The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team hasn’t had to worry about bouncing back from adversity much this season.
The Bonnies (14-2, 2-1) played just over 24 hours after their first loss, to Utah State on Thanksgiving day, and came back to beat Northern Iowa the next day down in Walt Disney World. In Atlantic 10 play, teams only have a few days to stew on their losses, so Bona will look to rebound from its Wednesday night loss to Saint Louis on Saturday at noon (YES, ESPN+) against La Salle at the Reilly Center.
Unlike the 1968 Bona team that will be honored at Saturday’s game, coach Mark Schmidt maintained, “We knew we weren’t going to go undefeated.”
“There’s going to be some adversity in every season,” he added, “and it’s almost like a shooter: you want to make eight in a row and then you miss one, and then you want to make five in a row and then you’re going to miss one, then you want to make 10 in a row. That’s what good shooters do and good teams, when they lose, they learn from it and they bounce back. That’s the goal.”
Against Saint Louis, Bona gave up 39 points on 3-pointers as the Billikens went 13-for-39. Schmidt thought his team’s defense handled two the SLU’s big three — Isaiah Swope and Robbie Avila — relatively well, but Gibson Jimerson went off for 28 points.
“They’re a really good offensive team,” Schmidt said. “I thought we did a decent job on Avila, he had five assists and five turnovers. I thought we did a decent job on No. 1 (Swope), he goes 5-for-13. But did a horrible job on 24 (Jimerson). He goes 6-for-11 from 3s, and as I told our team, we could survive one of those guys having a good night, and we almost did.
“I thought we lost because No. 0 (Kellen Thames), a role guy, had seven points. I think that was the reason why we lost. Someone that’s averaging two points a game gets seven. We did a decent job on two of the three guys, Jimerson got eight points over his average which isn’t great, but it’s those role guys. (Kobe) Johnson, No. 8, hit a couple 3s, and 0 came in and gave them a lift and sometimes that’s why you lose.”
On the offensive side, Bona’s strong start (leading 26-19) slowed down against a zone defense. Given the Bonnies’ athleticism and ability to attack the rim, it likely won’t be the last time they face a zone.
“We didn’t do a great job,” Schmidt said of attacking the zone. “Sometimes we did, but we didn’t get the ball into the high post. We had some looks, got the ball inside one time, Noel passed it down rather than shooting. So we made some mistakes, but we’ve got to have better movement, got to get the ball into the high post and then make a play from there.”
In coach Fran Dunphy’s third year on the sidelines, La Salle (8-7) is 0-2 to start A-10 play, falling at Dayton and at home to Loyola. Corey McKeithan, a graduate student, leads the Explorers at 17.3 points per game after scoring 19 at Dayton and 24 against Loyola. The Rider transfer guard is shooting 40.3% from long range.
“He can shoot 3s, he’s shooting 40%,” Schmidt said. “He has a middle game. He can take you off the bounce and get to the basket. He’s really aggressive. Coach Dunphy gives him a lot of freedom, he gives all those guys a lot of freedom. They space you out and he’s a really good one-on-one player.
“We’ve just got to make it as difficult as we can on good players. He’s going to score his baskets, we just want to make it as hard for him as possible.”
Daeshon Shepherd, who scored 23 points against Bona in the A-10 tournament last year, is second on La Salle at 11.1 points per game. Another top scorer, Eric Acker, is coming into form after becoming eligible for the past five games, scoring 13 per game off the bench. Schmidt said Bona recruited Acker, a Brooklyn native and Long Island University transfer.
“He plays both the one and the two, he’s shooting the ball well, he’s taking guys off the bounce, he’s got some length,” Schmidt said. “He’s young, but he has a bright future. He’s playing really well. He’s only played four or five games, but the four or five games he’s playing very well.”
SBU’s 1967-68 team will be recognized during the game and in a post-game reception in the Hall of Fame Room that is open to the public. Members confirmed to be in attendance, per SBU, include head coach Larry Weise, Jim Satalin, Billy Kalbaugh, Gene Fahey, Mike Kull, Vinny Martin, Dick Ulaszewicz and team manager Art Roberts. That team starred the late Bob Lanier along with Bill Butler, John Hayes, Jim Gagnier and Pete Wisniowski, finishing the regular season 22-0, ranking as high as No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll, finishing the year 23-2 after a second-round and consolation game loss in the NCAA Tournament.
