By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
No one is sure how St. Bonaventure will look when it returns from its COVID-19 pause on Saturday, but the sport is gaining precedent for long layoffs.
The Bonnies will have waited 23 days between a blowout defeat to Virginia Tech in Charlotte and their revised Atlantic 10 opener against Saint Louis. Three games have been called off due to the slated opponent’s positive COVID tests, while last Sunday’s Dayton game was postponed due to Bona’s virus issues. This is believed to be the longest mid-season break between games in SBU’s 102-year history.
Bona avoided any in-season pauses last season, as most of the team tested positive for COVID before the team’s canceled trip to Mohegan Sun Bubbleville.
Evansville had the longest layoff of any team that has returned from pause thus far, 25 days between games. Northern Iowa star AJ Green welcomed the Purple Aces back to action by scoring 18 points, including four 3-pointers, in a 22-point victory.
The Purple Aces aren’t the only program that has faced a difficult first game back. Ohio State was the only team to log extra minutes, although the Buckeyes did outlast Nebraska in overtime in their first matchup in 22 days.
Forty-seven teams have come back from a COVID-19 pause this season, compiling a 22-19 record. That record doesn’t include the teams that returned against each other: Memphis and Tulane, Cleveland State and Purdue-Fort Wayne and Houston and Temple. Three programs settled into their resumption against a lower-division opponent, while most teams played conference games.
Duke may have best represented the rust that can often accompany a team’s return, shooting under 40 percent and scoring well below its season average. Eastern Michigan and NJIT, on the other hand, had their best shooting nights of the season.
“When you’re not at peak shape, when [opponents] change those defenses,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski explained after the win over Georgia Tech, “it can really stand you up. At the end of the game when they went to the 1-3-1 (zone), I thought it really made you think you’re tired.”
Results of the first game post-COVID pause are as unpredictable as college basketball itself. Here’s how each team fared:
2021-22 season:
Akron
Layoff: 17 days (Dec. 15 to Jan. 1)
First game back: 88-76 win over Buffalo
FG%: 48.1 percent (25-of-52)
Abilene Christian
Layoff: 11 days (Nov. 16 to Nov. 27)
First game back: 89-54 win over Division III McMurry University
FG%: 53.1 percent (34-of-64)
Binghamton
Layoff: 22 days (Dec. 11 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 68-63 win against UMass-Lowell
FG%: 44.4 percent (20-of-45)
Boston College
Layoff: 20 days (Dec. 13 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 91-65 loss to North Carolina
FG%: 31.3 percent (21-of-67)
Bradley
Layoff: 11 days (Dec. 22 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 76-71 loss at Indiana State
FG%: 40.8 percent (29-of-71)
Bryant
Layoff: 18 days (Dec. 11 to Dec. 29)
First game back: 80-76 win at Central Connecticut
FG%: 45.2 percent (28-of-62)
Chicago State
Layoff: 5 days (Dec. 16 to Dec. 21)
First game back: 79-48 loss at Iowa State
FG%: 27.8 percent (15-of-54)
Cleveland State
Layoff: 18 days (Dec. 13 to Dec. 31)
First game back: 90-81 win over Purdue-Fort Wayne
FG%: 53.6 percent (30-of-56)
Colorado State
Layoff: 24 days (Dec. 11 to Jan. 4)
First game back: 67-59 win over Air Force
FG%: 40.4 percent (23-of-57)
Cornell
Layoff: 21 days (Dec. 8 to Dec. 29)
First game back: 80-68 loss at Syracuse
FG%: 35.4 percent (23-of-65)
DePaul
Layoff: 15 days (Dec. 14 to Dec. 29)
First game back: 63-59 loss at Butler
FG%: 38.8 percent (19-of-49)
Drexel
Layoff: 20 days (Dec. 14 to Jan. 3)
First game back: 65-61 win over Towson
FG%: 44.9 percent (22-of-49)
Duke
Layoff: 13 days (Dec. 22 to Jan. 4)
First game back: 69-57 win over Georgia Tech
FG%: 37.3 percent (19-of-51)
Eastern Michigan
Layoff: 15 days (Dec. 20 to Jan. 4)
First game back: 85-79 win at Western Michigan
FG%: 53.4 percent (31-of-58)
Evansville
