Reilly Center, Saint Bonaventure, NY
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
7:00PM
Media
TV: N/A
Online: ESPN +
Radio: Tune In Radio
App: Varsity Network
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Previews
St. Bonaventure’s Fan Forum
The University of Rhode Island Rams leave Kingston undefeated in conference play for a two-game road trip, facing two of their toughest road opponents of the season. How the Rams perform during this two-game stretch will really show how good this team truly is. The first game of this road trip, the Rams must head up to Olean, NY to take on St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies, who were picked third in the preseason A10 polls, have stumbled a bit in the start of conference play. They enter this contest at just 1-2 but do have a nice win at VCU. They have losses at Richmond & at home to Fordham which they were double-digit favorites at home. So that Fordham loss is tough one for Bonnie fans to swallow.
Southern New England native Mark Schmidt enters his 17th season at the helm of St. Bonaventure. Guard Daryl Banks III, who was picked as a preseason all-conference 1st team player, has struggled to get going this season. Over the last month (last 6 games), he has scored in double digits just once & is shooting it at an abysmal 18% over that time (& <16% from deep). On the season he is shooting it at just 29%. Picking up some of his slack is junior forward Chad Venning. Venning, who was picked on the all-conference third team, is leading the team in scoring (14.2) and blocks with 24. Former Bryant guard Charles Pride is leading the team in rebounding at 7.2 per game & is third on the team in scoring at 12.3 per game. Cincinnati transfer Mike Adams-Woods is leading the team in assists with 3.6 per game & is second on the team in scoring at almost 14 per game. The Bonnies last player scoring in double-digits this season is senior guard Moses Flowers at 10.4 per game. The team is a decent three-point shooting team (minus the aforementioned struggling Banks) with 3 players (Adams-Woods, Pride, & Flowers) shooting it over 44% on the season.
The Rams are playing their best basketball since early 2020 & they look to keep it rolling. Rhody played a complete game against UMass on Saturday, leading wire to wire, shooting it 52% for the game, 61% from deep & at 75% from the line. They turned the ball over only 10 times, which is 3 below their average. If you needed to find any fault in the game on Saturday, which I don’t think you NEED to, is that the bigs did find themselves in foul trouble for much of the game. Fuchs had 4 fouls in 20 minutes, Foumena fouled out in just 12 minutes, & Brown has 4 fouls in 8 minutes.
Even with how the Rams are playing, winning in the sticks of upstate NY will be difficult. The Rams have lost 3 of the last 4 in Olean. I am hoping they will be 5.5-point underdogs at St. Bonaventure. Reason being, they have been underdogs that exact amount this season twice in conference play & won both of those games (@Davidson & Saint Joseph’s). Hopefully Banks’ struggles continue, giving the Rams a better chance of winning. Or let’s get a repeat performance of Chad Venning’s 7 turnovers like he did at Richmond. Will the Rams get their third consecutive road conference win (including last year)? My head says they lose the next 2 & then winning 8 of the next 9. My heart has them winning 10 of the next 11. My prediction, St. Bonaventure 74 – URI 69. Go Rhody!!
Opponent
Record:
10-5, 1-2 in the A10
14-18, 8-10 in the A10 (Last Season)
Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 78 (162)
RPI: 156 (129)
KenPom: 88 (167)
BPI: 89 (187)
Barttovik: 79 (144)
Leaders:
Points – Chad Venning 14.2 (Jr., F)
Rebounds – Charles Pride 7.2 (Sr., G)
Assists – Mike Adams-Woods 3.6 (Sr., G) (1.5 TO per game)
Historical
Series: 43-31
H: 26-8, A: 15-20, N: 2-3
Most Recent Matchup: 1/11/23 68-67 W at URI
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 – URI
Match-up Predictor: 13.3% Chance of URI Winning