By PAUL GOTHAM
It takes a couple minutes to comprehend the numbers.
Over his last five games, St. Bonaventure’s Jaylen Adams is averaging 18.8 points and six assists. The Baltimore, Maryland native is shooting 61 percent (34 for 56) from the floor including 65 percent (24 for 37) behind the arc since December fifth. At the same time he leads the Bonnies in assists and has an assist to turnover ratio a touch under 2.5:1.
“He’s shooting the ball with a lot of confidence,” Bona head coach Mark Schmidt said during the weekly A-10 tele-conference. “When he’s shooting the ball the way he is, he’s hard to guard going off the dribble. He’s just got a better awareness of what is expected of a point guard.”
Consider that the Bonnies have hit 140 field goals during the last five games. Adams has 34 of those or 24.2 percent. Of the 106 shots his teammates have made, Adams has assisted on 28.3 percent.
“Jay’s a very unselfish player, but he’s a smart player,” Schmidt added. “He understands when he needs to score and when he needs to get other people involved. I think that’s one of his strengths. He has really good understanding and IQ for the game. He never really forces things.
“He scored 30 points against Davidson, but he didn’t take any bad shots. He created shots for other people. He’s just a smart player. I’m lucky to have him as a coach. He understands what we’re looking for. He knows situations.”
Against Davidson Adams hit four of six behind the arc in the first half. He needed about seven minutes to reach heat-check status as he connected on three straight from long range – each triple a little further than the previous one.
Then the sophomore point guard shifted gears coming out of the locker room and handed out more assists (3) than he took 3-point attempts (2) opting to drive to the basket where he finished two of four and converting all eight of his attempts from the free-throw line in a 97-85 victory over the reigning conference champions.
“He buried a couple three pointers early and from deep range,” Davidson’s Bob McKillop noted. “As soon as he shows that ability right from the get-go to knock down a three, it makes his use of the ball screen lethal. He’s very good using the ball screen either way – taking it or turning it down. Once he gets into the cracks, he has a terrific ability to draw contact and a combination of that with making foul shots.”
Adams and the Bonnies (9-3/1-0) will continue their conference schedule on the road when they travel to George Mason (6-8/0-1) to take on the Patriots and first-year head coach, Dave Paulsen.
“He just really shoots the ball exceptionally well,” Paulsen said. “He’s a guy shooting the ball well at every level.”
The Bonnies have taken the last two meetings between the schools the first two as A-10 foes.
“The thing watching St. Bonaventure what I’ve seen of them so far, they’re just very balanced, so nobody’s taking bad shots,” Paulsen continued. “You got three or four guys that can stretch the floor outside the arc at all times… Every guy kinda plays off each other. Nobody seems to be forcing anything.”
Adams garnered Atlantic 10 Player of the Week scoring 46 while handing out 16 assists during Bona’s wins last week over Davidson and Big 4 rival Niagara (82-68). For the season, Adams leads Bona scoring 17.5 per game. Marcus Posley and Dion Wright add 17.2 and 16.8 respectively.
“The good thing about Jaylen is he never gets too high or too low,” Schmidt stated. “He plays his game. I think he’s little bit more committed and understands. A year under his belt he has more experience. He’s just playing with a great deal of confidence. When he’s playing that way and taking care of the ball, and shooting the ball well from threes, we’re that much better of a team. Hopefully, he can continue that.”
An 8 p.m. tip off is scheduled, Wednesday.
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