By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The transitive property is notoriously non-applicable to college basketball, the Atlantic 10 Conference in particular. Take, for example, St. Bonaventure’s next opponent in Fairfax, Va.
The George Mason Patriots squandered a 13-point lead with 6:09 remaining at George Washington on Martin Luther King Day Jr. day, allowing an 18-4 run and game-winning Joe Bamisile jumper with three seconds left. For the same team that upset Maryland in College Park and hung with Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, a program with a first-year coach already rumored for power-conference jobs, it was a striking stumble to begin Atlantic 10 play.
Dayton defeated George Washington 83-58 at the same venue, so the Flyers, riding a four-game win streak with victories over St. Bonaventure and Saint Louis, were expected to handle the Patriots at EagleBank Arena this past Saturday. It’s just not that easy.
Mason never led by more than four points but showed drastic defensive improvement, holding the visitors to 31 percent field goal shooting. Josh Oduro recorded a double-double while limiting star frosh DaRon Holmes II to four points. The Patriots, who have lost just once at home this season, held on 50-49.
This volatility underscores the need to play a near-flawless 40 minutes on the road in the A-10 to ensure victory. St. Bonaventure, which has won over 60 percent (17-11) of its league road games in the Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi, Dom Welch era, understands that as it heads to Mason on Wednesday evening.
“I think every game is different, every season is different,” Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt said when asked about Bona’s success against the GMU program, which includes a five-game series win streak. “It’s totally different.”
One major difference is the leadership on the opposite bench, as Mason fired Dave Paulsen last March after six seasons and replaced him with 33-year-old Kim English. English is guiding a top-four A-10 defense that has held half of its opponents to 66 or fewer points.
That Patriot defense includes Osun Osunniyi’s third consecutive test from a top conference big man: first Holmes II, then Duquesne forward/center Tre Williams, and now 6-foot-9 junior Josh Oduro, who scored 31 points in a win over Saint Joseph’s on Monday.
Oduro split starts with Greg Calixte and A.J. Wilson his first two seasons but has now been in the lineup for all 15 of his appearances, missing that George Washington game with a knee ailment. He has taken full advantage of an increased role, one of seven Division I players averaging at least 17 points and 1.5 blocks per game while averaging fewer than 30 minutes a contest; Gonzaga star Drew Timme and Illinois standout Kofi Cockburn are also on that list.
“He’s probably the most improved big guy in the league,” Schmidt assessed. “He presents problems because he can shoot the ball from the outside; he can take guys off the dribble. He’s probably better than Williams; he’s bigger and he has more ball skills out on the perimeter. … He’s having a heck of a year.”
The Bona-Mason matchup promises balance on the score sheet, as the teams represent two of just five in the conference with four or more double-figure scorers. Each member of Bonaventure’s “Ironman Five” averages at least 10 points, while four of GMU’s five starters currently meet that number: Oduro (17.7 ppg); University of Colorado graduate transfer D’Shawn Schwartz (15.5 ppg); Morehead State grad transfer DeVon Cooper (12.1 ppg) and Tennessee transfer Davonte Gaines (10.8 ppg).
Gaines, a Buffalo native who graduated from Health Sciences Charter School in 2018, ranks second in the conference with 8.2 rebounds per game. A “glue guy,” according to Schmidt, Gaines has made 23 of his 47 3-point attempts (48.9 percent) and owns five double-doubles.
Despite losing smooth-shooting 2021 A-10 Rookie of the Year Tyler Kolek to Marquette, the Patriots have managed to improve their 3-point shooting from where it was 16 games into last season. Mason is shooting four full percentage points better (35.4 percent) from beyond the arc this year, fourth in the league. Cooper and Schwartz have combined to make 79 3-pointers, just 13 fewer than Bona’s team total.
Mason is 6-2 when it makes 10 or more 3-pointers, 3-5 otherwise.
“They’re playing very well. They space you out with their motion offense,” Schmidt noted. “A lot of ball screens, a lot of ball going into the post to Oduro. … They’re shooting the heck out of the basketball from 3s. They play a good style. They seem like they play well together. They enjoy playing.”
The Bonnies or Patriots have not enjoyed much consistency, with neither team stringing together a three-game win streak since December. Mason would extend its streak to three games with a victory and would exorcise some demons in the process, just 1-10 against SBU since joining the A-10.
Lofton is averaging 20.5 points and shooting 59.3 percent from 3-point range in six games against Mason, while Dominick Welch scored 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting in their last meeting with Paulsen. Schmidt dismissed the notion of that history mattering on Wednesday.
“They’ve got a couple guys that were left over from Coach Paulsen’s team, but they’ve got a whole different team, different style,” Schmidt remarked. “I don’t think that has any bearing on what has happened in the past and is gonna happen in the future.”
Chuckie I am anxiously waiting for your next podcast. Any idea when you will do another one? Go Bonas!