It?s Senior Night for Adams, Mobley, Taqqee
? Jaylen Adams remembers a quiet flight home.
On Jan. 19, the St. Bonaventure men?s basketball team lost to Davidson to fall to 2-4 in Atlantic 10 play. Barely three weeks into the conference campaign, a promising season was already on the brink.
Somewhere between North Carolina and New York, on a plane filled with darkness, the Bonnies came to terms with their reality: They?d likely somehow have to win out in order to have any chance of achieving their ultimate goal.
Thirty-nine days later, Bona still hasn?t lost, winning 10 straight ? tied for the third-longest active streak in Division I ? to shift back to the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
That stretch has led to this: a rematch with the team that handed the Bonnies their last loss ? Davidson ? with second place and the No. 2 seed in the A-10 Tournament on the line in a late 9 o?clock start tonight (CBS Sports-TV, WPIG-FM) inside the Reilly Center.
The game doubles as Senior Night for the Bonnies, the final home contest for Jaylen Adams, Matt Mobley and Idris Taqqee, the winningest class in Bona history. Bona (22-6, 12-4) can clinch second with a win and either a win or Wildcats loss to Rhode Island in Saturday?s season finale.
It will have to play without its students, who are on break, and with a potentially lighter-than-usual crowd due to the late start.
?I?m extremely proud of the guys for not putting our heads down during that losing streak,? said Adams, who along with Mobley and Taqqee will be honored pregame. ?We stayed together, but I think it?s just part of the fact that we?ve been together for so long. Most of the guys that get minutes have been together for three or four years now.
?That?s a part of it ? the snub (in 2015-16), coming up short last year ? I think it?s a credit to the maturity level of this team, but we?ve got to keep it going.?
With Saturday?s win over VCU, the Bonnies are 8-4 against Quadrant 1 and 2 opponents and up to No. 24 in the RPI. Tonight represents a chance for a seventh win over an RPI top 100 foe (the Wildcats currently rank No. 91). In his latest bracket forecast for ESPN.com, Joe Lunardi has Bona as one of the last four teams firmly in and a No. 11 seed.
Not only has coach Mark Schmidt?s team given itself a chance down the stretch, it?s taken every team?s best shot along the way and continued to win despite increasing pressure in every contest.
?Our guys are playing decently,? coach Mark Schmidt acknowledged. ?But we have to understand, we can?t forget how we?ve won these games, and we?ve got to continue to work and commit to (doing it on the defensive end).?
Davidson (17-10), also at 12-4 in league play, comes in hot, having won four in a row and six of its last seven. The Wildcats are coming off a 71-60 triumph at Duquesne and recently earned their own road win over VCU.
Much like Bona, Davidson has its own A-10 Player of the Year candidate in Peyton Aldridge, who currently ranks No. 3 in the league in scoring (21 points) and fourth in rebounding (8). Behind the 6-foot-8 senior, who scored 25 points on 7-for-11 shooting (8-of-8 at the line) and guards Jon Axel Gudmundsson (21 points in Game 1) and Kellan Grady (16), the Wildcats shot their way past Bona, 83-73, in a highly entertaining nationally-televised contest January. In that one, the Bonnies surrendered a season-high 14 3-pointers and were hampered by a slow start to the second half.
A team of essentially five shooters, Davidson ranks No. 11 nationally in 3s per game (11) and 34th in percentage (39). Bona, outside of that rough stretch to start league play, has been pretty good at defending the perimeter, ranking No. 2 in league play in 3-point percentage defense (32).
How can they be more effective in stopping the Wildcats this time around?
?We?ve got to do a better job in transition,? Schmidt said. ?We lost guys four or five times, we didn?t match up. You can?t give them open looks. They?re going to make tough shots, (but) if you give them open looks, sometimes that?s like them making layups.
?We?ve got to do a better job of finding guys and making it hard, contesting shots. We have to contest every shot they take, and we didn?t do that in Game 1.?
Tonight will be fans? last opportunity to see Adams play in the Reilly Center. The All-America candidate enters his final home game ranked No. 6 in school history in scoring (1,823 points), second in 3-pointers (262, 19 behind Marques Green for first) and third in assists (564, behind both Green and Shandue McNeill).
Adams said the reality of coming out of the RC tunnel for the final time hasn?t hit him yet. His Bonnies have too much left to play for.
?I haven?t (thought about it) yet, honestly, just because the season?s gone so well and we?ve got so much to look forward to,? he said. ?Individually, I?ve still got some goals to accomplish. Honestly, I haven?t sat back and reflected on it, but I imagine I will sometime in the near future.
?Right now, I?ve got to focus on these final games and making the NCAA Tournament.?
Bona received a season-high 29 points in this week?s Associated Press Top 25 poll, making it the third-highest team in the also receiving votes category. But Schmidt said the Bonnies aren?t concerned with their national ranking.
They?re concerned with win No. 23 and sending their seniors out the right way.
?Jay and Idris (four-year players) have helped sustain this thing,? Schmidt said. ?They?ve been a part of three teams that have won 20 games. Matt?s had two really good years for us, the guy that took the place of Marcus (Posley).
?We wouldn?t have had the success that we?ve had without those three guys. They?ve been really valuable to our team, and they?ll be missed.?
