By PAUL GOTHAM
For the better part of this season, Idris Taqqee‘s contributions to the St. Bonaventure attack consisted of plays not found in the box score.
There was pass late in the Rhode Island game, with Bona clinging to a lead, to teammate Jaylen Adams. The difference being Taqqee (a 52.9 percent shooter at the time) gave the ball to a teammate shooting 85.5 from the stripe. Adams hit both attempts in a 69-64 Bona win.
Against Richmond, Taqqee kept alive a possession late in the game tapping an offensive rebound away on a play which Adams set up Marcus Posley for a 3-pointer.
Efforts that head coach Mark Schmidt described as the right play.
Saturday, Taqqee switched gears just in time and connected on 5-of-7 three-point attempts as the Bonnies rallied from 18 down to defeat UMass, 85-83.
“He’s really worked his tail off in the gym all year,” Bona head coach Mark Schmidt said. “He deserved a game like that. If he’s not the hardest worker on the team, he’s close. He’s always in there.”
Prior to that, Taqqee took just 31 shots from behind the arc or a little more than one a game. But with the Minutemen using a triangle and two on Adams and Posley, the sophomore guard nearly doubled his output (13 makes for the season) from long range.
“He knew his jump shot was the weak part of his game last year,” Schmidt added. “They left him open and he felt disrespected. He deserved it. He’s been in the gym. It’s a credit to him.
“We really pride ourselves in getting better and being in the gym and individual instruction. When you see a kid work his tail off then have some success it’s great to see.”
With the Bonnies trailing by ten at the half, Taqqee netted 11 in the second stanza on 4-of-5 shooting including 3-of-4 from long range. His final triple of the day cut the UMass to two at 79-77 with 2:29 left in the game.
“It was a good night,” Taqqee said. “You know how it is. It’s just one those things where you got to step up. There was no choice for my teammates. I felt like you take out two of our best players which they can score the ball very well, I had to step up and make the plays.”
Taqqee finished with a career-high 19 on 7-of-10 shooting.
“It was crazy,” Posley said of his teammate’s effort. “His hard work finally paid off for him. He showed everybody. He’s a true [example] of when you put in all the work.
“Idris is always trying to get his game right, always trying to get his shot right. I’m proud of him to see something like that happen for him on a stage like that.”
Though averaging just 4.8 points a game (6th on the team) Taqqee plays 24.7 minutes – fourth on the Bona squad. His ORtg (points per 100 possessions the team scores with him on the floor) per KenPom is 110.3 – third on St. Bonaventure trailing only Dion Wright by three tenths and Adams (124). This despite the fact that he falls into the category of Nearly Invisible because he is used on 11.4 percent of Bona’s possessions and takes 11.6 percent of the team’s shots.
“I just want to win,” Taqqee said with a shrug of his shoulders. “If it’s overlooked, it’s overlooked. But we know between each other.”
Taqqee and Bona (20-7/12-4) square off with the Saint Joseph’s Hawks (24-5/13-3) Wednesday night at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. Both teams earned votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll this week. The Hawks received votes in the AP Poll.
Bona has won three straight and eight of nine including an 83-73 victory at Saint Joseph’s last month. SJU has won two in a row and six of seven. The Hawks are tied with VCU for first place in the Atlantic 10.
The last time Bona and SJU met, Taqqee netted 13 – the only other double-digit scoring output of his career.
“We put in so much work over the summer,” Taqqee said. “We still got much more to accomplish. That’s a good thing to see. There’s a lot more ahead for us to do.”
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