By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team’s proclivity for defending without fouling figures to be useful against Rhode Island on Tuesday.
Rhode Island is 29th in the country in free throw rate according to KenPom.com, attempting 496 foul shots in 25 games. The stripe has been a cumbersome area for David Cox’s Rams, who hold the nation’s seventh-worst team free throw percentage at just 64.1 percent. The extra attention spent correcting that shortcoming, including a quota of 100 made free throws a day, has paid dividends, however; their 15-of-19 performance in the second half on Feb. 12 helped guide them to a 72-65 victory over league-leading Davidson.
Bonaventure has committed just 329 fouls, tied for the third-fewest in the country, entering its meeting with Rhody at the Reilly Center on Tuesday (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network). A Bonnie has fouled out on just three occasions this year, discipline that could be an asset against Makhel and Makhi Mitchell, URI’s twin big men.
The Rams are 4-9 in Atlantic 10 competition but have suffered seven single-digit losses. They have outscored their opponents 187-136 in the paint and free throw areas in their league wins, representative of their offense running through the post. Fewer than a quarter (23.6 percent) of Rhody’s field goal tries have been 3-pointers, the 18th-lowest mark in Division I.
The Bonnies, who have faced 126 3-point attempts over their five-game win streak, should be offered more of a reprieve from perimeter defense on Tuesday. Rhody has launched 20 or more 3-point attempts only three times in the last 15 games.
SBU’s penultimate regular season home game will likely be decided down low and at the rim.
“They like to pound the ball inside. … They’re very physical,” Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt noted. “So I would assume it’s gonna be a physical game, a low-scoring defensive game, just like it usually is against Rhode Island.”
Seven of the last 12 Bona-URI games have been decided by nine or fewer points, while the final total has exceeded 150 points just four times in that span.
Makhel Mitchell is one of 13 D-I players, including Bona center Osun Osunniyi, averaging at least 10 points, five rebounds, 2.5 blocks and an assist per contest. Makhi Mitchell posted a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double in just 29 minutes against Davidson; he has recorded three double-doubles in the last five games.
Neither twin factored greatly into Rhody’s triumph over Bonaventure last season; Makhel managed six points in a foul-induced 14-minute stint and Makhi suffered a season-ending knee injury two weeks prior. Without ball-dominant point guard Fatts Russell, however, the post players have a greater impact on the team’s success in any given outing. Guards accounted for 44.3 percent of URI’s points last year but just 36 percent this season, according to KenPom, with Makhi Mitchell the new leader in usage rate (25.2 percent).
“They have it all. They’re really, really good,” Schmidt said of the twins, who transferred from Maryland in 2020. “They’re really physical; they’re competitive; they’re highly skilled. God gave them a lot of length and athleticism, so they’re two really good players.”
Besides free throw shooting, ball security has been Rhody’s Achilles’ Heel and the area Bona can most easily exploit. The Rams have committed 359 turnovers, trailing only VCU for the most giveaways in the conference. They handed the ball over to George Washington 17 times this past Saturday, and the Colonials responded by scoring 17 points off those miscues in a 72-61 win at the Charles E. Smith Center.
URI has committed 15 or more turnovers four times in conference play and are winless in those games. Bona has amassed 88 points off turnovers over its five-game streak.
“Rhode Island’s really good in the half court, exceptional,” Schmidt assessed. “If not the best, one of the best teams in the Atlantic 10 in the half court. They block shots and they’re really physical. They do a really good job, so trying to get some turnovers and getting some easy baskets, that will be important.”
A Bonaventure win would be its 10th of A-10 play, marking an eighth straight year with double-digit conference victories. The Bonnies’ NCAA Tournament chances continue to improve in the eyes of ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi, who placed them as the 10th team out of his latest 68-team projection on Sunday.
“I don’t know if we’ve turned the corner; we’ve just continued to play,” Schmidt commented on Saturday. “During the season there’s gonna be high points and low points, and as I said after the last game, you’ve just got to keep it even keel and just keep on playing. There’s gonna be times where your shot doesn’t fall or you have a bad night. We kept on playing.
“The season, it’s a long season. You can’t base it on one or two weeks. It’s forever.”
Forever continues on Tuesday.
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