There was no looking ahead. Coach Mark Schmidt has too much respect for the job Andy Toole does at Robert Morris. St. Bonaventure twas tested before finishing with a 75-61 victory over the Colonials on Thursday. The game at Reilly Center saw the Bonnies improve to 5-0 with a meeting against North Carolina next on the schedule.
Four Bonnies scored in double figures with Frank Mitchell leading the way with a 19 point, 11 rebound double-double. Cayden Charles also posted a double-double with a 12 point, 10 rebound performance.
The Bonnies held a four point lead at the half. They began the second half strong, going on a 14-7 run over the first six-plus minutes. Robert Morris made a run to cut it to one possession with just over five minutes remaining. That was as close as they got as the Bonnies closed out the victory.
It was a well rounded effort for the Brown and White as they shot 7 of 19 (37%) from three while outscoring the Colonials 40-32 in the paint.
Buddy Simmons and Joe Grahovac also hit double digits for Bona with 16 and 11 points respectively. Robert Morris was led by Josh Hill’s 19 points, 10 board double-double.
The Bonnies move on to face North Carolina in Tuesday’s Fort Meyer’s(Fla.) Tip-Off.
A statistical ‘tale of the tape’ courtesy of kenpom.com.
| St. Bona | North Carolina | |
| Possessions | 68 | 73 |
| Off/Def efficiency | 111/106 | 118/97 |
| eFG Pct. | 54 | 55 |
| FT Rate | 29 | 47 |
| OREB Pct. | 44 | 38 |
| TO Rate | 19 | 16 |
Bonnies favor more of a grind it out tempo while Hubert Davis’ Tar Heels are showing a faster tempo to start. Both teams show impressive efficiencies on the offensive end. To date, North Carolina is defending better than the Bonnies.
North Carolina turns it over less and gets to the charity stripe at a higher rate. Hitting the boards is in favor of Schmidt’s group. Their offensive rebounding percentage metric is good for sixth in the country.
As far as style is concerned, kenpom reports 45% of the Tar Heel field goal attempts are from downtown. The Bonnies attempt 29% from three. Perimeter defense and locating shooters, obviously, will be a Bona priority. Bonnies also show a 4.2 block percentage, goods for sixth nationally.
North Carolina owns an impressive 87-74 win over Kansas back in the early part of the month. The Tar Heels are paced by freshman Caleb Wilson in scoring (20.5 PPG) and rebounding (10.0 RPG).
As far as prognostication goes, Kenpom predicts Carolina an 82-71 winner.
Been there. The 18th ranked Tar Heels will pose a significant test. The Bonnies have risen to the occasion with 12 victories in their last 20 matchups with power5 opponents. North Carolina is 5-0 with all games played at home.
History. The two schools have met only once in their history. On March 15, 1968 the Tar Heels defeated the Bonnies 91-72 in the NCAA tournament. Bob Lanier and Bill Butler had 23 points each for the Bonnies who entered the contest undefeated.
Three years later it appeared a second meeting was going to take place. In the 1971 NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden, North Carolina defeated Duke in the first semifinal. In the nightcap the Bonniers dropped a two overtime heartbreaker to Georgia tech. Carolina went on to defeat Georgia Tech in the championship. The Bonnies captured an overtime win over Duke for third place.
The classic will be contested at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena. Bonnies are in the Beach Division. North Carolina, Michigan State and East Carolina round out the group. Bonnies will play East Carolina on Thanksgiving.
The Palms Division includes Bucknell, Bowling Green, Buffalo and VMI.