Layoff: 25 days (Dec. 8 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 83-61 loss at Northern Iowa
FG%: 40 percent (22-of-55)
Fairleigh Dickinson
Layoff: 13 days (Dec. 18 to Dec. 31)
First game back: 70-62 win at St. Francis (PA)
FG%: 47.5 percent (28-of-59)
FIU
Layoff: 15 days (Dec. 15 to Dec. 30)
First game back: 82-77 loss to Old Dominion
FG%: 42.2 percent (27-of-64)
Florida State
Layoff: 16 days (Dec. 15 to Jan. 1)
First game back: 83-81 win at NC State
FG%: 50.8% (29-of-57)
Georgia Tech
Layoff: 12 days (Dec. 21 to Jan 2)
First game back: 67-64 loss to Louisville
FG%: 41.1 percent (23-of-56)
Houston
Layoff: 11 days (Dec. 22 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 66-61 win at Temple
FG%: 37.1 percent (23-of-62)
Illinois
Layoff: 13 days (Dec. 22 to Jan. 4)
First game back: 76-53 win at Minnesota
FG%: 45.8 percent (27-of-59)
Louisville
Layoff: 11 days (Dec. 18 to Dec. 29)
First game back: 73-69 win at Wake Forest
FG%: 39.6 percent (19-of-48)
Loyola Maryland
Layoff: 20 days (Dec. 12 to Jan. 1)
First game back: 77-74 loss at Army
FG%: 47.6 percent (30-of-63)
Memphis
Layoff: 15 days (Dec. 14 to Dec. 29)
First game back: 85-84 loss at Tulane
FG%: 43.5 percent (27-of-62)
Mississippi Valley State
Layoff: 12 days (Dec. 22 to Jan. 3)
First game back: 84-75 loss to Alabama State
FG%: 44.8 percent (26-of-58)
Nevada
Layoff: 15 days (Nov. 30 to Dec. 15)
First game back: 98-62 win over Division II Minnesota Duluth
FG%: 51.5 percent (35-of-68)
NJIT
Layoff: 21 days (Dec. 12 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 69-66 win over Maine
FG%: 53.5 percent (23-of-43)
Northeastern
Layoff: 17 days (Dec. 12 to Dec. 29)
First game back: 79-62 loss at Elon
FG%: 34 percent (18-of-53)
Ohio State
Layoff: 22 days (Dec. 11 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 87-79 OT win at Nebraska
FG%: 47.6 percent (30-of-63)
Oregon State
Layoff: 9 days (Dec. 5 to Dec. 14)
First game back: 71-64 loss to UC Davis
FG%: 42.9 percent (24-of-56)
Penn State
Layoff: 22 days (Dec. 11 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 61-58 win over Indiana
FG%: 41.2 percent (21-of-51)
Purdue-Fort Wayne
Layoff: 19 days (Dec. 11 to Dec. 30)
First game back: 90-81 loss at Cleveland State
FG%: 50 percent (27-of-54)
Rhode Island
Layoff: 20 days (Dec. 13 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 70-55 win over Division II American International
FG%: 43.1 percent (25-of-58)
Rice
Layoff: 16 days (Dec. 16 to Jan. 1)
First game back: 75-43 loss at North Texas
FG%: 31.8 percent (14-of-44)
Rutgers
Layoff: 18 days (Dec. 12 to Dec. 30)
First game back: 80-64 win over Maine
FG%: 52.9 percent (27-of-51)
Saint Joseph’s
Layoff: 12 days (Dec. 18 to Dec. 30)
First game back: 83-56 win at Richmond
FG%: 51.7 percent (31-of-60)
Saint Louis
Layoff: 15 days (Dec. 18 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 76-69 win over Richmond
FG%: 42.4 percent (28-of-66)
Seton Hall
Layoff: 17 days (Dec. 12 to Dec. 29)
First game back: 70-65 loss at Providence
FG%: 39.4 percent (26-of-66)
St. Francis Brooklyn
Layoff: 15 days (Dec. 14 to Dec. 29)
First game back: 74-64 loss at Merrimack
FG%: 36.8 percent (21-of-57)
Syracuse
Layoff: 16 days (Dec. 11 to Dec. 27)
First game back: 93-62 win over Brown
FG%: 57.4 percent (35-of-61)
Temple
Layoff: 11 days (Dec. 22 to Jan. 2)
First game back: 66-61 loss to Houston
FG% 39.2 percent (20-of-51)
Texas Southern
Layoff: 20 days (Dec. 14 to Jan. 3)
First game back: 63-50 loss at Southern
FG%: 38.8 percent (19-of-49)
Tulane
Layoff: 22 days (Dec. 7 to Dec. 29)
First game back: 85-84 win over Memphis
FG%: 55 percent (33-of-60)
UTRGV
Layoff: 17 days (Dec. 17 to Jan. 3)
First game back: 86-78 loss at Sam Houston State
FG%: 45 percent (27-of-60)
Virginia Tech
Layoff: 13 days (Dec. 22 to Jan. 4)
First game back: 68-63 loss to NC State
FG%: 43.4 percent (23-of-53)
Wagner
Layoff: 18 days (Nov. 13 to Dec. 1)
First game back: 85-63 loss at Seton Hall
FG%: 40.6 percent (26-of-64)
Washington
Layoff: 21 days (Nov. 27 to Dec. 18)
First game back: 64-56 win over Seattle
FG%: 40 percent (24-of-60)
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