? Jaylen Adams remembers a quiet flight home.
On Jan. 19, the St. Bonaventure men?s basketball team lost to Davidson to fall to 2-4 in Atlantic 10 play. Barely three weeks into the conference campaign, a promising season was already on the brink.
Somewhere between North Carolina and New York, on a plane filled with darkness, the Bonnies came to terms with their reality: They?d likely somehow have to win out in order to have any chance of achieving their ultimate goal.
Thirty-nine days later, Bona still hasn?t lost, winning 10 straight ? tied for the third-longest active streak in Division I ? to shift back to the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
That stretch has led to this: a rematch with the team that handed the Bonnies their last loss ? Davidson ? with second place and the No. 2 seed in the A-10 Tournament on the line in a late 9 o?clock start tonight (CBS Sports-TV, WPIG-FM) inside the Reilly Center.
The game doubles as Senior Night for the Bonnies, the final home contest for Jaylen Adams, Matt Mobley and Idris Taqqee, the winningest class in Bona history. Bona (22-6, 12-4) can clinch second with a win and either a win or Wildcats loss to Rhode Island in Saturday?s season finale.
It will have to play without its students, who are on break, and with a potentially lighter-than-usual crowd due to the late start.
?I?m extremely proud of the guys for not putting our heads down during that losing streak,? said Adams, who along with Mobley and Taqqee will be honored pregame. ?We stayed together, but I think it?s just part of the fact that we?ve been together for so long. Most of the guys that get minutes have been together for three or four years now.
?That?s a part of it ? the snub (in 2015-16), coming up short last year ? I think it?s a credit to the maturity level of this team, but we?ve got to keep it going.?
With Saturday?s win over VCU, the Bonnies are 8-4 against Quadrant 1 and 2 opponents and up to No. 24 in the RPI. Tonight represents a chance for a seventh win over an RPI top 100 foe (the Wildcats currently rank No. 91). In his latest bracket forecast for ESPN.com, Joe Lunardi has Bona as one of the last four teams firmly in and a No. 11 seed.
Not only has coach Mark Schmidt?s team given itself a chance down the stretch, it?s taken every team?s best shot along the way and continued to win despite increasing pressure in every contest.
?Our guys are playing decently,? coach Mark Schmidt acknowledged. ?But we have to understand, we can?t forget how we?ve won these games, and we?ve got to continue to work and commit to (doing it on the defensive end).?
Davidson (17-10), also at 12-4 in league play, comes in hot, having won four in a row and six of its last seven. The Wildcats are coming off a 71-60 triumph at Duquesne and recently earned their own road win over VCU.
Much like Bona, Davidson has its own A-10 Player of the Year candidate in Peyton Aldridge, who currently ranks No. 3 in the league in scoring (21 points) and fourth in rebounding (8). Behind the 6-foot-8 senior, who scored 25 points on 7-for-11 shooting (8-of-8 at the line) and guards Jon Axel Gudmundsson (21 points in Game 1) and Kellan Grady (16), the Wildcats shot their way past Bona, 83-73, in a highly entertaining nationally-televised contest January. In that one, the Bonnies surrendered a season-high 14 3-pointers and were hampered by a slow start to the second half.
A team of essentially five shooters, Davidson ranks No. 11 nationally in 3s per game (11) and 34th in percentage (39). Bona, outside of that rough stretch to start league play, has been pretty good at defending the perimeter, ranking No. 2 in league play in 3-point percentage defense (32).
How can they be more effective in stopping the Wildcats this time around?
?We?ve got to do a better job in transition,? Schmidt said. ?We lost guys four or five times, we didn?t match up. You can?t give them open looks. They?re going to make tough shots, (but) if you give them open looks, sometimes that?s like them making layups.
?We?ve got to do a better job of finding guys and making it hard, contesting shots. We have to contest every shot they take, and we didn?t do that in Game 1.?
Tonight will be fans? last opportunity to see Adams play in the Reilly Center. The All-America candidate enters his final home game ranked No. 6 in school history in scoring (1,823 points), second in 3-pointers (262, 19 behind Marques Green for first) and third in assists (564, behind both Green and Shandue McNeill).
Adams said the reality of coming out of the RC tunnel for the final time hasn?t hit him yet. His Bonnies have too much left to play for.
?I haven?t (thought about it) yet, honestly, just because the season?s gone so well and we?ve got so much to look forward to,? he said. ?Individually, I?ve still got some goals to accomplish. Honestly, I haven?t sat back and reflected on it, but I imagine I will sometime in the near future.
?Right now, I?ve got to focus on these final games and making the NCAA Tournament.?
Bona received a season-high 29 points in this week?s Associated Press Top 25 poll, making it the third-highest team in the also receiving votes category. But Schmidt said the Bonnies aren?t concerned with their national ranking.
They?re concerned with win No. 23 and sending their seniors out the right way.
?Jay and Idris (four-year players) have helped sustain this thing,? Schmidt said. ?They?ve been a part of three teams that have won 20 games. Matt?s had two really good years for us, the guy that took the place of Marcus (Posley).
?We wouldn?t have had the success that we?ve had without those three guys. They?ve been really valuable to our team, and they?ll be missed.?
