15 points and nearly 10 rebounds, the latter of which ranks second in the conference.
Duquesne ranks second behind Davidson in 3s at just over eight per game. In A-10 play, Williams ranks third in 3s per game (2.9) while Lewis checks in at No. 5 (2.7). After his 7-for-9 effort Wednesday, Bona guard Matt Mobley leads that category at 3.4 per game.
“They’re more attackers,” Schmidt said of the Dukes. “They’re aggressive. They’re guards are really guys that want to get into the paint. Those two guys can shoot it, but they’re more attackers, and that’s the key.
“That’s the biggest key, is keep the ball above the foul line. I think they average like 12 assists a game, that’s because they’re attacking off the bounce and everything’s at the rim, so we’ve got to do a good job of keeping them in front.”